Good afternoon Chairwoman Sandlin, Ranking Member Boozman, and Members of the Subcommittee.  I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the current status of the Chapter 33 Long Term Solution (LTS---Chapter 33 of Title 38, United States Code).  My testimony will address the key milestones and dates, current progress of the long term solution, capabilities of the planned releases, and project challenges.

CH 33 LTS Key Milestones and Dates are as follows:

• March 31, 2010 – Planned date for  Release 1.0
• June 30, 2010 – Planned date for Release 2.0
• September 30, 2010 – Planned date for Release 3.0
• December 31, 2010 – Planned date for Release 4.0

Progress of the CH 33 Long Term Solution

During the four months since our last meeting with the subcommittee the CH 33 team has accomplished the following: 

• Completed a Rules Based Engine locating all CH 33 business rules in one area separate from the Application logic consistent with Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) principles.
• Established the development and production hosting capabilities in a secure cloud computing environment with secure network communications to VA legacy systems.
• Successfully integrated subject matter experts from the VA’s Field Operations into the development process to ensure the CH 33 LTS application will best support the Veterans Claim Examiners (VCEs) processing requirements and priorities.
• Completed a complex data interface with the VA/DoD Identity Repository (VADIR) Application.

Near-Term Goals

• Deploying an early CH 33 LTS Release 1.0 in March 2010 to a limited number of VCEs where original claims can be moved to and processed in the LTS automated, rules based environment.

Explanation of the System being Developed

There are four Veterans Affairs Regional Processing Offices (RPOs) responsible for processing thousands of claims from Veterans seeking to use the CH 33 educational benefits.  The adjudication process relies on highly trained VCEs to determine eligibility, calculate entitlement, and process the award.  This requires them to interface multiple disjointed systems and perform significant manual entry.

The objective of the Chapter 33 LTS is to support the new legislative requirements with a Web-based tool that will provide automation and standardization to the adjudication process.  This will significantly reduce the time to process a claim and the number of VCEs required.  Additional benefits will be efficiency, accuracy, predictability and reliable results.  Additionally, the tool will support the need for transparent data exchange and reporting while being flexible enough to adapt to future changes in policy and law.

Capabilities of the Planned CH 33 LTS Releases 

CH 33 LTS Release 1.0 will be deployed to incorporate the core features necessary to process new claims to include tuition payments, housing allowances, re-enlistment incentives, books and fees.  The primary objective of Release 1.0 will be to validate application performance, deployment strategies, and expected changes to business operations.  A key system interface will be eligibility data from VADIR.

Release 2.0 will begin the transition from the current CH 33 Interim Solution Front End Tool and Job Aid, enabling the VCEs to completely migrate off the Chapter 33 Interim Solution.  Release 2.0 will expand the capabilities of the earlier release by enabling VCEs to amend awards and process Transfer of Entitlement Claims. 

Release 3.0 will improve claims processing efficiency by automating the complex CH 33 financial transaction/authorization process currently required to authorize payments for claims.  This will be achieved by establishing a system interface with the VA’s Financial Accounting System (FAS).

The feedback from Release 1.0 through 3.0 will determine the requirements and scope of Release 4.0.

Implementation Challenges

The challenges being overcome include (1) translating the complexity of the CH 33 benefits adjudication into a business rules approach that will enable the system to quickly adapt to legislative interpretations, changes, and priorities; (2) access to the limited number of subject matter experts in claim adjudication, processes, and policies; (3) identifying the myriad number of scenarios for amending (changing) award amounts; (4) converting the data from the VA Interim Solution because of independent work-arounds and interpretations at RPOs; and 5) the complexity and the inconsistency in systems architectures and data across multiple VA and DoD systems.

Training Requirements

The CH 33 LTS team is currently developing a Web-based, interactive training system to teach VCEs how to use LTS application to process Chapter 33 claims. The training system will include (1) self-paced tutorial material and hands-on processing of simulated Chapter 33 claims, (2) 508 compliant, learning management system (LMS) to assess individual VCEs progress and demonstrate competency using the LTS system, (3) classroom training materials to teach the RPO training coordinators how to administer the web-based system to the VCE community, and (4) on-site support during the initial RPO deployment.

We are confident that the release of the CH 33 LTS will be completed by December 31, 2010.

Madam Chairwoman, this concludes my statement.  I would be pleased to answer any questions you or any of the other members of the Subcommittee may have.