March 7, 2018

REMINDER - Urgent: Action Requested About eCommerce Portals

HIDA Government Affairs needs your help weighing in with Members of Congress regarding the unique nature of the healthcare supply chain and how the implementation of the e-Commerce Portals provision will affect their delivery to Department of Defense healthcare facilities across the country. Specifically, We urge GSA to work closely with relevant stakeholders to identify those products/product lines with particular health and safety concerns, and in particular the countless products used in the health and treatment of patients that are not suitable for online purchasing, and to exempt them from the Procurement through Commercial e-Commerce Portals program.  This would prevent a host of unintended consequences that may compromise the health and safety of patients.

A provision recently passed in the Nation Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has restructured the federal procurement process of Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) products by creating a new e-Commerce portal system. The Government Services Administration (GSA) is currently working on the specifics of what this new program will look like. The NDAA Conference Report noted the unique nature of the healthcare supply chain and as such that it should require a consultation with affected departments and agencies, as well as a special assessment on product suitable to be included in the e-commerce portals.

HIDA Government Affairs has been working on a “Dear Colleague” with our Congressional partners to create a letter for Members of Congress to sign onto which urges GSA to respect the intent of the legislation and ensure the healthcare supply chain and patients are not inadvertently harmed by this process.

It is urgent that you write your Member of Congress today asking for their support by signing onto the “Dear Colleague” letter.  HIDA Government Affairs has drafted a note which you can access here, that you can quickly send to your Member of Congress.

HIDA requests that you take action as soon as possible, as our deadline for collecting signatures is TOMORROW.

WRITE YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS TODAY►