Office of Acquisitions - VA ACE Award Program - 2002 ACE Award Recipients
ACE Award
Recipients (2002)
On behalf of the entire VA Acquisition Workforce, it is with great pride that we announce the winners of the Achievement in Contracting Excellence (ACE) Award and Honorable mention winners for 2002!
The following is a brief synopsis of the team projects that were awarded the ACE and Honorable Mention Honors for 2002! Congratulations go to:
In August 2001, the Atlanta Network integrated their contracting work force into one organization under the supervision and management of the Network Logistics Contracting Activity Office.
The goals of the Network Logistic Contracting Activity (NLCA) are to reduce the number of contracts, establish cost saving by volume purchasing, increase the quality of contracts and contract administration and ultimately enhance customer service.
The reorganization has met the goals and/or is in the process of meeting these goals.
Customer service has been enhanced greatly due to the reorganization and was one of the driving forces behind this initiative. Due to the best practice policies and procedures, standardization and better communications with our customers, vendors now visit only one entity to reach all facilities.
The NLCA has established a Customer Service Survey, which is distributed twice a year for customer input on the organization. This survey has shown overall satisfaction with the NLCA during its initial inception.
During FY2001 the NLCA saved $2.7 million (a 10% overall savings) by awarding various Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPA's), which standardized medical supplies for the Networks use.
In FY2002, NLCA saved $1,708,796 with BPAs and saved $968,813 for consolidated large equipment purchases; the total savings for this effort is $2.6 million.
1st Honorable Mention - National Acquisition Center - Prosthetic
Standardization contracting for Prosthetics is a new initiative within the Department of Veterans Affairs National Acquisition Center.
Over the past year, the Prosthetic Standardization Team, working with representatives from Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service (PSAS) and other clinicians, awarded four contracts with an associated savings of $3.3 million per year.
The awards have met high standards for quality and included the small and small/disadvantaged business community.
Customer Service is a constant consideration of the workgroup. Procurements are not limited to the medical type commodities that the National Acquisition Center (NAC) traditionally procures.
For example, the workgroup has researched Global Positioning Systems, via the Internet, Commerce Business Daily (CBD) and through interview. Also, the workgroup awarded cost saving Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) off Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts for bar coding equipment and is currently gathering data regarding purchasing Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPC) books at a reduced price.
As with all standardization programs within VA, PSAS is more concerned about quality than price. All procurements within this commodity are awarded based on best value.
2nd Honorable Mention - Procurement of Computer Hardware and Software (PCHS-2)
The Procurement of Computer Hardware and Software (PCHS-2) was a multiple award Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity procurement that resulted in contracts to 4 vendors. One of these contractors is a small business. The other three contractors, while large businesses, are committed to meeting VA's subcontracting goals for small businesses, veteran-owned businesses, service-disabled veteran owned business, and woman owned business and HUB Zone businesses.
These contracts will provide VA customers with a wide variety of information technology (IT) products at prices, which can be no higher than the lowest prices the companies charge any other customers. Other benefits include dedicated help desks and program management teams, delivery within no more than 15 days, and excellent warranty support.
The vendors are required to provide on-line ordering utilizing the Government purchase card, provide on line real time on order tracking capabilities for buyers.
The contractors under this contract have address that all products contained on the PCHS-2 contracts are compliant with the requirements of the Buy American Act, Trade Agreements Act, and Section 508 Rehabilitation Act.
The PCHS-2 contract is estimated to have a cost savings to the VA of $40,000,000/year.
Congratulations to the 2002 ACE Winner and Honorable Mention Teams for the outstanding and creative efforts in the field of contracting and acquisitions.
Our congratulations to all the teams that submitted nominations packages this year. We want to encourage all contracting teams to submit nominations for consideration for next year's ACE Award. We look forward to seeing new innovative contract vehicles and programs in 2003!
