granted our request for loan forgiveness for the entire original principal amount and accrued interest, for a total of $1.4 million.
We have entered into an agreement to expand our existing administrative offices by 14,000 square feet. We currently expect that the cost of expansion will be approximately $5.6 million. The expected substantial completion date for the new office space is October 2022. To date, we have spent approximately $1 million.
As detailed in Note 4 to the financial statements, we held $13.3 million in debt and equity securities as of December 31, 2021, which represented 12.7% of our current assets. We continually monitor our invested balances.
In response to, among other factors, the global COVID-19 pandemic, our delivery orders from the U.S. government, and the TIA, employee headcount and related salary and benefits costs have increased significantly. As of December 31, 2021, the Company employed approximately 239 full-time, part-time, and temporary employees. This represents approximately a 44.0% increase in our workforce since December 31, 2020.
On March 16, 2021, the Board approved the 2021 Stock Option Plan (the “Plan”) and set aside and reserved 2,000,000 shares of Common Stock for issuance pursuant to the Plan. The Plan was approved by the shareholders at the May 11, 2021 shareholder meeting. The Plan provides for the granting of incentive stock options and non-qualified stock options at a price equal to at least 100% of the fair market value of the Company’s Common Stock as of the date of grant. Participants in the Plan may include employees, consultants, and non-employee Directors. On March 16, 2021, the Compensation and Benefits Committee approved option grants to purchase 1,000,000, 250,000, and 100,000 shares of Common Stock to our chief executive officer, general counsel, and chief financial officer, respectively. These shares will vest in their entirety three years from the grant date.
On March 16, 2021, the Compensation and Benefits Committee modified the annual salaries of our chief executive officer, general counsel, and chief financial officer to $1,000,000, $400,000, and $300,000, respectively. Such salaries were retroactively effective as of January 1, 2021. On March 16, 2021, the Compensation and Benefits Committee also approved issuances of cash bonuses of $300,000, $100,000, and $100,000 to our chief executive officer, general counsel, and chief financial officer, respectively.
In addition to periodic quarterly payments of dividends to preferred shareholders as detailed in Note 12 to the financial statements, on June 4, 2021, the Board of Directors approved payment to Class B Convertible Preferred shareholders of all current dividends, dividends in arrears, as well as dividends still owed to shareholders who converted their preferred stock in the past in the total amount of $5.1 million.
Effective June 4, 2021, we entered into a repurchase plan (the “Plan”) for the purchase of up to $10 million of our Common Stock. Under the Plan, open market purchases of our Common Stock commenced June 18, 2021 and 899,899 shares were purchased as of March 11, 2022 for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $7.2 million.
Historically, unit sales have increased during the flu season. Seasonal trends have been less pronounced due to demand related to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Product purchases from our Chinese manufacturers have enabled us to increase manufacturing capacity with little capital outlay and have provided a competitive manufacturing cost. In 2021, our Chinese manufacturers produced approximately 92% of our products. In the event that we become unable to purchase products from our Chinese manufacturers, we would need to find an alternate manufacturer for the blood collection set, IV catheter, Patient Safe® syringe, 0.5mL insulin syringe, 0.5mL autodisable syringe, and 2mL, 5mL, and 10mL syringes and we would increase domestic production for the 1mL and 3mL syringes and EasyPoint® needles.
In 1995, we entered into a license agreement with Thomas J. Shaw for the exclusive right to manufacture, market, and distribute products utilizing his patented automated retraction technology and other patented technology. This technology is the subject of various patents and patent applications owned by Mr. Shaw. The license agreement generally provides for quarterly payments of a 5% royalty fee on gross sales of products subject to the license and he receives fifty percent (50%) of the royalties paid to the Company by certain sublicensees of the technology subject to the license.