In March of 2020, the U.S. federal government signed the CARES ACT, a $2 trillion relief bill providing assistance to individuals, businesses, and government organizations impacted by COVID-19.  This Act is now extended to provide additional assistance and broaden the scope of those eligible. 

PPE.Exchange has been working alongside many states, counties and healthcare facilities that receive CARES ACT funds in order to maintain a safe environment for employees that is up to health guidance requirements. 

Among other forms of relief, this extension makes available approximately $284.5 billion for loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”). The PPP loan is allocated to organizations with 300 employees in order to fund many necessary expenses other than payroll. 

First time applicants as well as previous loanees may use their loan for software, cloud computing, and other human resources and accounting needs along with PPE to help comply with health guidance requirements and keep members of your organizations safe. Additionally, PPE expenses are now eligible for full or partial loan forgiveness.

By utilizing the PPE.Exchange platform, many associations have been able to successfully purchase and deliver thousands of units of verified PPE and testing to healthcare and essential workers, employees, students and others in a timely and organized manner. There are many ways that your organization can utilize the funding on the PPE.Exchange platform such as requests for proposals(RFPs), collaborative group orders or purchase directly from the platform. 

A successful use of CARES Act funding comes from San Bernardino County in Southern California. San Bernardino County has been working with PPE.Exchange through the requests for proposals method. Once PPE.Exchange was introduced to the RFP, the platform reached out to the 300+ verified vendors and submitted quotes and samples of each of the products to San Bernardino County. Once PPE.Exchange’s vendor samples arrived at San Bernardino County’s office, the proposal was awarded and PPE.Exchange shipped Nitrile gloves, disposable isolation gowns, reusable isolation gowns and PAPR Units/Shrouds/Filters within 10 days of the original RFP submission.