California Gov. Newsom's billion-dollar mask deal hits snag

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Millions of protective masks that were to arrive in California this week as part of the state's nearly $1 billion deal with a Chinese company have been delayed, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday.

The governor said the N95 masks made by BYD, an electric vehicle manufacturer with a California manufacturing plant, were stalled in the federal certification process. He did not explain further, and his office did not respond to a request for more information.

Last month, Newsom announced the deal to great fanfare, calling it a “bold and big” effort in the state's fight against the coronavirus. He said the deal would result in 500 million masks that were a mixture of traditional surgical masks and the more protective N95 models to the state over the next 2.5 months.

The state took the unusual step of paying about half the contract up front to cover about 300 million N95 masks at $3.30 per mask. The payment was made to Global Healthcare Product Solutions, a subsidiary of BYD.

The price per mask was first reported Wednesday by the Los Angeles Times and based on purchasing documents from the state treasurer's office. The total contract also included looser-fitting surgical masks, though details on those were not part of the initial payment, said Brian Ferguson, a spokesman for the Office of Emergency Services.

Tens of millions of surgical masks have already arrived, but the N95 masks were delayed, Newsom said. Last week, the state paid an additional $104.7 million for those first shipments.

Newsom said last month that the state and federal governments had “teams on the ground” in China auditing and visiting BYD’s factories.

“We are looking to make sure we do not procure what is not authorized and ultimately is not validated,” he said.

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