HHS obligated $6.1 billion in COVID-19 relief funds for supplies for the SNS that significantly increased the amount of certain medical countermeasures and expanded the types of countermeasures in the SNS inventory. Without an approach for regularly managing risks, HHS and Congress lack assurance the department is most effectively preparing for public health emergencies. Risk management principles include guidance related to the management and communication of risk. However, the reviews lack key information needed for managing these risks and communicating them to stakeholders, including to Congress. HHS officials noted that gaps in quantities are due to budget constraints and acknowledge these gaps present risks. GAO's analysis of SNS reviews shows the SNS contained most medical countermeasure types recommended, but often not in the recommended quantities. Obligations from Non COVID-19 Appropriations for Strategic National Stockpile from Fiscal Years 2015 through 2021 Until HHS updates its procedures, the agency risks not meeting the statutory requirements designed to give Congress additional information about the SNS inventory.įrom fiscal years 2015 through 2021, HHS obligated nearly $5 billion in non COVID-19 appropriations to purchase medical countermeasures, mostly for anthrax and smallpox. However, these reviews did not meet most statutory requirements-such as by including the amount of additional medical countermeasures procured-because HHS did not update its procedures to account for changes enacted in 2019. HHS has since completed reviews to inform inventory decisions for fiscal years 20. This process was suspended when the expert group underwent a reorganization, and annual reviews were not completed to inform inventory decisions for fiscal years 2020 through 2022, resulting in purchases based on past reviews and HHS discretion. GAO reported in August 2022 that to guide inventory purchases from 2015 through 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) used a multi-step process involving interagency experts, resulting in annual SNS reviews with inventory recommendations. After all, every stockpile is cash sitting on the ground.The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) is a multibillion dollar inventory of drugs, vaccines, supplies, and other medical countermeasures that can be used in emergencies. Based on this experience Stockpile Reports believes that more frequent physical inventory counts (quarterly or monthly) is the most effective way to enable accurate perpetual inventories with accuracy levels similar to other retail and manufacturing businesses – and reduce write-offs. Over the last 3 years Stockpile Reports has worked with over 125 companies in 18 countries performing physical inventory counts at over 1,625 locations. Now physical inventories that used to take companies 3 to 5 weeks– or even 3 months for large nationwide operations, can be completed in 3-5 days. To completely eliminate field labor, customers can choose to leverage a fleet of over 35 aircraft to rapidly capture aerial imagery across North America. Software is provided that enables customers to collect their own imagery using drones and iPhones. The web portal allows employees to successfully plan the count, perform the count, and review and approve the results. Subscription-based software along with project management and consulting services, are provided by the company to enable companies to perform a fast, and low-cost physical inventory count. was launched in 2013, by experienced scientists and engineers in the computer vision field, to help companies achieve accurate, perpetual inventories through more frequent physical inventory counts.
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