A Chinese company paid by California to manufacture hundreds of millions of protective masks missed a Sunday deadline for federal certification, marking the second times its shipments to the state will be delayed.
State officials are deciding whether to give manufacturer BYD more time or seek a refund for about a quarter-billion dollars it already paid up front for the masks, said Brian Ferguson, spokesman for the Office of Emergency Services. The contract requires BYD to repay the money by Friday unless it can reach an agreement with the state.
It’s the latest setback in the contract Gov. Gavin Newsom announced with fanfare on a nightly cable news show in early April, calling it a “bold and big” expression of California’s economic power.
California signed the nearly $1 billion contract with BYD, a Chinese-based electric vehicle manufacturer with offices in California, to manufacture 200 million masks a month. The company has already sent more than 60 million looser-fitting surgical masks to the state.
The rest of the order is for tight-fitting N95 masks that must be certified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The masks failed certification in April, prompting BYD to refund the state $247 million, half of what it paid up-front. It had until Sunday to try again or be required to send the rest back.