title: VA WHISTLEBLOWER TELLS OF “LAWLESSNESS AND CHAOS” YOU WON’T BELIEVE IN BILLIONS WASTED
text: This is nothing short of outrageous! Billions wasted using purchase cards to go around federal law is beyond criminal. This senior official went public after it was crickets from the VA Secretary. Don t you wish more people would do this? A culture of  lawlessness and chaos  reigns at the Department of Veterans Affairs when it comes to purchasing goods and services for the Veterans Health Administration, according to senior official Jan R. Frye.Frye, deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and logistics, first brought to light problems of abuse back in March. He decided to air the information publicly after his 35-page memorandum to VA Secretary Robert McDonald went completely unanswered.The sum total of the chaos amounts to at least $6 billion in wasted funds spent in violation of federal contracting rules, The Washington Post reports.One of the most egregious methods designed to skirt federal rules is the use of purchase cards for large-scale purchases totaling billions. These purchase cards are normally intended to make it easier to acquire small items conveniently. Instead, employees used the cards to subvert contracting rules, bringing in $1.2 billion dollars worth of prosthetics. VA employees often collaborate together to split purchases across cards to keep the total under $3,000 dollars, all the while purchasing items far over that limit.Read more: TheDC