TVI Announces Awards by the States of Massachusetts and Maine.

Business Editors

GLEN DALE, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 28, 2002

TVI Corporation (OTCBB:TVIN) is pleased to announce that as part of their respective Homeland Defense/Anti-terrorism initiatives, the State of Massachusetts has purchased ten additional TVI Rapid Deploy Decontamination(TM) Systems and the State of Maine has purchased 40 additional TVI Mass Casualty Decontamination(TM) Systems.

These systems are used to protect their citizens from nuclear, biological or chemical weapons of mass destruction (WMD) events.

The decontamination units purchased by Massachusetts will augment the 28 systems purchased earlier this year.

The Boston Herald reported the following regarding the state's approach to Homeland Defense which involves the exclusive use of TVI decontamination systems. "Hospitals are destined to receive decontamination units that would be used to cleanse victims of bioterrorism. Each of the state's hospitals with emergency departments will get one system, as will 15 fire departments, meaning 92 decontamination trailers are bound for Massachusetts at a cost of $60,000 each. The units are designed to be independent from the rest of the emergency department, with their own showers and heating units and ability to store contaminated water runoff.

"'People who are contaminated, you don't want them walking into your emergency room because then you wind up with contaminated ERs and you have ERs shutting down when you need them most.' said Betsy Stengel, Executive Director of the Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals, an umbrella group.

"This is the single biggest infusion of cash into the state for medical for Disease Control and Prevention and the Health Resources and Services Administration. Each state was promised a federal grant based on a set formula, but no state would get that money until it completed an elaborate proposal. Massachusetts' share is $22.5 million, and in June it was among the first states to win unconditional approval of its plan. The state's blueprint sends at least 60 percent of the money back to local and regional agencies to aid in their preparations for bioterrorism. Most fundamentally, hospitals and the nation's public-health network still don't know exactly what kind of attack to prepare for. They have been training for decades to handle a plane crash with survivors or a bus crash with dozens of injured, wailing children."

As a further confirmation of the effectiveness of the TVI systems, the State of Maine has purchased an additional 40 TVI Mass Casualty Decontamination(TM) Systems to augment the 16 systems purchased previously. These systems will further equip the State Civil Support Teams, which have recently been formed to respond to any WMD threats within the state.

TVI CEO Richard Priddy stated "I am pleased to see our nation's progress in the Homeland Defense arena as it relates to equipping our first responders with the tools required to effectively deal with acts of terror. It is a testament to TVI's leadership and product quality that these states have standardized on TVI's rapidly deployed mass decontamination systems."

TVI utilizes material containing (DD) DuPont(R)products in its shelters

In order to respond to the increasing demand for its products, TVI has leased additional adjacent manufacturing space, tripling its capacity.

About TVI Corporation:

TVI Corporation, located in Glenn Dale, Maryland, is a leading supplier of rapid deployment shelters and signage, chemical/biological decontamination systems for the military, public health, and first response agencies. TVI additionally is a primary source to the military for thermal targets and thermal decoys. Its stock trades on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol "TVIN."

Information in this press release involves expectations, beliefs, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, and we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance, as actual results could differ materially from our current expectations. Numerous factors could cause or contribute to such differences, including, but not limited to, those set forth in the Company's Annual Report to Stockholders, 10-KSB, 10-QSB, and our other SEC filings.

For more information concerning TVI, please visit us at: www.tvicorp.com.