PHILADELPHIA –
Safeguarding warfighters’ lives in contested logistics environments, the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support Medical supply chain strategically negotiated with medical industry partners to reopen a line of supply for Nerve Agent Antidote Autoinjectors Dec. 2025.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, nerve agent antidote is first aid for nerve agent injury. Nerve agents—chemicals that interfere with the nerves that control your body—can cause trouble breathing and seeing. Once administered, these antidote autoinjectors can stop further damage to your body.
With a new 3-year contract in place, approximately 250,000 to 1 million autoinjectors are now available to military service customers.
The ATNAA available through this procurement are small medical devices that are prefilled with the medication, or antidote, needed to counteract a servicemember’s potential contact with nerve agents. Notably, the antidote included in the autoinjectors can be self-administered in the field for initial emergency treatment, said Alexander Quinones, Pharmaceutical Manufacturer/Distributor Division chief.
“This contract is significant as it facilitates the procurement of these autoinjectors and fills the gap for a consistent reliable supply of nerve agent antidote for the warfighter,” Quinones said. “We are happy that this contract is now complete and initial orders have been placed.”
Troop Support’s procurement of ATNAA is the culmination of over a year of contract negotiations, said Jessica De La Hoz, Pharmaceutical Manufacturer/Distributor Division Contracting officer.
“As the contracting officer, I was the DLA Troop Support representative who facilitated the acquisition plan, solicitation process and eventual completion,” De La Hoz said. “I worked closely with the vendor for over a year to ensure the quality of the procurement met the specifications needed by the military in the sole-sourced contract.”
Sole-sourced contracts bypass the competitive bidding process. This direct negotiation between the government and industry is notoriously hard to complete, so regular communication and collaboration was needed internally within Troop Support and externally with the vendor, De La Hoz said.
As stewards of taxpayer money, these negotiations are essential to ensure DLA procures what the services need at the lowest price. This means accountability for every dollar we spend to get the warfighter what they need, said De La Hoz
“I was in daily communication with the vendor as the negotiations proceeded,” De La Hoz said. “I was also in regular communication with my chief, since we needed to make sure, we collaborated with each other at each junction of the process. The sole-source nature of the contract led to longer and more detailed negotiation than a contract in a competitive environment.”
However, Troop Support was able to negotiate successfully with the vendor, completing contract negotiations to reopen the ATNAA supply.
“It is essential that Troop Support procures the highest quality materials for the warfighter,” said William J. Kenny, Contracting and Acquisition Management executive director. “I personally worked on this contract with the Medical supply chain’s Pharmaceutical Manufacturer/Distributor Division. This team worked tirelessly to complete negotiations with the vendor, knowing they had to reopen this supply of life-saving antidote autoinjectors for the military. I am pleased that we can now offer this line of procurement.”
Troop Support is working closely with respective military service customers on ATNAA distribution, ensuring devices are available where and when needed.
“We will work with the services to see how to allocate these autoinjectors so that all warfighters in each area of responsibility are positioned for success,” Quinones said.