mr. fryes indicated similar levels of mismanagement and abuse in the procurement of non-v.a. health care services by vha. by far the most prevalent method by which veterans receive non-va care is through the individual authorization, so-called fee basis process. under title 38 of the code of federal regulations, section 17.52, va is authorized to obtain non-va medical services when demand is infrequent and the needed health care is not available in house or through an existing contract. unfortunately, va uses this process even when these requirements are not at issue. moreover va admits that the execution of these authorizations does not comply with the contract requirements of the federal acquisition regulation, or f.a.r., and veterans affairs acquisition regulation v.a.r., v-a-r. he'll testify by long-standing circumvention of the v.a.r. and f.a.r. in the fee-based authorization process, va has illegally obligated billions of dollars. he will explain that va incurs billions in improper payme

mr. frye has indicated similar levels of mismanagement and abuse in the procurement of non-va health care services by vha. by far the most prevalent method by which veterans receive non-va cares through the individual authorization, so-called fee-based process. under title 38 of the code of federal regulations section 752 authorized to it came non-va medical services when demand is in frequent native health care is not available through an existing contract. unfortunately bh uses a process even when this requirement are not at issue. moreover va admits the execution of these authorizations does not comply with the contract requirements of the federal acquisition regulation. veterans affairs acquisition regulation far. mr. frye will testify that long-standing and massive circumvention and vaar and the fee basis authorization process the va has obligated billions of dollars. he will explain va incurs billions of improper payments that represent material weaknesses and internal audit control. in

i'm concerned about what gao and mr. frye has identified as what can go wrong when the procedure is not followed. mr. chairman thank you for your indulgence, i yield back. >>> thank you mr. chairman. first of all, mr. labonte my deepest apologies for you and what i understand and you understand much more clearly is that veterans care is a zero sum proposition. if one veteran doesn't receive the care they are entitled to and the guest quality it's a failure. so your situation is unacceptable. the thing i would encourage you on is and i looked into this, the tort issue. that's your recourse on this and they will always try to throw barriers up both in the private-sector and in the public but there are a lot of good folks out there that can help with that so i would hope you pursue that. >> the tort program is the va essentially investigating themselves. the attorney acts as the investigator. >> trust me. there are people that win these and what i'm saying if this was wrong there are people out there to assist you. there are vet

. >> mr. frye, i let me just follow up on this. if every single one of these contracts was far qualified or whatever the verb would be what would the time commitment and the cost be to that process? >> from $1 to $10,000, we have a nonfar compliant system in place. it's like falling off a rock. the appropriate terms and conditions are in that contract. it is simply a process where authorized personnel not contracting officers sign this contract and they're on the way to the doctors. it's been this way for four years. we all recognize, including council, that it is not compliant with the far. so a year ago in july afternoon all that effort, the veterans health administration summarily rejected it. it didn't go far enough for them. >> that is my concern that we heard from my colleague that a company that had been providing services was obviously somebody draw attention to that they didn't have a contract, they tried to go through a contract. but, in fact, the process was so burdensome, what ended up happening is the veterans didn't g