Quonset Team Leads Global Search for PPE
When Gov. Gina Raimondo called Quonset Development Corporation (QDC) Managing Director Steven King in the early days of the pandemic, he answered. Throughout the spring and summer King, assisted by his American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) colleague Bill Young, led the effort to secure millions of dollars’ worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) for the people of Rhode Island. Recently ASCE News highlighted their work, and how King’s engineering training and background was essential to the efforts success.
Leading a diverse team of Quonset employees, staff from the RI Emergency Management Agency, state Department of Health and Gov. Raimondo’s office, King searched the globe for supplies, then negotiated deals that protected state taxpayers while ensuring that the equipment met specifications.
The overall accomplishment is staggering. The Rhode Island team secured 25 million gloves, 4 million N95 respirator masks, 20 million surgical masks, over 700,000 face shields, nearly a million surgical gowns and several hundred thousand coveralls.
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