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VA PURCHASING AND CONTRACTING UNDER FIRE --

"Procurement systems should help provide services and care

to our veterans, not be the subject of abuse and impropriety."

 

 

Story here... http://politics.theledger.
com/default.asp?item=636649

Story below:

The VAOIG report mentioned in this story is available for viewing or download here...
http://www.va.gov/oig/52/reports/
VAOIG-06-00931-139.pdf

And, for more information, read the press release from Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN), Ranking Minority Member on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs...here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/
hcva07/hcva062707-1.htm 

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VA Purchases Under Fire

U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville and the ranking GOP member of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, criticized Veterans Affairs officials for their lack of oversight on the department's purchasing and contracting at the subcommittee's hearing today.

The hearing focused on an analysis of how the system failed to improve safeguards against illegal procurement procedures.

It was based on a recent VA Inspector General's report titled, "Audit of Alleged Mismanagement of Government Funds at the VA Boston Healthcare System."

The report supported allegations that the chief of the Purchasing and Contracting Section and the chief of Fiscal Service illegally used expired funds to pay for contract change orders, Brown-Waite's staff said.

"Our nation's veterans are a valuable asset, and caring for them should be our first priority. The abuses that have taken place are an embarrassment and a waste of taxpayer funds," Brown-Waite told VA officials according to a transcript of the hearing.

"Procurement systems should help provide services and care to our veterans, not be the subject of abuse and impropriety, she said."

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Larry Scott  --