Review of VA’s Staffing and Vacancy Reporting under the MISSION Act of 2018

Report Information

Issue Date
Report Number
22-01440-254
VA Office
Human Resources and Administration Office/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP)
Report Author
Office of Audits and Evaluations
Report Type
Review
Recommendations
2
Questioned Costs
$0
Better Use of Funds
$0
Congressionally Mandated
No

Summary

Summary
The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) assessed VA’s compliance with requirements to report staffing and vacancy data on its public-facing website and the clarity of related explanations. VA is mandated to publicly release this information each quarter under the Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks (MISSION) Act of 2018 to promote transparency in personnel management. The MISSION Act also requires the OIG to review VA’s data-reporting website and make recommendations for improvement. After discussions with the review team, VA took action to correct its time-to-hire calculation starting with the June 2022 quarterly report to include every required step of the hiring process. VA also explained OIG-identified discrepancies in its June 2022 report after the review team discussed them with responsible officials. Consequently, the OIG did not make further recommendations on these issues. The review team found that VA could strengthen its explanation of vacant positions to show that the data were rounded and included part-time positions. VA agreed and included that information beginning with the April 2022 staffing and vacancy report. Additionally, the team observed that VA could increase the value of its reported information by summarizing and identifying trends in the expanded time-to-hire data, as done with the vacancy, onboarding, and gains and losses information published under the MISSION Act. In response, VA added summary tab information beginning in June 2022 that interpreted the new time to hire data requirements. The OIG made two recommendations: (1) request legislative relief from Congress on data it is unable to report or (2) ensure data limitations are clearly explained that preclude VA from reporting all elements of time-to-hire data under the Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act.

Open Recommendation Image, SquareOpenClosed and Implemented Recommendation Image, CheckmarkClosed-ImplementedNot Implemented Recommendation Image, X character'Closed-Not Implemented
No. 1
Closed and Implemented Recommendation Image, Checkmark
to Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP)
Consider seeking legislative relief from Congress regarding the language related to reporting potential hires under the element of section 3008(a)(E)(iii) of the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020.
No. 2
Closed and Implemented Recommendation Image, Checkmark
to Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP)

Absent such relief, provide information detailing the limitations that prevent VA from reporting the average number of days that potential title 38 or hybrid title 38 hires spent in each phase of the hiring model in accordance with section 3008(a)(E)(iii) of the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020.