The federal government has been making expedited orders for riot gear, gas masks and other police-related equipment in response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to multiple disclosures.
Two purchase orders made by the Department of Veterans Affairs, first reported by The Intercept, show requests for gas masks, disposable cuffs, ballistic helmets and riot gloves, as well as protective equipment to be used by federal police guarding VA facilities.
The orders, made in late March and April, are marked as emergency acquisitions as a result of President Trump’s national emergency declaration. The orders also note that each was made under a special authorization “in response to Covid-19 outbreak.”
The VA also offered federal contracts for coronavirus-related security services, mostly in the form of guards or personnel for outside some of the nearly 1,500 health care facilities the agency operates nationwide, according to the site.
One private security firm, Redcon Solutions Group, has acquired over $1.6 million in federal contracts to provide the VA with “covid-19 screening security guard services.”
At least three similar contracts were awarded to private security firms to guard VA medical centers in San Francisco, Des Moines, Iowa, and Fayetteville, NC.
The purchases occurred around the time of a spike in positive cases and deaths of VA patients, as well as an increase in infections in VA health care employees.
An inspector general report released in late March noted an increase in VA employees being absent from work and shortages of VA police staff as a result of the coronavirus.
The report argued that there is “additional strain caused by the need for additional police presence for COVID-19-related screenings” of veterans at all VA health care facilities. It recommended hiring security services.