Office of Procurement, Acquisition and Logistics (OPAL)
Pharmaceutical Division
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is slashing costs by standardizing products and sources of supply while, simultaneously, balancing clinician considerations for obtaining quality products. The National Contract Service (NCS) standardization contracts provide Veterans with high quality continuity of health care and afford concentrated buying power to our federal Government customers. The NCS Pharmaceutical Division oversees three programs: the Pharmaceutical Standardization Program, the Pharmaceutical Repackaging Program, and the Specialty Pharmaceutical Program.
The Pharmaceutical Standardization Program is responsible for support of VA and Other Government Agency pharmaceutical standardization contracts that strive for the best clinical outcomes at leveraged prices. We work closely with the Veterans Health Administration’s Pharmacy Benefits Management team, the VISN Pharmacy Executives, the Medical Advisory Panel, the Department of Defense Pharmacy Operations Division/Defense Health Agency, and Defense Logistics Agency-Troop Support to coordinate clinical appropriateness with contracting requirements.
Additionally, we competitively negotiate some of NCS’ highest dollar volume contracts. The indefinite delivery, requirements-type contracts are the most commonly used contracting vehicles.
Pharmaceutical Standardization Program points of contact:
- Erika Moreno, Chief
(708) 786-4934 - Diana Martinez, Senior Contract Specialist, (708) 786-5160
- Nicholas McGregor, Senior Contract Specialist, (708) 786-4934
The Pharmaceutical Repackaging Program requires a contractor to serve as a unit-of-use re-packager and distributor for generic pharmaceuticals needed by the VA healthcare facilities. Under the program, NCS purchases the bulk pharmaceuticals (e.g., in bottles of 1,000 or greater), utilizing the established National Contracts, and arranges for delivery of such products to the contractor for processing into unit of use package sizes (e.g., 30s, 60s, 90s). Once product is repackaged, the contractor warehouses the government-owned pharmaceuticals until such time orders are placed by the VA facilities.
Currently, there are a number of drugs in various strengths and package sizes included in the Pharmaceutical Repackaging Program. View the specific ordering procedures and the products available for purchase under the Pharmaceutical Repackaging Program.
Pharmaceutical Repackaging Program points of contact:
- Erika Moreno, Chief
(708) 786-4934 - Teresa Hussain, Senior Contract Specialist, (708) 786-5852
The products covered under these Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) are typically for difficult to treat medical conditions or for rare disease states where no other treatment options are available, and are restricted to specialty pharmacies/distributors due to FDA requirements for controlling distribution of these products. Therefore, orders must be placed directly with the specialty pharmacy/distributor designated in each BPA. These BPAs have been established for certain specialty pharmaceuticals, awarded on Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts, to allow for order placement by officially designated VA Ordering Officers and/or warranted VA personnel. These BPA are for VA Facilities only.
Specialty Pharmaceutical Program points of contact:
- Erika Moreno, Chief
(708) 786-4934 - Diana Martinez, Senior Contract Specialist, (708) 786-5160
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