Biological Warfare: Role of Salk Institute in Army's Research Program: NSIAD-92-33 (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781289036058)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed an Army contract laboratory's development and production of vaccines to protect U.S. forces against biological warfare threats, focusing on whether the: (1) contractor developed and produced vaccines against biological agents recognized and validated as warfare threats; (2) contractor was the Army's only viable means of developing and producing such vaccines; and (3) contractor's fees for the use of its facilities complied with applicable federal regulations.
GAO found that: (1) the contractor spent 17 percent of the $17.7 million in Army payments on work clearly related to biological agents validated as warfare threats; (2) the contractor spent 33 percent of payments on work that applied to biological agents and diseases not related to warfare and 50 percent of payments on diseases not related to warfare; (3) commercial vaccine producers indicate that there are not viable alternatives to contracting since there is no commercial market for such vaccines in the United States and vaccine producers lack the facilities needed to produce them; (4) although the Army's current in-house capabilities are not sufficient to meet the demand for biological warfare vaccines, the Army could improve research and expand its research and development laboratories to meet vaccine production needs; and (5) the Army paid the contractor $5.5 million more in fees than applicable federal regulations permitted, by following cost principles for commercial organizations instead of those for nonprofit organizations.

Author: U. S. Government Accountability Office (
ISBN-10: 1289036055
ISBN-13: 9781289036058
Publisher: Bibliogov
Language: English
Published: 06/26/2013
Pages: 28
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.15lbs
Size: 9.69h x 7.44w x 0.06d