Introduction:At the request of Michael Parrish, VA Chief Acquisition Officer & Principal Executive Director, Office of Acquisition, Logistics & Construction SDV-MPG members provided VA a list of specific issues with the MSPV program as seen by the service-disabled veteran-owned small business community.
WHAT SHOULD VA DO TO FIX MSPV DISTRIBUTION
Establish that BPA holders (suppliers) are PRIME contractors to VA.
Prohibit distributors from being suppliers.
Not allow prime vendors to charge fees to suppliers.
Establish a formal policy for determining “fair and reasonable prices, which includes a “price preference” for SDVOSBs of 10% like the HUB Zone program.
Establish policy to require VA medical facilities to provide “core list” of products to prime vendors in 15 days of contract award. Put mechanism in place to track compliance.
Introduction:This paper was developed by the SDV-MPG as a “read ahead” for a meeting with Michael Parrish, VA Chief Acquisition Officer & Principal Executive Director, Office of Acquisition, Logistics and Construction. As a recent political appointee we wanted to provide him with a concise history of VA’s efforts and results of the Medical/Surgical Prime Vendor program.
VA’s MEDICAL/SURGICAL PRIME VENDOR PROGRAM
Service-Disabled Veteran Medical Products Group
February 2022
BACKGROUND: For approximately the past 7 years, VA has attempted to develop and manage an effective and efficient Medical/Surgical Prime Vendor (MSPV) program independent of its Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) program. The goal being to provide clinically vetted commercial products to VA medical facilities to achieve pricing
