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Federal Market Intelligence for Small Business |
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Judge backs VA on Med-Surgical Prime VendorA federal judge ruled in favor of the Veterans Affairs Dept. and refused to close down the VA’s prime vendor program for medical and surgical supplies, even though the program does not support the “Rule of Two” for veteran small business preferences. Judge Eric Bruggink of the Court of Federal Claims decided against Electra-Med Corp. and other small businesses owned by service-disabled veterans that had protested the VA’s Medical-Surgical Prime Vendor-NextGen program. The VA said it hired four prime vendors to manage its urgent medical and surgical supply acquisitions because the VA said it was only able to quickly provide 7,800 of the 80,000 supplies needed while using traditional contracting methods and preferences. The SDVOSB plaintiffs alleged that the med-surg prime vendor program does not carry out the “Rule of Two’ methodology giving top priority to veterans in VA contracts, as required by the “VA Act” law of 2006. The Supreme Court upheld the Rule of Two in Kingdomware in 2016 (if two vet-owned small firms can perform the job at a fair price, then one must win the work). Bruggink agreed that the VA’s program does not support the Rule of Two. Even so, he denied the protest and did not approve an injunction to stop the VA program. The judge wrote that the VA Act law and Kingdomware decision impose “strict and difficult-to-follow requirements” on the VA, creating grave risks for veterans receiving care who are dependent on receiving medical supplies quickly. The judge indicated that the wording of the 2006 law was at fault for creating an unduly strict requirement for the VA to meet. To change it, “only Congress has the kill switch,” he added. “It is for Congress and the voters to weigh the merits of the benefits and burdens imposed by such a labyrinth of legal and regulatory hoops and hurdles. This case presents a circumstance in which the VA could not timely clear the hurdles. The result is a danger to veterans’ healthcare and increased cost to the government,” the judge wrote. Bruggink wrote that he denied the protest because the potential harm to the VA and its patients far outweighed the harm to the SDVOSB plaintiffs. More information: Court of Federal Claims opinion: https://bit.ly/2yHtf22
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