VA Supply Chain Resiliency Act 2021-03-19 Introduced in House VA Supply Chain Resiliency Act

This bill addresses the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) supply chain processes, particularly during emergency periods.

The bill requires the VA to submit a report containing a description of the items and quantities of items that are critical with respect to the VA's ongoing response to the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic and future epidemic, pandemic, emergency, national emergency, or natural disaster scenarios.

The VA and the Department of Defense (DOD) must enter into an agreement to provide for the participation of the VA in the Warstopper Program of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) of DOD. The Warstopper Program was established to satisfy requirements for sudden and sustained increases in production of critical industrial and medical items.

Under such an agreement, the DLA must

  • ensure the maintenance and stability of the items the VA identifies as critical in its report (and that the VA and DOD determine are appropriate for the program),
  • establish guidance for the participation of the VA in the program, and
  • use existing and new contracts and agreements to reserve the supply of critical items.

Finally, the VA must ensure it does not exclusively rely on holding regional, physical inventories of critical items in order to respond to greater than expected needs during epidemic, pandemic, emergency, national emergency, or natural disaster situations.

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