Today, ASPR's Industrial Base Management & Supply Chain (IBMSC) Office launched Industrial Base Expansion (IBx) Connect, a web-based application that will be used to coordinate specific strategic innovation and industrial base expansion efforts across ASPR, federal partners, academia, and the private sector. ASPR is particularly looking for solutions that can be applied to advanced manufacturing, personal protective equipment (PPE) manufacturing, supply chain optimization, and testing and diagnostic devices and consumable components.
The COVID-19 pandemic made it abundantly clear how important a robust and resilient public health industrial base is to ensure the health and security of the United States. The pandemic highlighted the need for critical public health industrial investments at a scale never seen before in the United States.
During the pandemic response, multiple challenges to various components of the supply chain needed to be overcome involving critical components to both produce and deliver personal protective equipment, pharmaceuticals, therapeutics, and vaccines. Over the last three years, we gained a heightened understanding of our vulnerabilities and were forced to rethink our approach to the medical supply chain. IBx Connect will allow us to have interested parties submit solutions to us in real time and allow ASPR to be fair and equitable when evaluating and responding to ideas presented by external stakeholders.
Through IBx Connect, companies can request a meeting with ASPR and USG Interagency experts to discuss their technology or product in development that meets a healthcare emergency response need, including expanding U.S.-based manufacturing capability to meet supply chain needs. This approach helps companies understand what ASPR is looking for before submitting a proposal to ASPR's open solicitations.
IBx Connect will aid ASPR in finding novel solutions that address vulnerabilities in the U.S. public health and medical industrial base and supply chains that are critical in public health emergencies. Of particular interest are advanced manufacturing efforts for drug substances and drug products; supply chain optimization; testing and diagnostic devices and consumables and personal protective equipment.
Funding is not guaranteed as a result of an IBx Connect meeting. However, technology, products, and supply chain manufacturing that ASPR and other USG Interagency experts determine to be a good fit can be directed to open solicitations, or to the right departments and agencies for additional non-financial support.
Connecting with ASPR just got easier. IBx Connect establishes a powerful market research tool that can be leveraged to streamline acquisitions. To learn more about IBx Connect, visit aspr.hhs.gov/IBxConnect.
