Today’s announcement from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a breath of fresh air from an agency that has been beset by service delivery problems in recent years. The VA awarded $6.8B in contracts for medical disability examinations in support of improving timely delivery of disability claims decisions for our nation’s Veterans. This new program is in keeping with the MyVA initiative and, according to the announcement, is “a major step forward in improving the disability examination experience for Veterans.”
Today’s announcement from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a breath of fresh air from an agency that has been beset by service delivery problems in recent years. The VA awarded $6.8B in contracts for medical disability examinations in support of improving timely delivery of disability claims decisions for our nation’s Veterans. This new program is in keeping with the MyVA initiative and, according to the announcement, is “a major step forward in improving the disability examination experience for Veterans.”
Instead of being administered by two separate-but-related parts of the VA, the new 12-contract program will be consolidated under one program management effort with representation from the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). The VBA and VHA used to run the program jointly with varying degrees of success that often left our Veterans dangling in the wind waiting for determinations of their claims.
The unified program management and delivery process will continue to work to make sure our Veterans’ needs are being met worldwide via national and international coverage of the required medical exams.
According to Tom Murphy, the Acting Principal Deputy Undersecretary for Benefits, “This will be a major accomplishment for Veterans going forward, not only for the efficiencies and additional oversight, but VA can now maximize the capacity of inherent capability and leverage the contract expertise and capacity as needed. The goal will be to reduce the veteran’s wait times for examinations as much as possible thereby providing faster claims decisions and enhancing Veterans’ experience in a positive way.”
The 12 contracts were awarded to the following firms:
- VetFed Resources, Inc., 2034 Eisenhower Ave., Ste. 270, Alexandria, VA – Large Business
- Veterans Evaluation Services, Inc., 3000 Richmond Avenue, Ste. 540, Houston, TX -Large Business
- QTC Medical Services, Inc., 21700 Copley Drive, Ste. 200, Diamond Bar, CA – Large Business
Each contract is awarded for 12 months with four 12-month options and an aggregate cap of $6.8B. The VA’s Strategic Acquisition Center in Frederick, Maryland will manage the awards.
Join the conversation!