Review of VA's Acquisitions Supporting the Veteran Employment Services Office

OIG evaluated whether the Office of Human Resources and Administration (HR&A) had adequate controls to ensure its Veteran Employment Services Office (VESO) acquisitions were appropriate and justified. We found that HR&A acquired excess services to support VESO operations when it expanded an interagency agreement (IA) with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to provide two employment call centers operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These call centers had call volumes so low during a 13-month period that each call center employee handled an average of 2.4 calls per day. Additionally, HR&A funded its IA to develop and maintain VESO’s veteran employment Web site, duplicating key components of existing HR&A and Veterans Benefits Administration employment Web sites. VESO also awarded a $4.4 million 1-year contract for human resources support services that duplicated its own internal capabilities and contracted for certain inherently governmental functions. These acquisitions occurred because VESO did not conduct a thorough analysis to justify the need for the services. We estimated at least $13.1 million will be spent through FY 2015 on excess call center capacity unless corrective action is taken. These funds, and the estimated $4.4 million, could be better used to provide employment services to veterans with greater efficiency and accountability. We recommended HR&A improve its acquisition practices by assessing program needs against VA’s existing capacities and capabilities and establishing program metrics. The Acting Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration concurred with our findings and recommendations and provided an appropriate action plan.