December 19, 2024- – The Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA) applauded final Congressional approval of Fast Pass legislation in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025. The NDAA conference report was approved by a vote of 281-140 in the House of Representatives and 85-14 in the Senate. The bill now goes to President Biden for his signature.
The December 18 passage marks the culmination of three years of HIDA legislative advocacy to address shipping delays for medical products. A HIDA study of the medical supply chain found that during the West Coast port backlog of 2021-22, approximately 31,000-46,000 containers of critical medical supplies were delayed an average of 29 days throughout the transportation system.
The FAST PASS provision in the NDAA Conference Report directs the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a General Accountability Office (GAO) study of the transportation of personal protective equipment (PPE) between 2020 and 2022.
The GAO study will cover:
- The transportation of PPE through vessels and ports onto trucks or rail
- Actions by relevant stakeholders – vessel operators, ports, marine terminal operators, rail carriers, and motor carriers – to transport PPE
- The role played by the Department of Transportation and other relevant federal agencies to expedite the transportation of PPE
- Efficacy of existing legal authorities which allow for the expedited transportation of PPE by relevant federal agencies that do not reduce or impact safety
- Methodologies to improve the coordination among relevant federal agencies to expedite the transportation of PPE
- The impact, if any, that any expedition of essential medical supplies had on the transportation of other goods
- GAO study must be conducted within one year of enactment, and report back to Congress within two years of enactment
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