Federal agencies have spent in the neighborhood of $387 million on contracts related to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak during February and March.
That’s according to data obtained by the Federal Procurement Data System, which shows that more than 25 Federal agencies and departments made 581 purchases attributed to COVID-19 over the past two months.
The Department of Veterans Affairs, for example, accounted for 250 of those transactions over the past two months, totaling over $70 million. The VA purchased not only medical instruments, but computer-related services due to the pandemic.
Many agencies are spending money to support increased teleworking or remote education for students. The Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Indian Education purchased over $800,000 worth of software and IT equipment from Dell Marketing L.P on Monday and Tuesday, the data shows. The purchases were for Rapid Response Laptops for Indian Affairs Regional Offices.
The Department of Health and Human Services made 77 purchases, and its National Institutes of Health (NIH) component made over 20 of those purchases. NIH’s purchases had a price tag of over $5 million in March alone.
