DLA Distribution completes White House test kit support mission

NEW CUMBERLAND, Pa. –

In late December 2021, Defense Logistics Agency Distribution was tasked with transshipping COVID-19 test kits to U.S. Postal Service locations in support of the President’s mandate to provide free test kits for all Americans.

Initially, the mission involved 500 million tests, but soon, that number doubled to 1 billion.

Brent Ingraham, executive director of the Defense Department’s Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell, center left, and Army Col. Anthony Bostick, center right, from Defense Logistics Agency Current Operations, watch Shaun Summers, center, from the Defense Contract Management Agency inspect the package with a COVID-19 test Feb. 8, 2022, in a DLA Distribution contracted warehouse in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. The warehouse received and distributed at-home COVID-19 tests to U.S. Postal Service hubs as part of the White House and Department of Health and Human Services initiative. (Photo by Diana Dawa, DLA Distribution Public Affairs)

At the onset of the mission, DLA Distribution Expeditionary team members from New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, deployed to Chambersburg and a DLA Distribution Expeditionary team from San Joaquin provided mission support at the California location to set up initial operations. The expeditionary teams remained on-site until systems were in place fora contracted workforce in Chambersburg and civilian employees at DDJC to assume the work in late January.

Despite the dramatic increase in test kits, the dedicated workforce at DLA Distribution San Joaquin, California, and the contracted warehouse in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, didn’t miss a beat, said Director of DLA Distribution Current Operations, Air Force Col. Todd Walker.

This illustration describes the product flow and outbound process of COVID-19 test kits after inbound process at the Defense Logistics Agency Distribution contracted warehouse in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

“They flawlessly executed the mission and ended up shipping 731,716,090 tests — not only to multiple U.S. Postal Service sites — but also to Strategic National Stockpile contracted locations throughout the U.S.,” said Walker.

A sample of a COVID-19 test kit.

DLA Distribution received and processed, on average, up to 82 inbound and outbound truckloads daily, for a total of 3,551 truckloads, while a joint operations center provided 24/7 tracking. Existing storage and distribution contracts were modified to ensure workers and space requirements met the accelerated distribution plan.

Because of the team’s efforts, the USPS was able to deliver over 603 million tests to the American public.

Walker noted from a DLA Distribution perspective, “We are mission complete.”

Phillip Peterson unloading COVID-19 test kits at Defense Logistics Agency Distribution San Joaquin, California, April 27, 2022. Photo by Christopher Barberis, DDJC.

There’s still about 92 – 94 million that have yet to be delivered, but those are going directly to vendor delivery and on to a storage location. In all, approximately 615 million test kits were ordered by the American public and the remaining will be stored for future use.