Yeah, they should have spent a month or two vetting every single company out of tens of thousands involved in the effort. This armchair quarterbacking is tiresome.

Come on. There's a middle ground. Of course the government can't be expected to vet every company in absolute depth right now, but it can very easily check a few criteria:

- does this company have any experience making the product in question?

- what size workforce does this company have to deploy once they receive funds?

This is basic stuff. Very basic stuff. And the government is failing at it.

To be distributer of FDA regulated medical gear you need a FDA license, they could have easily verified that. They couldn't even legally take possession of the masks for distribution.

doesn't take a month to pull a business license search and check employee records.