(CNN) The Pentagon announced Wednesday that it will spend $75.5 million in Defense Production Act Title 3 funding to ramp up production of swabs needed for coronavirus testing.

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Andrews said in a statement that Puritan Medical Products was awarded the contract and "will quickly establish a new manufacturing facility capable of doubling its current monthly output of 20 million to 40 million swabs."

Puritan is securing a location in Pittsfield, Maine, where it will build its manufacturing facility. The company is also adding 150 employees to staff the new factory, which will start production in May.

The announcement comes after President Donald Trump announced Sunday he will compel a US company to make swabs under the Defense Production Act. Peter Navarro, his trade adviser who Trump tapped to coordinate DPA use, clarified to CNN Monday that the White House plans to use the act to give Puritan Medical Supplies federal funding to boost production.

"As Ben Franklin might have said today 'For want of a swab, a test was lost.' This swift DPA action by the Trump administration will help America continue to rapidly build up its testing capacity," Navarro said in a statement following the announcement. "It underscores the many and varied uses of DPA authorities to secure our supply chain and onshore production of critical resources in our public health industrial base."

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