The Department of Veterans Affairs’ ongoing effort to develop a streamlined platform for veterans to access education benefits has been hobbled by serious setbacks and cost overruns, according to a watchdog report released on Wednesday.
The Forever GI Bill, passed by Congress in 2017, offered enhanced education support for veterans and called for the Veterans Benefits Administration to modernize its information technology systems to better provide services.
VBA signed a $453 million contract with Accenture Federal Services in March 2021 to develop and implement a new Digital GI Bill platform to improve the processing of education-related claims and modernize related systems. The system was initially scheduled to be operational by April 2024.
In a highly critical review, however, VA’s Office of Inspector General found that “insufficient planning by VBA hindered development and completion of the Digital GI Bill platform and has led to significant delays and contributed to about $479 million in additional costs.”
OIG said the initial contract requirements for the platform’s development “were unclear and included unrealistic expectations,” which caused the total cost of the modernization initiative to more than double. VA now estimates that the platform will be completed around July 2026.
The watchdog said these issues began at the very start of the contract development process because “VBA failed to include staff who had the required technical expertise to develop performance work statements, which outline the necessary steps to complete the platform development and therefore drive contract requirements.” VA and Accenture ultimately renegotiated their contract in December 2023 to account for the program’s additional needs.
OIG also said that VBA “did not choose to follow the best practices” developed by the Government Accountability Office for developing “an integrated master schedule to guide a project.”
The watchdog provided three recommendations to VA, including calling for VBA to establish a process for monitoring implementation steps under the renegotiated contract, to develop a clear timeline for the program’s implementation and to enhance communication between Accenture and department officials.
Although VA concurred with OIG’s recommendations, the department said the additional costs associated with the renegotiated contract “were needed to correct the original contract and meet the objectives of the [Digital GI Bill] platform.”
The release of the report comes as Congress has grown increasingly frustrated by the program’s delays. Bipartisan members of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee previously pressed VA officials during a July 2023 hearing about delays in the project’s implementation, with lawmakers expressing particular concern at the time about the fulfillment of contract requirements.
In an Aug. 28 letter to the VA, Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill. — who chairs the House panel — said OIG’s report “shows that the Digital GI Bill project was predestined for cost overruns, delays and disappointing results from the outset.”
“The project has already cost taxpayers an extra $479 million, and this is hardly the end of the cost overruns,” he wrote. “On top of that, the system still has not met its original goals to make student veterans’ education benefits more user friendly. This is wholly unacceptable and student veterans — and taxpayers — deserve better.”
Bost requested that VA respond to his committee by Sept. 8 with additional information about its plans to address OIG’s recommendations and its disciplinary actions against officials who are responsible for the program’s setbacks.
Add a Comment