Fiscal Year 2005 Performance and Accountability Report Published November 15, 2005
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Strategic Objective 4.5: Maintaining National Cemeteries as Shrines
Ensure that national cemeteries are maintained as shrines dedicated to preserving our Nation's history, nurturing patriotism, and honoring the service and sacrifice veterans have made.
Performance Trends and Impact of FY 2005 Result
Performance Trend |
FY 2005 Impact |
Key Measure: Percent of Respondents Who Rate National Cemetery Appearance as Excellent
| |
2001 |
96% |
2002 |
97% |
2003 |
97% |
2004 |
98% |
2005 Result |
98% |
2005 Plan |
98% |
2006 Plan |
99% |
Strategic Target |
100% |
|
National cemeteries carry expectations of appearance that set them apart from private cemeteries. Our Nation is committed to create and maintain these sites as national shrines. The 2005 score reflects VA's commitment to maintain the appearance of national cemeteries as national shrines so that bereaved family members are comforted when they come to the cemetery for the interment, or later to visit the grave(s) of their loved one(s). Our Nation's veterans have earned the appreciation and respect not only of their friends and families, but also of the entire country and our allies. |
Related Information
Major Management Challenges
Neither VA's Office of Inspector General nor the Government Accountability Office identified any major management challenges related to this objective.
Program Evaluations
The Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act, Public Law 106-117, directed VA to contract for an independent study to look at various issues related to the National Shrine Commitment and its focus on cemetery appearance. Volume 3: Cemetery Standards of Appearance was published in March 2002. This report served as a planning tool and reference guide in the task of reviewing and refining VA's operational standards and measures.
In August 2002, Volume 2: National Shrine Commitment was completed. This report identified the one-time repairs needed to ensure a dignified and respectful setting appropriate for each national cemetery. VA is using the information in this report to address repair and maintenance needs at national cemeteries.
Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) Evaluation
In relation to this strategic objective, the Administration conducted a PART evaluation of VA's Burial program during 2002, which resulted in a rating of "Moderately Effective." Please see Summary Table 3 for more information.
New Policies and Procedures
Using the recommendations in the Volume 3 report mentioned above and building on previous efforts, VA has established standards and measures by which NCA can determine the effectiveness and efficiency of its operations. These standards and measures identify performance expectations in key operational processes including interments, grounds maintenance, and headstones and markers.
NCA has established an Organizational Assessment and Improvement Program to identify and prioritize improvement opportunities and to enhance program accountability by providing managers and staff at all levels with one NCA "scorecard." As part of the program, assessment teams conduct site visits to all national cemeteries on a rotating basis to validate performance reporting.
In order to ensure a high-performing, well-trained workforce, VA established the National Cemetery Administration Training Center. Initially focused on training cemetery directors and assistant directors, the new facility will eventually expand its classes to train supervisors, equipment operators, grounds keepers, cemetery representatives, and other employees. As 11 new national cemeteries become operational, the center's efforts will help ensure consistency in operations throughout the national cemetery system as well as a high-performing workforce and well-trained staff for key positions. In 2005 the first class of cemetery director interns graduated. They were assigned to leadership positions at national cemeteries throughout the country.
NCA is partnering with the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT), an office of the National Park Service (NPS), to conduct a materials conservation and treatment analysis of government-issued marble veteran headstones issued from the 1870s through 1973. Second to VA, NPS has the largest number of national cemeteries, including Gettysburg National Cemetery, under its jurisdiction. Through a 2-year interagency agreement, NCPTT will identify alternatives for cleaning historic headstones based upon criteria such as cost effectiveness and environmentally and historic-resource friendly chemicals.
In 2004 NCA launched a Web-based (Internet) Nationwide Gravesite Locator (NGL) system. The system contains more than 3 million records of veterans and dependents buried in VA's 121 cemeteries since the Civil War. It also has records of some burials in state veterans cemeteries and burials in Arlington National Cemetery from 1999 to the present. Making it easier to identify burial locations may bring more visitors to the honored resting places that VA considers national shrines and historical treasures.
Other Important Results
The willingness to recommend the national cemetery to veteran families during their time of need is an expression of loyalty toward that national cemetery. In 2005, 98 percent of survey respondents (family members and funeral directors who have recently received services from a national cemetery) indicated they would recommend the national cemetery to veteran families during their time of need.
To ensure the appearance of national cemeteries meets the standards our Nation expects of its national shrines, VA performed a wide variety of grounds management functions including raising, realigning, and cleaning headstones to ensure uniform height and spacing and to improve appearance. The rows of pristine, white headstones that are set at the proper height and correct alignment provide the vista that is the hallmark of many VA national cemeteries. In 2005 VA collected data that showed that 70 percent of headstones and/or markers in national cemeteries are at the proper height and alignment; 72 percent of headstones, markers, and niche covers are clean and free of debris or objectionable accumulations; and 84 percent of gravesites in national cemeteries had grades that were level and blended with adjacent grade levels. In 2005 National Shrine Commitment projects were initiated at 13 national cemeteries. These projects will raise, realign, and clean more than 110,000 headstones and markers and renovate gravesites in nearly 100 acres. While attending to these highly visible aspects of our national shrines, VA also maintained roads, drives, parking lots, and walks; painted buildings, fences, and gates; and repaired roofs, walls, and irrigation and electrical systems.
VA continued its partnerships with various civic organizations that provide volunteers and other participants to assist in maintaining the appearance of national cemeteries. For example, an interagency agreement with the Bureau of Prisons provides for the use of selected prisoners to perform work at national cemeteries. Under a joint venture with VHA, national cemeteries provide therapeutic work opportunities to veterans receiving treatment in the Compensated Work Therapy/Veterans Industries program. The national cemeteries are provided a supplemental workforce while giving veterans the opportunity to work for pay, regain lost work habits, and learn new work skills.
NCA is working with VA's Office of the General Counsel (OGC) and an outside patent counsel to obtain patents for NCA "technology." VA has applied for patents for NCA's combined mower/trimmer invention and for the swiveling hearse carrier. NCA is also working with OGC to develop a licensing strategy for the potential transfer of technologies to private sector entities.
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