
The U.S. Tried to Build a New Fleet of Ventilators. The Mission Failed - jbegley
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/business/coronavirus-us-ventilator-shortage.html
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jtchang
There is nothing unrealistic about economies of scale. I bet the phones we
have in our pockets are 10x as complicated to make as a ventilator. Yet they
are a quarter of the price.

For something like this to work the government needs to have long term
contracts in place and the demand has to be there.

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tomohawk
tldr: Feds awarded a contract at an unrealistic price point for most
companies, but a small company thought they could get it done. Small company
was bought and the project was no longer realistic and no vents were produced.

I see the Feds do this all the time. They are penny wise and pound foolish.
Instead of increasing risk by going for lowest (or unrealistic) cost, its
better to reduce risk and actually get something. Better yet, they could have
just bought the vents on the market for little or no risk.

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Wowfunhappy
Before the company was bought:

> _Every three months, officials with the biomedical research agency would
> visit Newport’s headquarters. [...] The federal officials “would check
> everything [...] If we said we were buying equipment, they would want to
> know what it was used for. There were scheduled visits, scheduled
> requirements and deliverables each month.”_

> _In 2011, Newport shipped three working prototypes from the company’s
> California plant to Washington for federal officials to review._

So up until the sale, the government was actively supervising the project, and
working prototypes had been made. It doesn't sound like some unrealistic, pie-
in-the-sky bet.

But the kicker for me was:

> _Government officials and executives at rival ventilator companies said they
> suspected that Covidien had acquired Newport to prevent it from building a
> cheaper product that would undermine Covidien’s profits from its existing
> ventilator business._

Who knows for sure if that's true, but it seems extremely plausible.

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avmich
Why the company-buyer isn't held to the liabilities of the sold company?
Whoever's bought the smaller company better be good on that company promises.
Or else.

