The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was tasked by the White House to help administer the vaccine across the US to the American public. FEMA knew that there were not enough Government personnel to perform this critical function and decided that they needed to solicit the help of industry.  FEMA determined that two single-award indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts--one IDIQ for the Eastern United States (FEMA Regions 1-5) and one for the Western United States (FEMA Regions 6-10)—would be the most feasible.

 

These IDIQ contracts needed to be awarded quickly so that the vaccinations could be administered to the American public and slow the spread of COVID-19, which had already contributed to hundreds of thousands of deaths in America. The team knew that they would need to use innovative procurement techniques to award quickly and ensure that they were awarding to the best vendors capable of meeting this important mission. 

 

FEMA was able to use innovative procurement techniques to efficiently get through all 56 proposals with no protests, to award these two $1.6 billion IDIQs in ‘warp speed’. What would normally take months or perhaps years, was reduced to just 79 days! This allowed FEMA to immediately begin deploying medical staff across the country to help provide COVID-19 vaccinations to the American public. During the 12-month period of performance, FEMA awarded over 100 task orders and deployed almost 10,000 personnel to Community Vaccine Centers. This helped to rapidly vaccinate the American public, saving lives, flattening the curve, and reducing the burden that had been placed on American hospitals since the beginning of the pandemic. 

This team worked incredibly hard to make sure these IDIQ contracts were awarded quickly.  They were constantly focused on getting vaccines into arms to help the American public.