ENHANCEMENT OF MEDICAL PREPAREDNESS OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

SEC. 303. ENHANCEMENT OF MEDICAL PREPAREDNESS OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.(a) Peer Review Panel.—In order to assist the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in selecting facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs to serve as sites for centers under section 7328 of title 38, United States Code, as added by subsection (c), the Secretary shall establish a peer review panel to assess the scientific and clinical merit of proposals that are submitted to the Secretary for the selection of such facilities. The panel shall be established not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and shall include experts in the fields of toxicological research, infectious diseases, radiology, clinical care of veterans exposed to such hazards, and other persons as determined appropriate by the Secretary. Members of the panel shall serve as consultants to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Amounts available to the Secretary for Medical Care may be used for purposes of carrying out this subsection. The panel shall not be subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.).(b) Proposals.—The Secretary shall solicit proposals for designation of facilities as described in subsection (a). The announcement of the solicitation of such proposals shall be issued not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and the deadline for the submission of proposals in response to such solicitation shall be not later than 90 days after the date of such announcement. The peer review panel established under subsection (a) shall complete its review of the proposals and submit its recommendations to the Secretary not later than 60 days after the date of the deadline for the submission of proposals. The Secretary shall then select the four sites for the location of such centers not later than 45 days after the date on which the peer review panel submits its recommendations to the Secretary.(c) Revised Section.—(1) Subchapter II of chapter 73 is amended by inserting after section 7327, as added by section 302(a)(1) of this Act, a new section with—(A) a heading as follows:“§ 7328. Medical preparedness centers” ; and(B) a text consisting of the text of subsections (a) through (h) of section 7325 of title 38, United States Code, and a subsection (i) at the end as follows:“(i) Funding.—(1) There are authorized to be appropriated for the centers under this section $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2005 through 2007.118 STAT. 2387“(2) In addition to any amounts appropriated for a fiscal year specifically for the activities of the centers pursuant to paragraph (1), the Under Secretary for Health shall allocate to the centers from other funds appropriated for that fiscal year generally for the Department medical care account and the Department medical and prosthetic research account such amounts as the Under Secretary determines necessary in order to carry out the purposes of this section.”.(2) The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 73 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 7327, as added by section 302(a)(2) of this Act, the following new item: “7328. Medical preparedness centers.”.