October 19, 2005
Contact: Jeff Schrade (202)224-9093

(Washington, DC) After spending nearly a billion dollars on computer systems that don't work, officials from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs today pledged at a Senate hearing to reorganize the structure of the VA's information technology programs.

?This has to come under control.  We can't keep going back to taxpayers and explaining to them why hundreds of millions of dollars have been blown away.  I am pleased that the Department agrees and is taking proactive steps to address this issue,? said Sen. Larry Craig, who chairs the Veterans Affairs Committee which held the oversight hearing.

(See photos from the hearing at: 2005 - October 20 VA hearing on Information Tech.)

The Idaho Republican noted that the Senate recently took action to protect taxpayers from large scale project management failures with the veteran's agency.

?The FY 2006 Military Construction and VA appropriations bill places VA's information technology budget under one person.  Further, and perhaps more importantly, the bill withholds VA's IT project money for the new Health-e-Vet project until VA reorganizes its IT management to make certain that the project is run by a well-qualified IT project manager,? Craig said.

According to Deputy VA Secretary Gordon Mansfield, the reorganization effort will take from 12 to 18 months to complete.     

"I will hold you accountable," said Craig, noting that his committee is now requiring the VA to submit quarterly reports on its spending.  ? I don't want to wait until this effort is over a year and a half from now to discover whether it's going to work.?
  
But while taking the agency to task for its failures, the chairman also highlighted the VA's computer successes.

?VA has had numerous successes in its IT programs that I think we can all be proud of.  For example, I don't think there is a person in the health care industry that is not overwhelmed by ? and frankly jealous of ? VA's Electronic Health Record,? Craig said.

That view was echoed by several other senators at the hearing, who praised the VA for its computer record keeping system, a scaled-down version of which is now being offered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to doctors and hospitals nationwide.

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