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News | March 8, 2022

DLA Distribution more than doubles Veterans Affairs’ medical supply support

By Kylie Young, DLA Distribution Public Affairs

Defense Logistics Agency Distribution continues their support to the Veterans Affairs Department, distributing approximately 12,000 pallets of supplies to VA healthcare facilities.

The VA program began as a partnership to ensure personal protective equipment for VA health care workers and has more than doubled in size. DLA Distribution is currently providing storage and distribution services for over 30,000 pallets of material with over 12,000 issues. The medical commodities include various types of testing kits, blood tubes, swabs, wipes, PPE such as gloves, masks, gowns and face shields and various sterilization supplies such as antiseptics and disinfectants. Shala Pulgar, a DLA Distribution Business Development Specialist, believes that the distribution of these supplies has been critical.

“The VA program is helping veterans locally and around the world by acquiring the necessary supplies needed for their 1,200 plus facilities,” Pulgar said. “DLA continues to provide flexible and agile support to the VA by providing storage and distribution services that adjust as the environment and VA’s requirements change.”

Since the start of the pandemic in January 2020, the VA storage grew to nine warehouses. Through the initial agreement, DLA Distribution received, stored and distributed equipment to free the VA’s limited storage, saving millions of dollars in storage costs. By leveraging DLA Distribution’s core competency of storage and distribution, the VA materials have been consolidated into three DLA warehouses with no disruption to veteran care at VA hospitals and facilities.

The three different warehouses that are storing VA supplies are the East Coast contracted warehouse in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, DLA Distribution Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, and DLA Distribution San Joaquin, California.

The Chambersburg warehouse is currently storing over 26,000 pallets of medical commodities, totaling approximately $120 million. The DDSP warehouse is currently storing over 550 pallets and DDJC is storing more than 3,100 pallets.

Relevant news:
2021:  DLA Distribution increases Veterans Affairs support
2020: DLA stores, distributes PPE for VA facilities ahead of potential virus spread in fall