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GAO-07-568R 1 (2007-04-23)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptavbs0001 and id is 1 raw text is: i= i Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 April 23, 2007 The Honorable Stephanie Herseth Chairwoman The Honorable John Boozman Ranking Minority Member Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity Committee on Veterans' Affairs House of Representatives Subject: VA Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment: Service Contract Management Is Improving, but Challenges Remain The Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) program provides services such as vocational counseling and job training to assist veterans with service-connected disabilities obtain and maintain suitable employment and achieve maximum independence in daily living. In fiscal year 2006, the VR&E program obligated about $702 million and served about 89,000 veterans. The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), which administers the VR&E program, provides some services to veterans through two types of contracts-national contracts and local contracts. In fiscal year 2003, VA adopted the National Acquisition Strategy (NAS) to award contracts at the national level to ensure that veterans have access to the same quality and types of VR&E services across regional offices. These national contracts, once awarded, are implemented by VA's regional offices. Services available under these national contracts include initial evaluations, case management, and employment placement assistance. In fiscal year 2006, VR&E spent about $15 million through national contracts. There are 165 national contracts currently active in fiscal year 2007. Regional offices also can negotiate and implement local contracts for services that are not provided through national contracts such as tutoring and computer skills evaluations. In fiscal year 2006, VR&E spent about $12 million through local contracts. VR&E contracting officers are responsible for negotiating the terms of local contracts. Contracting officer's technical representatives, often VR&E counselors themselves, assist in managing both national and local contracts. Recent studies of the VR&E program have raised concerns about its contracting practices. In March 2004, the VR&E Task Force recommended that VA enhance VR&E contracting practices by taking several actions, including revising the scope of national contracts and developing contracting training and hiring contracting specialists to improve the contracting expertise of VR&E staff. According to the VR&E Task Force, VR&E's capacity to manage its contracts could be further GAO-07-568R VA Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Contracting

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