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U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS HONORABLE TERRY EVERETT, CHAIRMAN HEARING ON DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) PROGRAM May 11, 2000 CHAIRMAN TERRY EVERETT’S OPENING STATEMENT
The hearing will come to order. Good morning! This hearing will examine the Department of Veterans Affairs information technology (IT) program. VA’s IT budget is $1.2 billion this year and next year’s proposed budget is $1.4 billion. This is the first of two hearings on the VA's information technology program. We will hear testimony from representatives of the General Accounting Office, the VA Inspector General’s Office and the VA. These evolving IT modernization efforts go back at least to the 1985 Veterans Administration policy to provide "better service to the veteran through modern technology." Here we are 15 years later, and what progress has the VA made and, most importantly, how has service to veterans improved?
CLOSING STATEMENT
Again, I thank our witnesses for their testimony at today’s hearing. Certainly, I believe the testimony by the GAO and IG representatives underscores the Subcommittee’s concerns that the VA has little to show taxpayers and veterans for the billions of dollars VA has invested in computers and software. While it is difficult to quantify with precision, I believe that VA has wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on the wrong systems and seemingly endless IT development projects like VETSNET, 8 years and still not done with nearly half a billion dollars invested. Program management has long been the Achilles heel of VA’s IT programs. If the VA can’t get its priorities straight, its IT performance is not going to improve. Critical reforms are being attempted with the Department’s new capital investment process, but their success is uncertain. If the VA is truly to be "One VA", it must develop an integrated systems architecture to allow seamless customer service for veterans. So far it is only talk. I expect the VA to report to the Subcommittee in 60 days what its plan is for an integrated systems architecture, along with the milestones for completion. I know the Deputy Secretary wants such a plan and maybe this will help it along. I do believe the VA is on the mark in making computer security its priority. The recent virus attacks world-wide are sobering reminders of what can happen to vital computer systems if security is not good. The hearing is adjourned.
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