Conroe company accused of shipping thousands of unusable COVID test kits

CONROE, Texas (KTRK) -- There are 140,000 COVID-19 unusable testing collection kits sitting in storage at the Texas Department of State Health Services, agency officials said.

"There were questions about the labeling and that they were non-standard kits," said spokesperson Chris Van Deusen.

The kits, ordered by FEMA, were provided by a Conroe company called Fillakit, LLC.

According to an investigation by Propublica, Texas is not alone. Many other states that received thousands of kits from the company are also refusing to use them, citing concerns over quality and cleanliness.

"It wasn't even clean, let alone sterile," said a former employee at the publication.

According to their website, Fillakit provides medical supplies like tubes and swabs.

FEMA told ABC13 they awarded the company a contract for $10.1 million.

According to Florida state records, Fillakit became an LLC on May 1, 2020.

FEMA officials said they entered the contract on May 6, 2020. They then ordered 4,000,000 COVID-19 testing collection kits from the company that was just one-week old.

A spokesperson for FEMA said more than 3,000,000 kits were sent out to every state and U.S. territory.

The Conroe company with ownership out of St. Petersburg, Florida has received $7.3 million from FEMA so far.

ABC 13 Eyewitness News called the number on Fillakit's website and left a message.

We have not heard back.

The online form to send them a message does not appear to be working.