IOWA, USA — Two Iowa lawmakers are calling for an investigation into TestIowa, one of the state's main sources for coronavirus testing.
In the letter, state Reps. Ruth Ann Gaines, D-Des Moines, and Chris Hall, D-Sioux City, claim the $26 million program hasn't met Gov. Kim Reynolds' goal for testing Iowans for the virus.
The representatives hope to start a Government Oversight investigation into TestIowa once the legislative session resumes on June 3.
Their full list of problems they have with TestIowa is as follows:
- Contract awarded without a competitive bid process to an out-of-state company with limited testing experience
- Daily testing numbers are well short of the 3,000 tests per day promised
- Total number of Test Iowa tests conducted and processed still secret
- Extremely long wait times for test results
- Faulty equipment
- Weeks long validation process
- Damaged tests
- Vulnerable Iowans being denied tests
- Iowans having to travel hours to be tested
- Hastily closing testing sites
The letter also includes that the committee should discuss several officials' roles in negotiating a contract and administration with the program. Those officials are:
- Sarah Reisetter, Deputy Dir. of Iowa Department of Public Health
- Paul Trombino
- David Roederer
There are also several unnamed representatives listed from Qualtrics, Co-Diagnostics, NomiHealth, RPH Engineering, SafeLane Health, Iowa Hygienic Lab, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clincs, and a county public health director.