3.0.0 154 2022-11-01T14:17:31Z 2022-11-01T14:21:13Z Senate S 2019-01-16 116 ssva00 Veterans' Affairs Committee Senate Standing Referred to 2019-01-16T21:23:50Z 2019-01-16 ssva00 Veterans' Affairs Committee Senate Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. IntroReferral 2019-01-16 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress T000464 Sen. Tester, Jon [D-MT] Jon Tester D MT N B001277 Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT] Richard Blumenthal D CT 2019-01-16 True B001230 Sen. Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI] Tammy Baldwin D WI 2019-01-16 True M001111 Sen. Murray, Patty [D-WA] Patty Murray D WA 2019-01-16 True K000384 Sen. Kaine, Tim [D-VA] Timothy Kaine D VA M. 2019-01-16 True B001267 Sen. Bennet, Michael F. [D-CO] Michael Bennet D CO 2019-01-16 True S001191 Sen. Sinema, Kyrsten [D-AZ] Kyrsten Sinema D AZ 2019-01-16 True Armed Forces and National Security Accounting and auditing Appropriations Congressional oversight Department of Veterans Affairs Evidence and witnesses Executive agency funding and structure Government information and archives Government studies and investigations Health information and medical records Health personnel Medical ethics Performance measurement Public contracts and procurement Veterans' medical care Armed Forces and National Security 00 2019-01-16 Introduced in Senate 2020-10-30T17:00:38Z Department of Veterans Affairs Contract, Leadership, and Ensuring Accountability and Reform Act of 2019 or the VA CLEAR Act of 2019

This bill addresses oversight of financial processes of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and also requires implementation of systems for maintaining specified records.

Among other elements, the bill requires the VA to

  • include specified elements in contracts it enters for services (e.g., measurable metrics to ascertain the performance of the provider of the service),
  • submit a justification and plan for contracts for services that would incur an obligation of more than $2 billion,
  • contract with a third party to review and audit the VA's financial processes and provide recommendations for improvement, and
  • submit a justification for requests for supplemental appropriations.

Additionally, the Inspector General of the VA and the Government Accountability Office must complete a review of a contract for services that would result in the VA incurring an obligation of more than $2 billion.

The bill authorizes the Inspector General of the VA, in the performance of the functions assigned to such office, to subpoena the attendance and testimony of witnesses.

Finally, the bill requires the VA to implement a centralized system to maintain and record completed reviews of administrative investigation boards, and the Veterans Health Administration must implement a centralized system for tracking instances where the VA has referred a clinician to a state's licensing board because of behavior or clinical outcomes.

]]> VA CLEAR Act of 2019 Display Title VA CLEAR Act of 2019 Short Title(s) as Introduced VA CLEAR Act of 2019 Introduced in Senate IS Short Title(s) as Introduced Department of Veterans Affairs Contract, Leadership, and Ensuring Accountability and Reform Act of 2019 Introduced in Senate IS Official Title as Introduced A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to improve oversight of contracts for services and financial processes of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. Introduced in Senate IS Introduced in Senate 2019-01-16T05:00:00Z https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-116s154is/xml/BILLS-116s154is.xml 2019-01-16 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.