Lawmakers are calling on the Department of Veterans Affairs to halt implementation of a $2.2 billion supply chain management system across its healthcare facilities, Federal News Network reported Feb. 9.
In 2019, the VA shared plans for a 15-year deployment of the Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support system throughout the Veterans Health Administration to modernize supply chain processes and replace up to 12 legacy supply chain management systems.
The Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, Ill., was the first VA hospital to pilot the program. A November 2021 review from the VA's Office of Inspector General found the system, developed 20 years ago, failed to meet 44 percent of staff members' requirements for daily operations.
"The evidence now indicates DMLSS is incapable of meeting the majority of VA's supply chain management requirements," members of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and two House subcommittees wrote in a Jan. 31 letter to VA Secretary Dennis McDonough. "Further, there are serious cost considerations. VA's preliminary market assessment from 2018 indicated that DMLSS would be more expensive than other, potentially more capable systems."
The lawmakers are requesting that the VA relaunch a selection process for a medical logistics system and consult them before choosing a new platform.
The VA confirmed it received the lawmakers' letter and said the department "will respond appropriately" in a statement to Federal News Network.
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