VA May Have Improperly Spent Billions, U.S. Lawmaker Says

VA May Have Improperly Spent Billions, U.S. Lawmaker Says

Kathleen Miller, ©2011 Bloomberg News

Wednesday, December 14, 2011


Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs may have improperly spent billions of dollars on purchases including pharmaceuticals, according to a lawmaker who is probing the allegations and whether the safety of those who use the medicine was put at risk.

The VA may have paid out as much as $333 million without contracts in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to a letter to Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki by U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly, the top Democrat on the House Veterans' Affairs subcommittee on oversight and investigations. The unauthorized buying may have been going on for years and involved "billions of dollars" in spending, the Indiana congressman wrote.

"This information, if found to be true, is both shocking and deeply troubling," Donnelly said in the Oct. 28 letter obtained by Bloomberg News.

Buying drugs or other medical products without a contract would make it hard for the government to ensure it's getting the best price, and that a purchase meets safety requirements and complies with trade agreements, said Larry Allen, president of Allen Federal Business Partners, a procurement consulting firm based in Arlington, Virginia.
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