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Office of Budget

Fiscal Year 2005 Performance and Accountability Report
Published November 15, 2005

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Major Management Challenges - Complete Narrative

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) identified the major management challenges facing the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and provided the following descriptions of the challenges. Left uncorrected, these challenges have the potential to impede VA's ability to fulfill its program responsibilities and ensure the integrity of operations. For the most part, the challenges are not amenable to simple, near-term resolution and can only be addressed by a concerted, persistent effort, resulting in progress over a long period of time. (In this report, years are fiscal years unless stated otherwise.)

Identified by VA Office of Inspector General

The VA OIG's strategic planning process is designed to identify and address the key issues facing VA. The OIG focused on the key issues of health care delivery, benefits processing, procurement, financial management, and information management in the 2005-2010 OIG Strategic Plan. The following summaries present the most serious management problems facing VA in each area and assess the Department's progress in overcoming them. While these issues guide our oversight efforts, we continually reassess our goals and objectives to ensure that our focus remains relevant, timely, and responsive to changing priorities. (On these pages, the words "we" and "our" refer to the OIG.)

Identified by the Government Accountability Office

In January 2003, GAO issued its Performance and Accountability Series: Major Management Challenges and Program Risks. In January 2005, GAO issued a report, High-Risk Series: An Update (GAO-05-207) as well as compiled a list of GAO products issued since January 2003 related to the major management challenges for the Department of Veterans Affairs identified in the Performance and Accountability Series. Most of the GAO findings and recommendations described in this document are specific to the Department. Beginning with GAO6, GAO feedback is governmentwide. Both the report and the list can be viewed at the GAO Web sites: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05207.pdf and http://www.gao.gov/pas/2005/dva.htm.

GAO Summary of VA's Status

Overall, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has made progress in addressing the five key management challenges GAO identified in 2003, though GAO has not reported on VA's role in preventing and responding to biological and chemical acts of terrorism since 2003. However, VA continues to be challenged to improve access to health care to its enrolled population, including a growing elderly veteran population and a population of new veterans from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. While VA has continued to make progress in improving disability claims processing, modernizing federal disability programs remains on GAO's high-risk list due to the use of outmoded criteria and remaining challenges in VA's claims processing. Additional actions are needed for VA to successfully overcome financial management weaknesses and information technology management challenges.