Manufacturer wins critical federal approval to produce masks for the military

ST. PETERSBURG —Jabil Inc. has won a key designation from the Department of Defense that will allow it to develop a domestic supply chain of single-use, disposable FDA-cleared three-ply surgical masks.

The masks, which were deemed Berry Amendment-compliant, will be produced by the St. Petersburg company’s medical device subsidiary NP Medical Inc. Jabil officials say in a statement emailed to investors Monday that the masks filter 99 % of submicron aerosols.

Being designated as Berry Amendment-compliant provides the company with an opportunity to sell the masks directly to the military.

The Berry Amendment, according to the International Trade Association, requires that the Department of Defense avoid using “funds appropriated or otherwise available” on items including food, clothing and fabrics that aren’t “grown, reprocessed, reused or produced in the United States.”

Jabil’s senior vice president of business development Charlie Main says in the statement that the Department of Defense has been “scrambling to find masks that meet the Biden administration’s made in the USA standard at the volume they require.”

The company, he says, is ready to start taking orders and has the ability to produce the high volume to meet the demand.

Main says “Jabil is proud to answer the call for a 100 percent made in the USA solution for surgical masks, which can permanently solution (sic) the supply chain constraints the U.S. faced in the beginning of the pandemic.”

“Although this period only lasted a few quarters, it negatively impacted the nation's ability to respond effectively and quickly.”

Jabil, a giant in manufacturing technology, employs 260,000 people in 30 countries. The company’s net revenue, according to its third quarter earning announced June 17, was $7.2 billion for the quarter.