Accession Number:

AD1167375

Title:

Contract Management: Observations on DOD's Financial Relationship with the Anthrax Vaccine Manufacturer

Descriptive Note:

[Technical Report, Congressional Testimony]

Corporate Author:

Government Accountability Office

Personal Author(s):

• Rodrigues, Louis J.

Report Date:

1999-06-30

Pagination or Media Count:

12

Abstract:

From the 1970s until 1998, DOD had been procuring the anthrax vaccine from a biologic facility owned by the State of Michigan. The facility, first known as the Biologic Products Division of the Michigan Department of Public Health and later as the Michigan Biologic Products Institute, is the only biologic facility in the country licensed by the Food and Drug Administration FDA to produce the vaccine. In 1997, FDA identified numerous manufacturing problems that could have led to the revocation of the facilitys license. In response to concerns about the potential loss of anthrax vaccine production, DOD began funding renovation efforts. Production facilities were shut down in early 1998. Later, in the summer of 1998, the State of Michigan sold the facility to the BioPort Corporation for 25 million. The company paid 3.25 million in cash, securing 12.15 million in notes payable to the State of Michigan, and agreeing to pay 9.6 million based on other obligations, including a percentage of future sales. The contracts DOD had with the State of Michigan facility were transferred to BioPort.

Descriptors:

• vaccines
• department of defense
• national security
• commerce
• contracts
• international relations
• public health
• biological products
• electronic mail
• health
• michigan
• united states
• accounting
• government furnished equipment
• governments
• observation
• production

Subject Categories:

• Pharmacology
• Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering and Control of Production Systems

Distribution Statement:

[A, Approved For Public Release]