Department of Veterans Affairs
VA runs the largest integrated health care system in the country, plus benefits administration and the national cemetery system. Almost everything it buys traces back to keeping about 170 medical centers and 1,200 outpatient sites running and caring for veterans.
Scale: Roughly $40 billion or more in contract obligations per year
What VA buys
- Medical and surgical supplies, pharmaceuticals, and prosthetics
- Medical equipment and imaging systems, plus maintenance
- Healthcare staffing and clinical services
- IT modernization, EHR support, cybersecurity, and help desk
- Construction, renovation, and seismic and life safety upgrades
- Facilities operations, HVAC, elevator, and grounds maintenance
- Janitorial and environmental services
- Professional services, training, and program support
- Logistics, warehousing, and medical transport
- Engineering and architectural services
Who buys it
Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Network Contracting Offices (NCO 1-23)
Regional medical center buying: supplies, clinical services, facility support. This is where most small business awards happen.
Strategic Acquisition Center (SAC)
Large national requirements, medical/surgical prime vendor programs, and enterprise services.
Technology Acquisition Center (TAC)
IT services, software, cybersecurity, and health IT programs.
Office of Construction & Facilities Management (CFM)
Major and minor construction, design, and A-E services.
National Cemetery Administration
Cemetery construction, grounds maintenance, headstones, and support services.
How they buy
- GSA Multiple Award Schedule orders, especially Schedule 621 I healthcare services and medical equipment SINs
- VA-specific vehicles such as MSPV (medical/surgical prime vendor) and T4NG for IT services
- Agency IDIQs and BPAs at the network contracting office level
- Open market simplified acquisitions below the simplified acquisition threshold
- Direct sole source awards to verified SDVOSBs and VOSBs under the Veterans First program
Small business opportunities
VA Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU)
VA is the single best agency in government for verified service-disabled veteran-owned firms. The Veterans First Contracting Program requires VA to consider SDVOSB and VOSB set-asides before other set-asides, and VA can make sole source awards to them under certain thresholds.
Top NAICS and PSC categories
Directional, based on where this agency's spending concentrates. Confirm current numbers in the live award data below.
Top NAICS
- 621111 Offices of Physicians
- 339112 Surgical and Medical Instrument Manufacturing
- 541512 Computer Systems Design Services
- 236220 Commercial and Institutional Building Construction
- 561210 Facilities Support Services
- 423450 Medical Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
Top PSC
- Q201 Medical: General Health Care
- 6515 Medical and Surgical Instruments and Equipment
- D307 IT and Telecom: Systems Development
- Y1DA Construction of Hospitals and Infirmaries
- S201 Custodial Janitorial Services
Recent procurement activity
We send you to the live sources rather than a stale snapshot. These open pre-filtered for this agency.
How to get in the door
Start regional, not national. Identify the VISN and the medical centers near you, get on their radar through the network contracting office, and target buys under the simplified acquisition threshold first. If you are a veteran-owned firm, complete SBA VetCert before anything else. It changes what you are eligible for at VA more than any other credential.
What trips contractors up here
- Verification matters. Unverified SDVOSB claims at VA draw scrutiny and can lead to removal from the program.
- Medical facility work often carries strict infection control, badging, and background requirements that add real cost. Price them.
- VA has many buying offices that do not talk to each other. A relationship at one medical center does not carry to another.
Potential fit for your company
Tell us about your company once and we will compare it to how VA actually buys, then give you a Strong, Moderate, or Limited fit rating and explain the reasoning.
Describe the work you perform yourself, not the market you want to be in.
Include anything in progress. It changes what you are eligible for.
Commercial past performance counts. Say so if you have no federal work yet.
Be honest here. It drives whether the fit is realistic or aspirational.
Fill in what you do, your certifications, location, past performance, and capacity to run the analysis.