“In 2015, the Veterans Affairs Department started tackling a project more than a decade overdue: bringing its rehabilitation program for disabled veterans into the 21st century by converting its paper-based case management system to a digital one.”
“Three years and $12 million later, there’s not much to show for it…”
“In all, the VA paid about $6.5 million to a contractor and spent another $5.5 on staff time and other resources, according to statements made during the hearing. A VA spokesman later put the estimate at $11.8 million and said the project was funded up to $13 million…”
“The $12 million that was apparently wasted in a failed attempt to create an electronic case management system could have funded two-thirds the number of new (vocational rehabilitation counselors) we recommended,” Joy Ilem, DAV’s national legislative director, said in an email.”
“Currently, the veteran-to-counselor ratio is at a rolling average of 133 to one, down from 140 at the end of fiscal 2016, according to the VA. But some areas are seeing ratios as high as 225 veterans to one counselor…Resources are a valuable commodity within VA and to potentially waste $12 million that could have been directed to assist veterans in other ways is troubling.” Read the full article here.
Source: A $12 million ‘colossal mistake’: botched VA disabled vet project enrages lawmakers – By Natalie Gross, May 26, 2018. MilitaryTimes.
