Department of Veterans Affairs Acquisition Improvement Act of 2009

Bill: 111-hr-4221
Sponsor: Rep. Buyer, Steve [R-IN-4]
Introduced: 2009-12-08 in the House
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Department of Veterans Affairs
Executive agency funding and structure
Government information and archives
Health technology, devices, supplies
Public contracts and procurement
Small business
Veterans' medical care

Summary:
action_date: 2009-12-08
text: 
Department of Veterans Affairs Acquisition Improvement Act of 2009 - Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to include in the responsibilities of the Assistant Secretaries responsibilities for acquisition, construction, and asset management functions. Requires the Secretary to assign one Deputy Assistant Secretary to each of the following: (1) information technology acquisition; (2) acquisition services for the Veterans Benefits Administration, the National Cemetery Administration, and the Department headquarters; (3) construction acquisitions and leasing; (4) acquisition services for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA); (5) national contracts, including contracts for health care products and services awarded by the National Acquisition Center (other than contracts for information technology); (6) policy; and (7) asset enterprise management and logistics.
 
Establishes in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA): (1) a Chief Acquisition Officer, with the Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, Construction, and Asset Management serving as the Chief Acquisition Officer; (2) a Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, Construction, and Asset Management; and (3) seven Deputy Assistant Secretaries for Acquisition, with the seven functions listed in the preceding paragraph.
 
 Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish and maintain a Department-wide acquisition program under which the Secretary shall develop, implement, and enforce a streamlined approach to entering into contracts and purchasing goods and services.
 
Authorizes the Secretary to enter into personal services contracts for medical specialist services and the sharing of VA health care resources.
 
Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to include under the term &quot;competitive procedures&quot; the procedures established by the Secretary for the use of federal supply schedules that are open to all responsible sources and result in the lowest cost alternative to meet the needs of the government. Requires the Secretary to prescribe regulations to provide procedures for soliciting, negotiating, awarding, and administering such supply schedules.
 
Revises VA small business contracting goals. Prohibits the Secretary from including in a database of small businesses owned and controlled by veterans a small business that is the vendor of a commercial item unless the vendor is the manufacturer or regular dealer of the item, unless the Secretary specifically provides a waiver with respect to that vendor. Requires the Secretary to: (1) establish specific criteria for verifying the status of each small business proposed to be included in the database; and (2) specify the North American Industry Classification System code or codes of the goods and services that may be procured from each small business so listed.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-12-08
text: Referred to House Oversight and Government Reform
action_date: 2009-12-08
text: Referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2009-12-08
text: Referred to House Veterans' Affairs
action_date: 2009-12-08
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E2908)
action_date: 2009-12-08
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2009-12-08
text: Introduced in House