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![handle is hein.gao/gaobadjvx0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
0jLLER 6
STHE COMVPTROLLER GENERAL
OECISION OF THE UNITED STATES
WASHINGTON. . C. 20548
FILE: B-195559.2 DATE: November 2, 1981
MATTER OF: Veterans Administration
DIGEST:
GAO will not object to sole-source award
I of contracts for mutual use of medical
services by the Veterans Administration
under 38 U.S.C. § 5053 once appropriate
changes are made to agency regulations
removing such contract awards from com-
petition requirements of Federal Procure-
ment Regulations.
The Veterans Administration (VA) has expressed
concern to our Office about the effect of our decision,
Metropolitan Radiology Associates, Chartered, B-195559,
April 9, 1980, 80-1 CPD 265, on its mutual use and
'exchange of use medical services contracts awarded
by the VA under 38 U.S.C. S 5053 (1976).
The VA, under 38 U.S.C. S 5053, is authorized to
secure mutual use and exchange of use specialized
medical resources, which otherwise might not be feasibly
available, when the Administrator determines it to
be in the best interest of the prevailing standards
of the [VA's] medical care program. Under 38 U.S.C.
S 4117 the VA is further authorized to enter into con-
tracts with medical schools and other groups capable
of furnishing such medical specialist services.
In our decision, we held that award of a sole-
source contract to Georgetown University Hospital was
not justified since the record indicated only a close
relationship between the VA and the awardee rather
than a showing that only the awardee could satisfy the
VA's minimum needs.
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