ms. halladay. we will now begin with questions. and i recognize myself for five minutes. ms. halladay, did the inspector general use the v.a.'s definition for prosthetic in its recent audits? >> we looked at the definition and i believe in the inventories we really didn't find any real problems with it because it was defined and we could then apply it against the purchases we reviewed. >> your testimony mentions that overpayments generally occur because vha paid vendor invoices that included charges in excess of prices agreed to in the vendors contracts with v.a. did you find any reason as to why or how the v.a. purchasers failed to obtain best value even with the contract in place? >> well, the question on the best value led to the contracting officers not trying to negotiate discount rates. the problem with the overpayments was because the invoices that were being received were not receiving adequate review by the kotars prior to certification of the payment. they were not looking at the invoices. >> you also discussed how v.a. purchasing agents following the terms of contra