Navy Rear Adm. John Polowczyk, supply chain task force lead at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), will serve as a keynote speaker at Potomac Officers Club’s Supply Chain Resilience and COVID-19 Virtual Event on Thursday, June 11th.
Click here to register for the Supply Chain Resilience and COVID-19 Virtual Event.
Polowczyk was appointed to run a White House supply chain task force in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He also serves as vice director for Logistics, J4 with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Polowczyk recently spoke at the COVID-19 task force briefing, where he stated that the government will continue to expand the emergency stockpile of critical supplies and medicines managed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
He noted that federal officials will enact a provision that would shield companies from antitrust regulations to help the country from running out of medical supplies in a pandemic. Under the voluntary agreement, the government would develop a plan for future large-scale acquisitions with suppliers, manufacturers and distributors.
Legislation in Congress would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to increase the amount of personal protective equipment it buys from American companies to create incentives to build domestic production.
“The shortage in personal protective equipment during this pandemic underscores the urgent need to shore up our domestic supply chain in case of national emergencies,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., one of the bill’s authors. “The COVID-19 outbreak has exposed severe inadequacies in our PPE supply chain which need to be addressed immediately."
Potomac Officers Club’s Supply Chain Resilience and COVID-19 Virtual Event, Polowczyk will address the unprecedented global demand surge in personal protective equipment to supply-side challenges amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
Polowczyk will be joined by Darrell Williams, director of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and Stuart Jones, director of Supply Chain Management at LMI to further discuss the implications inherent with the global pandemic.
Register here to join Potomac Officers Club for its Supply Chain Resilience and COVID-19 Virtual Event on June 11th to learn about the speakers’ perspectives on the state of public-private collaboration and how coordination at the strategic and tactical levels can strengthen supply chain response to future challenges.