academy is am source of supply and holds a federal supply contract, fss contract issued by the ak kra zigs center. my fellow managing partner and i graduated from the u.s. naval academy 1991. so named to pay homage to our alma mater. accompanies me, stephen kent, director of government sales and mr. stephen shirr subject expert in the field. my memorandum dated may 23, 2012, the veterans health administration notified vha procurement and prosthetics personnel engaged in implants of policy using the fss program. we're pleased with this change in fha position, one which levels the playing ford and respects the nature of va's fss program. we have worked long and hard to get vha to adopt this policy. i have a copy of the policy and would like to offer it for inclusion in the record of today's hearing. we hope to his will formalize the policy memorandum by having it codified to amend the va acquisition regulations. policy should are formalized for perp turty as policies are easily forgotten as time goes on or through leadership changes. this es ebb specially true given there's likely to be

we haven't fss contract and where one of the few vendors who took the time to get an fss contract, and our situation is, as we're going out and marketing our contract, we are coming up against the leadership that is invoking 8123 and saying that because with 8123 they don't have to abide by any contract, that our fss contract is irrelevant to purchase biologics. >> i tend to agree with each other, i don't believe that biologics are the same thing as prosthetics, to tell you the truth. and i would prefer to save most people have a contract because, is there a wide variety of price been basically? tell me the variety. >> we found were probably 20-30% more affordable than some of our competitors. >> but what percentage of the business of the va's with a contractor like yourself? isn't mostly non-contracted, country and? >> yes or. may be 97% all contract versus our small, maybe 3%. we estimate that the va spends about $175 million annually in biologics, and to be honest, that there hasn't ever been a vendor put in these products on contract. and so we've kind of gone to the arduous task o

happy. are we going to make but we're going to sure ry 16 3 andrettt ann his ttam will have to work fss weekkndd myranda ssephens, fox45 news at 5. 3& ttee special session ii annapolis wrapped up today. today. john rydell is live at -3 the state hoose approved a 3 revenue ackage that includds aa income tax increese 3 33 3 p3 here's... 3 our... puestion of the day. day.do yyu pprove of what lawmakers did during the special sesssonn? 3 and tell us what you think. youucan lso sound off thrrugh & aa foxballimorr. and yoo can text your answer to 45203. enter fox45a or yes.. or fox45b for no. p3 how aae the roads looking tonnght??- toniiht?brandi proctor has our traffic edge reporr. reporr. mapmdot-liberry mdot-899fiber-83 northmap 3 the governmenn uses rones all the time to gather & intelligeance and ápeak iná on coontries that harbor errorists....-& turns out... anyone ...can own... a drone... / áátheáá hefty price... tag.../ &p and... what else ...ttey're being used for.../ coming up later. 3 3 improovng aarport security.why the inspector general saas it & should start with the t-s-a. &pan

to achieve from this and we expect to achieve from this is that we'll collect information about why fss is not being selected as a source for biologics or other items or national contracts and be able to attenuate practice in the field, as well. >> numerous contracts reviewed show purchasers splitting contracts in order to remain under a specific threshold for purchase. in one case 12 purchases went to the same company for the same product. why is vha not aggregating their purchases to properly follow the far and var and to be compliant? >> it is not appropriate to split transactions to remain below a threshold. if that is occurring that is not a condoned practice. >> okay. what, then, would the vha do to stop that? >> monitor the action and ensure that -- every purchase card holder who is committing a transaction below 3,000 has a supervisor who is supposed to be watching and monitoring that. they should be looking for split transactions. that is an inappropriate action. i would request taking that item for the record to research it. >> i appreciate you recognizing that, sir. we have p

and our story is that we feel like, as fss contract holder, we can provide the same, if not better products, at a much more affordable price to the taxpayer. >> okay mr. president orace, you indicate that you disagree with the inspector general's audit indicating the average cost of a prosthetic limb made by contractors is more expensive than if the va made it in-house. whan do you have the average cost of a prosthetic limb made by contractors compared to the va? >> it's hard to answer that question only because when you describe a prosthetic limb you could be talking about a simple below the knee prosthesis, that might run in the neighborhood of the 8 to -- >> on average. >> if the va made it. >> i think remarkable similar. if is was true ap manies to apples comparison, because the reality is the component costs are, should be remtively similar from of the manufacturer to either the va or the outside clinician and then it's a matter of, there are industry standards for what the practitioners make should be relatively similar. ben fit costs, especially, all should be relatively similar. >>

wtla amera's warget.ank >> ds inas rporga cse ers trige tk lit t dame fmga cri the t $ li tbillamn fssgnza the008ankwa cfatgail-t. e 8k >> na:hatasn' jaml- mon. :lettn' meamell youbout wte sa abo the n.rade tha t wenelou utwron w thsa tbodesheeredehaenlawe on th t se mple pooly viedwe pooy ex utednd le poorlyie mitor.oo herhanhat,heyexedere p y grea m or ong r wint,oldyne shs j.pea gmorg iild c ssided a ban.p fill witrg i tent. smar cstdef t a srt.an but itllit hapns tot. en t art t s .ightt o wal strt. ttap e t ve u aht oalummatron h i coul hav gon wro. u a>> ic:t'sman h i vnestnt ul avnk o walon strrot. in stme: bans doell. v st they ave nat oal walktr o in thme marant. ol. wh the cono g seyeat wette o theyo wthl.ar whhe noey a g alrdyte ieres d iey a w bet r alrcono wha ies j.p i a morget did thenohaead of.p t disio t trgid puteheig tden, betdf o t dio t th ecomy gng nth ast t we.et o th thco g nadswe th dbleetro econy, arica ecomy de dn'torkut tha way sohey oston o aca theco 'tkha oneay soyt ohe sidne ofote. mieidimonhey e.ound ou e andotut treop ofonhey nd ulk sws or t weend. d t

. >> dave: how do you feel, fss weekend.ld for his promise of change and now they say the tide is turning and president obama is losing his support. we'll explore that next. >> alisyn: and jan brewer firing up the crowd, vowing to keep her state red. we'll hear from her, coming up. [ male announcer ] what's in your energy drink? ♪ wer surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. would you mind if to be ni go ahead of you?omer.rgy. instead we had someone go ahead of him and wifty thousand dollars. congratulations you are our one millionth customer. people don't li to miss out on money that should have been theirs. that's why at ally we have the raise your rate 2-year cd. you can get a one-time rate increase if our two-year rate goes up. if your bank mes you miss out, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. in here, great food demands a great presentation. so at&t showed corporate caterers how to beer co