VA Exploits Legal Loophole Favoring US-Made Products to Purchase Generic Drugs from India

The DaVinci Company, is a Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned, Small Business founded by a former U.S. Air Force pilot with over 3,500 hours in command of multiple aircraft during his military career.  Out of a deep sense of obligation to all veterans, The DaVinci Company is committed to selling only quality pharmaceuticals to the Veterans Administration and always strives to offer to the VA products made in the US.  With respect to the VA’s recent request for procurement of Tamsulosin, there is no manufacturer of the drug located in the US; thus, in this case, The DaVinci Company’s commitment to providing quality products means that it is offering Tamsulosin produced in a Trade Agreements Act (TAA)-designated country, which means a country that the United States has designated as among its most trusted trading partners.

Unfortunately, the VA has constructed a procurement that puts products manufactured in TAA-designated countries at a significant competitive disadvantage to products made in countries that have not been designated as trusted trading partners, a situation that is in conflict with long-established US trade policy.  To achieve this perverse result, the VA asserted that the Buy American Act regime (which gives a price preference to products made in the United States) somehow applies—even though the VA has recognized from the outset of this procurement that there are no domestic sources of Tamsulosin.  This result is contrary to both the text and purpose of the governing statutes and regulations, and so (after trying to resolve the issue with the VA at the agency level), The DaVinci Company has brought a lawsuit in the Court of Federal Claims to protect not only its own interests, but the interests of our veterans who will use the product and all small businesses who want to sell to the VA products made in the United States or in trusted TAA-designated countries.