The Department of Defense has agreed to a multimillion-dollar contract with a company to produce one of the materials used in coronavirus rapid tests domestically.

Merck-owned MilliporeSigma and the Pentagon, which was operating on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services, agreed to the $136.7 million deal on Wednesday, according to a DOD statement. They will establish nitrocellulose membrane production capacity in their Sheboygan, Wisconsin, facilities.

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Nitrocellulose membrane is a “critical material” used in the manufacturing of rapid point-of-care tests. The deal will support the manufacture of more than 83.3 million tests per month.

“With this agreement, MilliporeSigma will construct a state-of-the-art lateral flow membrane production facility that will give our invitro diagnostic (IVD) manufacturing customers greater flexibility and security of supply of our Hi-Flow™ Plus lateral flow membranes,” Matthias Heinzel, a member of Merck's executive board, said in a statement.

The news of the deal comes amid rising coronavirus cases and a restoration of many coronavirus precautions.

President Joe Biden received blowback earlier this week for telling state leaders that “there is no federal solution” to ending the pandemic and that it ultimately “gets solved at the state level.”

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The Biden administration announced earlier this month that it will distribute 500 million at-home tests free of charge. They also detailed plans to add more vaccination clinics on top of the 90,000 that have already been stood up in recent months.