From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov

Transcript for: High Risk: VA Acquisition Management

Description: As part of GAO's High Risk series, Shelby Oakley, a
director in GAO's Contracting and National Security Acquisitions team,
describes why GAO put acquisition management at the Department of
Veterans Affairs on its list of programs at high risk for waste, fraud,
abuse or mismanagement, or in need of transformation. 

Related GAO Work: GAO-19-157SP: High-Risk Series: Substantial Efforts
Needed to Achieve Greater Progress on High-Risk Areas

Released: March 2019

[The GAO logo appears with the words "2019 High Risk List" underneath
it.]

[Matt Oldham]: [Photos of servicemen and women appear on the screen in
tiles] The motto of the VA is to care for those who shall have borne the
battle and their families and survivors.

[Shelby Oakley]: [Photos change to a shot of the outside of the VA
headquarters.] There are millions of veterans who rely on the Department
of Veterans Affairs to provide world-class benefits they've earned. 
[Shelby Oakley appears, walking on the sidewalk outside of GAO
headquarters.] In fiscal year 2019, VA received the largest
discretionary budget in its history -- eighty six and a half billion
dollars. About a third of that, almost $30 billion will be used by VA to
contract for goods and services.

[Outside shot of the VA building with people walking in and out.]
 
[Shelby Oakley]: We've consistently reported on instability in VA's
procurement leadership, which makes it harder for VA to efficiently
execute and monitor [Shelby Oakley talking in front of GAO headquarters]
many of its acquisition programs and policies. 

[Shelby Oakley]: Furthermore, the Department's acquisition regulations
are severely outdated. [The plaque on the side of the VA appears with
graphics of papers coming in on top of it.] Just over two years ago, we
reported that these regulations have not been fully updated since 2008,
and that VA had been working on a comprehensive revision since 2011. [A
photo of two people talking with a stack of papers and of someone filing
papers into folders appears] The delay in updating these regulations has
made it more difficult for contracting officers to effectively carry out
their duties.

[Shelby Oakley]: [Shelby Oakley speaking in front of GAO headquarters]
Since 2015, we've found that heavy workloads also contribute to
contracting officers' challenges. For instance, we reported in September
2018 [Graph of survey response comes onto the screen] that more than
half of surveyed contracting officers said their workloads were
unreasonable.

[Shelby Oakley]: [The outside of the VA building appears as snippets of
recommendations flood the screen. The words "21 open recommendations"
appear over the snippets.] Overall, since 2015, we've made over thirty
recommendations to VA related to managing its contracting -- most of
which remain open. [Cut to Shelby Oakley walking down the side walk
outside of GAO headquarters] It's imperative, for veterans and
taxpayers, that VA use its funds in the most efficient and effective
manner possible when contracting for goods and services.  As such, we've
added VA's Acquisition Management as a new High Risk area in 2019. 

[Shelby Oakley walks off camera as the words "GAO.gov/highrisk" appear
on the screen.]