Please support passage of this important Bill to help Virginia Businesses

I am contacting you to add my name to the growing list of supporters for this important legislation to support Virginia and American jobs while keeping Americans safe from COVID-19 and other threats.

SB1222 requires a state agency, whenever purchasing personal protective equipment (PPE) for public use, to purchase such PPE from a Virginia-based company or manufacturer or a manufacturer that uses materials made in the United States. The bill provides that if a state agency is unable to purchase PPE from such company or manufacturer, it may purchase from another company or manufacturer, pending the results of independent laboratory testing of the PPE.

Virginia manufacturers responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by converting operations to manufacturing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) due to global supply chain problems. Virginia learned that it was dependent upon largely foreign PPE manufacturers and supplies and price volatilities put Virginians at risk. Virginia's current Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) procurement system for PPE is inappropriate. Virginia should require proof of rigorous independent laboratory testing for all PPE to give domestic manufacturers equal footing and protect consumers from fraudulent products.

There is also a tangible value for locally sourced PPE, including hand sanitizer, as Virginia has learned over the last 11 months. The Commonwealth has a responsibility to provide for contract opportunities for those Virginia manufacturers that converted operations to PPE in order to help ensure those supplies are always available. For example, distillers and brewers organized the Virginia Hand Sanitizer Consortium that now has the productive capacity of 25,000 bottles per day. They have confirmed that state agencies are procuring hand sanitizer from Korea. Other Virginia manufacturer have confirmed that some 3-ply masks imported into Virginia had tissue paper as its intermediate layer. Quality and independent laboratory testing are essential to any PPE procurement.

I hope we can count on your support and look forward to hearing back form you on this important issue.

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