WASHINGTON – A new Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) task force plans a comprehensive look at the department’s $5 billion-a-year contracting operations, looking for ways to improve efficiency and cut costs.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi recently formed the VA Acquisition System Task Force with a charge that it report back in 120 days on proposals to improve the department’s complex system for purchasing everything from X-ray equipment to wheelchairs.
“We have an obligation to buy goods and services that affect veterans without waste and with the least amount of bureaucratic overhead,” Principi said. “We owe this to the five million veterans who have enrolled with VA for health care and for those veterans waiting for action on compensation applications.”
In health care alone, VA has more than a thousand multi-year contracts worth more than $10 billion covering medical, dental and surgical supplies, plus medications, equipment and laboratory items. These contracts cover not only health care needs of veterans but also the medical purchasing requirements of several other government agencies.
The task force will be chaired by Dr. Robert Wiebe of Mare Island, California. Dr. Wiebe directs the VA Sierra Pacific Network, the administrative center that coordinates VA health care services in central and northern California, northern Nevada, Hawaii, Pacific Islands and the Philippines.
VA Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Management Mark Catlett will be vice chair. Principi stated that both men bring to the job a familiarity with VA’s procurement process and how it impacts care to veterans. Eleven more task force members represent both headquarters and VA field functions.
In providing his charge to the task force, Principi called on the members to seek input from sources outside VA, both in the private sector and in other departments and agencies, to identify “best practices” and opportunities for innovation.
The VA Acquisition System Task Force is expected to examine the overall structure of VA’s acquisition system, staffing issues and oversight functions.
# # #
###
Reporters and media outlets with questions or comments should contact the Office of Media Relations at vapublicaffairs@va.gov
Veterans with questions about their health care and benefits (including GI Bill). Questions, updates and documents can be submitted online.
Veterans can also use our chatbot to get information about VA benefits and services. The chatbot won’t connect you with a person, but it can show you where to go on VA.gov to find answers to some common questions.
Subscribe today to receive these news releases in your inbox.
