The Electronic Health Record Modernization Program Could Strengthen Its Process for Reviewing Task Order Progress Reports

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is issuing this management advisory memorandum to VA in response to an allegation that VA was not adequately overseeing contractors’ progress reports before payment for work on modernizing the electronic health record system for patients. Specifically, the OIG received an allegation that Cerner Government Services, Inc. (Cerner), had submitted invoices for progress reports that were not adequately completed. The complainant reported being told the progress report was just “a cover page, there’s an agenda, there’s six empty pages, there’s an ending. That’s what they turned in to get paid for this deliverable.” Because the complainant referenced the time frame from October 2019 through March 2020 for the deliverables and indicated Cerner was behind in billing VA in January 2020, the OIG reviewed just the progress reports associated with that timeframe for the first task order under the governing contract to assess the allegation. The OIG did not substantiate the allegation as there was detailed information in progress reports, but did note VA lacked timelines for when contractors needed to provide corrections to insufficient progress reports. The delays observed for contractors’ corrections to progress reports could limit VA’s ability to promptly and accurately monitor contractors’ progress on particular tasks. This management advisory conveys the information necessary for the Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office to determine if remedial actions are warranted.