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It’s official: the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) Medical Surgical Prime Vendor (“MSPV”) 2.0 Program is no more.  The VA has announced that it will not revive MSPV 2.0 following several unusually painful protests at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (see our prior blogs here and here). Instead the VA will move on to MSPV-“Z”.  Generally speaking, there seems to be little difference between “2.0” and “Z,” except that some division of geographies may change.  But importantly, the VA plans to make clear in the MSPV-Z solicitation—which currently is in the works—whether and when it will transfer the contracts’ requirements to the Defense Logistics Agency (“DLA”), an issue that has drawn significant criticism to date.  The VA says it is developing the business case for the transfer, and the business case analysis will determine both whether it will happen at all, and how the VA will execute the transfer.  In the meantime, the VA will extend the current bridge contracts under MSPV-Next Generation (“MSPV-NG”) for a full year, running December 2021 to December 2022, while the VA (and likely the DLA) get their ducks in a row.
Continue Reading MSPV 2.0 Is Dead – Long Live MSPV

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) Medical Surgical Prime Vendor (“MSPV”) 2.0 Program (discussed previously here and here) has yet to make it off the ground, but in March 2021 the VA announced plans to eliminate the program by September 2023 and instead purchase from the Defense Logistics Agency’s (“DLA”) separate MSPV catalog. The VA and DLA MSPV programs are how the VA and DLA (separately) purchase most of their medical, surgical, and laboratory equipment for care centers across the country (and abroad, in the case of DLA). The VA and DLA have been exploring the possibility of consolidation since at least January 2019, but many vendors relied on the VA’s representations that it would not make any decisions on potential consolidation until at least 2025. So when the VA informed stakeholders of its new September 2023 target, Medline Industries, Inc. (“Medline”), one of the prime vendor awardees under the VA’s MSPV 2.0 Program, responded by filing a bid protest at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. On May 28, 2021, the VA and DLA decided to take corrective action, asking the Court for six months to re-evaluate the issues raised by the protest. It seems that the government did not have all of its ducks in a row prior to announcing the targeted transition.
Continue Reading Ducks (Not) in a Row – VA Agrees to Take Corrective Action in Transitioning MSPV 2.0 Requirements to DLA

There are big changes happening in military healthcare procurement. Some are unsurprising given the October 1, 2019 deadline for the reorganization of all military hospitals and clinics under the management of the Department of Defense (DOD), Defense Health Agency (DHA). But some may be unexpected, reaching all the way to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) procurement, though the extent to which the VA will ultimately be affected is unclear. In the past few weeks, at least three major announcements were made regarding military healthcare: (1) DHA and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) regarding their respective rolls in DOD healthcare, (2) DLA gave the VA access to its medical/surgical prime vendor formulary indefinitely, and (3) the VA cancelled its long-anticipated prime vendor solicitation under the Medical/Surgical Prime Vendor (MSPV) 2.0 program. Is this all a coincidence? Probably not.
Continue Reading What’s the VA Got to Do With It? Military Medical Procurement Changes Reach the VA