partment of Veterans Affairs to serve as sites for centers 
under section 7327 of title 38, United States Code, as added 
by subsection (c), the Secretary shall establish a peer review 
panel to assess the scientific and clinical merit of proposals 
that are submitted to the Secretary for the selection of such 
facilities. The panel shall be established not later than 90 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act and shall 
include experts in the fields of toxicological research, infec-
tious diseases, radiology, clinical care of veterans exposed 
to such hazards, and other persons as determined appro-
priate by the Secretary. Members of the panel shall serve 
as consultants to the Department of Veterans Affairs. 
Amounts available to the Secretary for Medical Care may 
be used for purposes of carrying out this subsection. The 
panel shall not be subject to the Federal Advisory Com-
mittee Act (5 U.S.C. App.). 
(b) PROPOSALS.—The Secretary shall solicit proposals 
for designation of facilities as described in subsection (a). 
The announcement of the solicitation of such proposals shall 
be issued not later than 60 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, and the deadline for the submission of 
proposals in response to such solicitation shall be not later 
than 90 days after the date of such announcement. The peer 
review panel established under subsection (a) shall complete 
its review of the proposals and submit its recommendations
to the Secretary not later than 60 days after the date of 
the deadline for the submission of proposals. The Secretary 
shall then select the four sites for the location of such centers 
not later than 45 days after the date on which the peer 
review panel submits its recommendations to the Secretary. 
(c) REVISED SECTION.—Subchapter II of chapter 73 
is amended by adding at the end a new section with—
(1) a heading as follows: 
‘‘§ 7327. Medical preparedness centers’’; 
and 
(2) a text consisting of the text of subsections (a) 
through (h) of section 7325 of title 38, United States 
Code, and a subsection (i) at the end as follows: 
‘‘(i) FUNDING.—(1) There are authorized to be appro-
priated for the centers under this section $10,000,000 for 
each of fiscal years 2005 through 2007. 
‘‘(2) In addition to any amounts appropriated for a 
fiscal year specifically for the activities of the centers pursu-
ant to paragraph (1), the Under Secretary for Health shall 
allocate to the centers from other funds appropriated for 
that fiscal year generally for the Department medical care 
account and the Department medical and prosthetics re-
search account such amounts as the Under Secretary deter-
mines necessary in order to carry out the purposes of this 
section.’’.
(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—No provision of law 
may be construed to supersede or nullify this section, or 
an amendment made by this section, unless it specifically 
refers to this subsection and specifically states that it is en-
acted to supersede or nullify this section or a provision of 
this section.
Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill to authorize 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to enter into certain 
major medical facility leases, to authorize that Secretary 
to transfer real property subject to certain limitations, 
otherwise to improve management of medical facilities of 
the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other pur-
poses.’’.
Union Calendar No. 403 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H.R. 4768 
[Report No. 108–663] 
A BILL 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to author-
ize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to enter 
into certain major medical facility leases, to au-
thorize that Secretary to transfer real property 
subject to certain limitations, and for other pur-
poses. 
SEPTEMBER 8, 2004 
Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee 
of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and or-
dered to be printed