A Synopsis of OIG Preaward Reviews of VA Federal Supply Schedule Pharmaceutical Proposals Issued in Fiscal Year 2018

VA and other government agencies spend billions of taxpayer dollars annually through VA’s Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracting program. This report is a synopsis of 22 FSS pharmaceutical proposal reviews during fiscal year 2018 that were completed before VA awarded the contracts (preaward reviews) in order to obtain the best pricing. OIG preaward reviews of FSS pharmaceutical proposals are internal reports for VA contracting officers that are unpublished due to protected sensitive commercial pricing information. The OIG is publishing this summary to provide more information on the impact of these reviews. Preaward reviews provide VA with information on whether commercial pricing disclosures are reliable for negotiations. The reviews also make pricing recommendations based on the offeror’s commercial selling practices. Preaward reports are used by contracting officers to negotiate fair and reasonable prices for the government and taxpayers. The OIG determined that commercial pricing disclosures were not reliable for negotiations for 16 of the 22 proposals and recommended VA obtain revised disclosures prior to contract award. The OIG’s lower FSS pricing recommendations collectively reflected more than $515 million in estimated cost savings to VA, nearly 75 percent of which were sustained. The 22 proposals included 2,040 offered drug items.