[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3645 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3645

    To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for improved 
    procurement practices by the Department of Veterans Affairs in 
                      procuring health-care items.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 29, 2002

    Mr. Evans (for himself, Mr. Filner, Mr. Gutierrez, Ms. Brown of 
Florida, Mr. Reyes, Ms. Carson of Indiana, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Sanders, Ms. 
 Kaptur, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, and Mr. Dingell) introduced the following 
     bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for improved 
    procurement practices by the Department of Veterans Affairs in 
                      procuring health-care items.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans Health-Care Items 
Procurement Reform and Improvement Act of 2002''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON USE OF LOCAL CONTRACTS FOR DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 
              AFFAIRS PROCUREMENT OF HEALTH-CARE ITEMS.

    (a) In General.--Section 8125 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 8125. Procurement of health-care items
    ``(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), any procurement of a 
health-care item by any element of the Department shall be made through 
the use of a Federal Supply Schedule contract, or a national contract, 
that meets the requirements of subsection (d).
    ``(b)(1) A contract that is not a Federal Supply Schedule contract 
or national contract meeting the requirements of subsection (d) may be 
used for the procurement of a health-care item in the case of a 
procurement--
            ``(A) that is necessary to meet a current or near-term 
        medical emergency at a medical center;
            ``(B) that is for a health-care item for which there is a 
        valid clinical need and that is not listed in the Federal 
        Supply Schedule or as part of a national contract;
            ``(C) that is part of a written and approved sharing 
        agreement between the Department of Defense and the Department 
        of Veterans Affairs with demonstrable cost per item savings for 
        a health-care item listed on the Federal Supply Schedule or a 
        national contract; or
            ``(D) that supports prime or subcontracts with small 
        business concerns qualifying for a procurement preference 
        program under section 8 or 15 of the Small Business Act (15 
        U.S.C. 637, 644), that demonstrates at least cost parity with 
        the health-care item on the Federal Supply Schedule or national 
        contract and meets the requirements of subsections (d)(1)(A) 
        and (d)(2).
    ``(2) A procurement may be made as authorized under subparagraph 
(B) of paragraph (1) only if the procurement is specifically authorized 
in advance in writing by the Secretary. The authority of the Secretary 
under the preceding sentence may only be delegated to the Under 
Secretary for Health and the senior procurement executive of the 
Department acting jointly.
    ``(c) In the case of an emergency procurement of a health-care item 
as authorized by subsection (b)(1)(A), the quantity of the item 
procured may not exceed the quantity of such item that is reasonably 
necessary to meet the emergency need and the reasonably foreseeable 
need for that item at the medical center concerned until resupply can 
be achieved through procurement actions other than emergency 
procurement.
    ``(d) A contract meets the requirements of this subsection if--
            ``(1) the contract includes--
                    ``(A) provisions referred to as preaward and 
                postaward audit clauses; and
                    ``(B) a provision referred to as a price reduction 
                clause; and
            ``(2) any contract with a vendor that is a distributor will 
        be for distribution services only, unless the manufacturer of 
        the product can clearly demonstrate that at least 90 percent of 
        its sales of the item through distributor is to commercial 
        customers with negotiated product prices and the distributor 
        actually stocks and distributes the product.
    ``(e) The Secretary shall establish procedures to assure compliance 
by each Department medical facility with the provisions of this section 
and with applicable Federal and Department procurement regulations.
    ``(f) The Secretary shall establish annual goals for Department 
medical centers for the purchase of health-care items from Federal 
Supply Schedule and national contracts meeting the requirements of 
subsection (d). Such goals shall be designed to maximize the percentage 
of such purchases that are made from Federal Supply Schedule and 
national contracts meeting the requirements of subsection (d).
    ``(g) The Secretary shall include in the annual report of the 
Secretary under section 529 of this title information on the 
procurement of health-care items during the preceding fiscal year. Such 
information shall be shown by geographical service area and shall 
include information on procurements made under the authority of 
subsection (b)(1)(B). Such information shall include the total dollar 
amount of such procurements, the ratio of the dollar amount of such 
procurements to the total dollar amount of all procurements of health-
care items, and a status report on implementation of this subsection.
    ``(h) For the purposes of this section:
            ``(1) The term `health-care item' includes any item listed 
        in, or (as determined by the Secretary) of the same nature as 
        an item listed in, Federal Supply Classification (FSC) Group 65 
        or 66.
            ``(2) The term `emergency' with respect to a procurement of 
        a health-care item, means a procurement necessary to meet an 
        emergency need affecting the health or safety of a person being 
        furnished health-care services by the Department.
            ``(3) The term `Federal Supply Schedule contract' means a 
        contract that is awarded and administered by the National 
        Acquisition Center of the Department under a delegation of 
        authority from the Administrator of the General Services 
        Administration.''.
            ``(4) The term `national contract' means a contract for 
        procurement of an item that is entered into by the National 
        Acquisition Center of the Department or another Department 
        procurement activity, as authorized by the Secretary, that is 
        available for use by all Department medical facilities.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect on September 30, 2002, and shall apply to procurements by 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs after that date.
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