Contract Management: Further Action Needed to Improve Veterans	 
Affairs Acquisition Function (19-OCT-05, GAO-06-144).		 
                                                                 
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is among the largest	 
federal acquisition agencies, spending $7.3 billion on product	 
and service acquisitions in 2004 alone. Recent reports by VA and 
other organizations identified weaknesses in the agency's	 
acquisition function that could result in excess costs to the	 
taxpayer. One report by the Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP)
made 24 recommendations to improve VA's acquisition function. VA 
has accepted these recommendations. GAO was asked to review the  
progress VA has made in implementing the key NAVSUP		 
recommendations. GAO identified 7 of the 24 recommendations as	 
key, based primarily on its professional judgment and prior	 
experience.							 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-06-144 					        
    ACCNO:   A39797						        
  TITLE:     Contract Management: Further Action Needed to Improve    
Veterans Affairs Acquisition Function				 
     DATE:   10/19/2005 
  SUBJECT:   Contract administration				 
	     Federal procurement				 
	     Performance measures				 
	     Procurement evaluation				 
	     Procurement planning				 
	     Procurement practices				 
	     Strategic planning 				 

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GAO-06-144

United States Government Accountability Office

GAO	Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations,
            Committee on Veterans' Affairs, House of Representatives

October 2005

CONTRACT MANAGEMENT

     Further Action Needed to Improve Veterans Affairs Acquisition Function

GAO-06-144

[IMG]

October 2005

CONTRACT MANAGEMENT

Further Action Needed to Improve Veterans Affairs Acquisition Function

                                 What GAO Found

Progress made by the Department of Veterans Affairs in implementing the
key recommendations from the NAVSUP report has been limited. In fact, a
year after the report was issued, VA has not completed actions on any of
the seven key recommendations GAO identified. While VA agrees
implementation of the key recommendations is necessary, the steps it has
taken range from no action to partial action. No action has been taken on
three key recommendations: to develop a long-term improvement plan,
adequate management metrics, and a supplement to the agency's strategic
plan. No more than partial action has been taken on four others:
establishment of a contract review board for reviewing files at key
milestones along with improvement of postaward contract management,
customer relationships, and employee morale.

Status of Key Recommendations Key NAVSUP Recommendations Status

1. Develop a long-term improvement plan No action

2. Develop adequate management metrics No action

3. Supplement strategic plan No action

4. Establish contract review board Partial action

5. Improve postaward contract management Partial action

6. Improve customer relationships Partial action

7. Improve employee morale Partial action

Source: GAO analysis.

A lack of permanent leadership in key positions has contributed to the
lack of further progress in revising acquisition policies, procedures, and
management and oversight practices, according to VA officials. For
example, two key VA acquisitions management positions were unfilled-one
for 15 months and the other for 25 months. In addition, VA has neither set
time frames for completing actions on the NAVSUP recommendations nor
established a method to measure progress. Until VA establishes a process
for completing action on the NAVSUP recommendations, the benefits of the
study may not be fully realized.

                 United States Government Accountability Office

Contents

      Letter                                                                1 
                                     Results in Brief                       2 
                                        Background                          2 
                               Progress Limited in Implementing Key NAVSUP  4 
                                                           Recommendations 
                                       Conclusions                          7 
                           Recommendations for Executive Action             8 
                                     Agency Comments                        8 
    Appendix I               NAVSUP's Report Recommendations               
Appendix II                    Scope and Methodology                    
Appendix III           Comments from the Department Of Veterans Affairs 14 

  Tables

Table 1: Status of Key Recommendations 4 Table 2: Listing of
Recommendations Contained in NAVSUP Report 10

Abbreviations

AOS Acquisition Operations Service
CoreFLS Core Financial and Logistics System
IG Inspector General
NAVSUP Naval Supply Systems Command
OA&MM Office of Acquisition and Materiel Management
VA Department of Veterans Affairs

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United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548

October 19, 2005

The Honorable Michael Bilirakis
Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Committee on Veterans' Affairs
House of Representatives

Dear Mr. Chairman:

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) operates one of the largest health
care systems in the world and is among the largest acquisition agencies in
the federal government. In fiscal year 2004 alone, VA spent $7.3 billion
acquiring the products and services needed to carry out its mission on
behalf of the nation's veterans. Recently, reports by entities within VA
as
well as outside organizations have identified various weaknesses in the
agency's acquisition function that could affect the successful
accomplishment of its mission or result in higher than necessary costs to
the taxpayer. Among these reports is one prepared by the Naval Supply
Systems Command (NAVSUP),1 a Navy acquisition organization VA had
requested to assess its acquisition function. The NAVSUP report identified
a wide range of areas needing VA management attention and made
24 recommendations, which VA agrees should be implemented.

Given the importance of acquisition to VA's mission, you asked us to
review the progress VA has made in implementing the key
recommendations in the NAVSUP report. In selecting 7 key
recommendations from among the 24 in the report, we relied primarily on
our professional judgment and the experience gained from previous
reviews of acquisition issues at various federal agencies. We also
considered the importance the NAVSUP report and VA officials assigned
to the specific recommendations. We chose recommendations that, if
implemented successfully, are likely to have the broadest and most
significant impact on VA's operations. Appendix I lists the
24 recommendations of the NAVSUP report, starting with the
7 recommendations we identified as key. To determine the status of the

1Naval Supply Systems Command, Procurement Performance Management
Assessment Program Review, Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of
Acquisition and Materiel Management, Acquisition Operations Service
(Washington, D.C.: Sept.13, 2004).

  Results in Brief

Background

seven key recommendations, we met with acquisition officials at VA's
Office of Acquisition and Materiel Management (OA&MM) and with officials
at VA's Office of Inspector General (IG) who are responsible for audits of
contracting practices. We also reviewed relevant agency documents. We did
not independently assess the state of the acquisition function at VA. We
conducted our review from March to August 2005 in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards. A more detailed
discussion of our scope and methodology is in appendix II.

Progress made by the Department of Veterans Affairs in implementing the
key recommendations from the NAVSUP report has been limited. In fact, a
year after the report was issued, VA has not completed action on any of
the seven key recommendations we identified. While VA agrees that
implementation of the key recommendations is necessary, the steps it has
taken range from no action-such as a decision to defer the development of
a long-term improvement plan-to partial action-for example, drafting
updated standard operating procedures, which await final approval. A lack
of permanent leadership in key positions is contributing to the limited
progress in revising acquisition policies, procedures, and management and
oversight practices, according to VA officials. In addition, VA has
neither set time frames for completing actions on the NAVSUP
recommendations nor established a method to measure progress. Until VA
establishes a process for completing action on the NAVSUP recommendations,
the benefits of the study may not be fully realized.

We are recommending that VA establish a schedule for completing actions on
the key recommendations from the NAVSUP report and establish a method to
measure progress. In commenting on a draft of this report, VA agreed with
our conclusions and concurred with our recommendations. VA's comments are
included in appendix III.

The Office of Acquisition and Materiel Management is the principal office
within VA headquarters responsible for supporting the agency's programs.
The OA&MM includes an Office of Acquisitions that, among other things,
provides acquisition planning and support, helps develop statements of
work, offers expertise in the areas of information technology and software
acquisition, develops and implements acquisition policy, conducts business
reviews, and issues warrants for contracting personnel. As of

June 2005, the Office of Acquisitions was managing contracts valued at
over $18 billion, including option years. 2

In recent years, reports have cited inadequacies in the contracting
practices at VA's Office of Acquisitions and also have identified actions
needed to improve them. In fiscal year 2001, the VA IG issued a report
that expressed significant concerns about the effectiveness of VA's
acquisition system.3 As a result, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
established, in June 2001, a Procurement Reform Task Force to review VA's
procurement system. The task force's May 2002 report set five major goals
that it believed would improve VA's acquisition system: (1) leverage
purchasing power, (2) standardize commodities, (3) obtain and improve
comprehensive information, (4) improve organizational effectiveness, and
(5) ensure a sufficient and talented workforce.

Issues related to organizational and workforce effectiveness were at the
center of the difficulties VA experienced implementing its Core Financial
and Logistics System (CoreFLS).4 The VA IG and an independent consultant
issued reports on CoreFLS in August 2004 and June 2004, respectively, and
both noted that VA did not do an adequate job of managing and monitoring
the CoreFLS contract and did not protect the interests of the government.
Ultimately, the contract was canceled after VA had spent nearly $250
million over 5 years.

In response to deficiencies noted in the CoreFLS reports, VA sought help
to improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of its acquisition
function by requesting that NAVSUP perform an independent assessment of
the Acquisition Operations Service (AOS). NAVSUP looked at three elements
of the contracting process: management of the contracting function;
contract planning and related functions; and special interest items such
as information technology procurements, use of the federal

2The Office of Acquisitions consists of three components: Acquisition
Operations Service, Acquisition Resources Service, and the National
Acquisition Center. The $18 billion represents contracts managed by the
Acquisition Operations Service.

3Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General, Evaluation
of VA's Purchasing Practices, Report No. 01-01855-75 (Washington, D.C.:
May 15, 2001).

4CoreFLS is an integrated commercial off-the shelf software financial and
logistics system that, when fully implemented, is intended to be used by
every financial and logistics office in VA.

  Progress Limited in Implementing Key NAVSUP Recommendations

supply schedule, and postaward contract management. In a September 2004
report, NAVSUP identified problems in all three elements.

While VA agrees with the NAVSUP report's recommendations, limited progress
has been made in implementing the seven key recommendations of the report.
VA officials indicate that factors contributing to this limited progress
include the absence of key personnel, a high turnover rate, and a heavy
contracting workload. We found that VA has neither established schedules
for completing action on the recommendations nor established a method to
measure its progress. Until VA establishes well-defined procedures for
completing action on the NAVSUP recommendations, the benefits of this
study may not be fully realized.

Range of Actions on The status of the seven key recommendations we
identified is summarized Recommendations in Table 1:

                     Table 1: Status of Key Recommendations

Key NAVSUP recommendations Status

                 Develop a long-term improvement plan No action

                 Develop adequate management metrics No action

Supplement strategic plan No action Establish contract review board for
reviewing files at key milestones Partial action

              Improve postaward contract management Partial action

                 Improve customer relationships Partial action

                     Improve employee morale Partial action

Source: GAO analysis.

Action taken by VA on the seven key recommendations in the NAVSUP report
has varied from no action, to initial steps, to more advanced efforts in
specific areas.

o  	Long-term improvement plan. NAVSUP recommended that AOS develop a
long-term approach to address improvements needed in key areas. VA
acknowledges that establishing a long-term improvement plan is necessary
to maintain its focus on the actions that will result in desired
organizational and cultural changes. During the course of our review,
however, we found that no action has been taken to develop a long-term
improvement plan with established milestones for specific actions.

o  	Adequate management metrics. NAVSUP recommended that AOS develop
metrics to effectively monitor VA's agencywide acquisition and procurement
processes, resource needs, and employee productivity because it found it
that AOS was not receiving information needed to oversee the contracting
function. VA officials agree that they need to have the ability to
continuously and actively monitor acquisitions from the preaward to
contract closeout stages to identify problem areas and trends. VA
officials acknowledge that, without adequate metrics, its managers are
unable to oversee operations and make long-term decisions about their
organizations; customers cannot review the status of their requirements
without direct contact with contracting officers; and contracting officers
are hampered in their ability to view their current workload or quickly
assess deadlines. During our review, VA officials stated that they intend
to use a balanced scorecard approach for organizational metrics in the
future. However, no steps had been taken to establish specific metrics at
the time we completed our review.

o  	Strategic planning. NAVSUP recommended that AOS develop a supplement
to the OA&MM strategic plan that includes operational-level goals to
provide employees with a better understanding of their roles and how they
contribute to the agency's strategic goals, objectives, and performance
measures. VA officials indicated that progress on the strategic plan had
been delayed because it will rely heavily on management metrics that will
be identified as part of the effort to develop a balanced scorecard. With
the right metrics in place, VA officials believe they will be in a much
better position to supplement the strategic plan. VA had not revised the
strategic plan by the time we finished our review.

o  	Process to review contract files at key acquisition milestones. NAVSUP
recommended that AOS establish a contract review board to improve
management of the agency's contract function. NAVSUP believed that a
contracting review board composed of senior contracting officers would
provide a mechanism to effectively review contracting actions at key
acquisition milestones and provide needed overall management. To enhance
these reviews, VA has prepared draft standard operating procedures on how
contract files should be organized and documented. Final approval is
pending. VA officials indicated, however, that no decisions have been made
about how or when they will institute a contract review board as part of
the agency's procurement policies and processes.

o  	Postaward contract management. NAVSUP recommended that the AOS
contracting officers pay more attention to postaward contract management
by developing a contract administration plan, participating in postaward
reviews, conducting contracting officer technical

representative reviews, and improving postaward file documentation. We
found that VA has taken some action to address postaward contract
management. For example, AOS is training a majority of its contracting
specialists on the electronic contract management system. VA officials
indicated that the electronic contract management system will help improve
its postaward contract management capability. The electronic contract
management system is a pilot effort that VA expects to be operational in
early 2006. Also, final approval for a draft standard operating procedure
for documenting significant postaward actions is pending.

o  	Customer relationships. NAVSUP reported that VA's ability to relate to
its customers is at a low point and recommended VA take action to improve
customer relations. Some mechanisms VA officials agreed are needed to
improve customer relations include requiring that program reviews include
both the customer and contracting personnel, greater use and marketing of
the existing customer guide to customers and contracting communities, the
establishment of a customer feedback mechanism such as satisfaction
surveys, placing a customer section on the World Wide Web, and engaging in
strategic acquisition planning with customer personnel. We noted that VA
is taking some of the actions recommended by NAVSUP. For example, VA has
established biweekly meetings with major customer groups, created
customer-focused teams to work on specific projects, and nearly completed
efforts to issue a comprehensive customer guide. Pending are efforts to
include customers in the AOS review process and to develop a customer
section on the web site.

o  	Employee morale. The NAVSUP report said that VA employee morale is at
a low point and is having an impact on employee productivity. NAVSUP said
that AOS needs to respond to its employee morale issue by addressing
specific employee concerns related to workload distribution, strategic and
acquisition planning, communication, and complaint resolution. VA has
taken several actions related to employee morale. Workload distribution
issues have been addressed by developing a workload and spreadsheet
tracking system and removing restrictions on work schedules for employees
at ranks of GS-15 and below. Strategic planning actions completed include
the development of mission and vision statements by a cross section of VA
personnel and collective involvement in approval of organizational
restructuring efforts. Communication and complaint resolution issues are
being resolved by facilitating a meeting between AOS management and
employees to air concerns. Partially completed actions include the
development of new employee training module, including a comprehensive new
employee orientation package. According to VA, new

employee training includes the dissemination of draft standard operating
procedures. VA is also in the process of developing an employee survey to
measure overall employee satisfaction.

    Factors Contributing to Limited Progress

  Conclusions

Discussions with VA officials indicate that the agency believes its
limited progress has largely been due to the absence of permanent
leadership and insufficient staffing levels. Officials told us that the
recommendations will be implemented once key officials are in place. For
example, positions for two key VA acquisition managers-Associate Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Acquisitions and the Director for AOS-were
unfilled for about 25 months and 15 months, respectively. But during the
course of our review these positions were filled.

As of August 25, 2005, AOS has still not selected permanent personnel for
17 of its 62 positions. This includes two other key management positions-
the Deputy Director of Field Operations and the Deputy Director for VA
Central Office Operations, both filled by people in an acting role.
Supervisory leadership has also suffered as a consequence of
understaffing, VA officials said. Four of the eight supervisory contract
specialist positions are filled by people in an acting role. Critical
nonsupervisory positions also have remained unfilled, with 11 contract
specialists' positions vacant. The absence of contract specialists has
largely been caused by a high turnover rate. According to VA officials,
the high turnover rate can be attributed to a heavy contracting workload,
as well as the other factors identified in the NAVSUP report.

When asked, the VA officials we spoke with could not provide specific time
frames for completing actions on the recommendations or a method to
measure progress. We believe the lack of an implementation plan with time
frames and milestones, as well as a way to measure progress, contributed
to VA's limited progress in implementing the key NAVSUP recommendations.

The seven key NAVSUP recommendations we identified have not been fully
implemented. While some progress is being made, progress is lacking in
those areas that we believe are critical to an efficient and effective
acquisition process. If key recommendations for improvement are not
adequately addressed, VA has no assurance that billions of its Office of
Acquisitions contract dollars will be managed in an efficient and
effective manner, or that it can protect the government's interest in
providing veterans with high-quality products, services, and expertise in
a timely fashion at a reasonable price.

While personnel-related factors have contributed to VA's lack of progress,
the absence of schedules for completion of actions and of metrics that
could be used to determine agency progress is also an important factor.
Current VA officials, even those in an acting capacity, can identify
timetables for completing action on key NAVSUP recommendations and
establish a means to determine progress. Without these elements of an
action plan, the benefits envisioned by the study may not be fully
realized.

We recommend that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs direct the Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Acquisition and Materiel Management to

                              Recommendations for

o  	identify specific time frames and milestones for completing actions on
the key NAVSUP recommendations, and

o  	establish a method to measure progress in implementing the
recommendations.

In commenting on a draft of this report, the Deputy Secretary of Veterans
Affairs agreed with our conclusions and concurred with our

                                Executive Action

                                Agency Comments

recommendations. VA's written comments are included in appendix III.

We will send copies of this report to the Honorable R. James Nicholson,
Secretary of Veterans Affairs; appropriate congressional committees; and
other interested parties. We will also provide copies to others on
request. In addition, the report will be available at no charge on the GAO
Web site at http://www.gao.gov.

If you have any questions concerning this report, please contact me at
(202) 512-4841 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Contact points for our
Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the
last page of this report. Key contributors to this report were
Blake Ainsworth, Penny Berrier, William Bricking, Myra Watts Butler,
Christina Cromley, Lisa Simon, Shannon Simpson, and Bob Swierczek.

William T. Woods
Director
Acquisition and Sourcing Management

Appendix I: NAVSUP's Report Recommendations

In September 2004, the Naval Supply System Command (NAVSUP) issued a
report, Procurement Performance Management Assessment Program on its
review of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Acquisition and
Materiel Management, Acquisition Operations Service. The 24
recommendations contained in the NAVSUP report are listed in table 2
below. The first seven recommendations listed are the key recommendations
we identified.

         Table 2: Listing of Recommendations Contained in NAVSUP Report

No. Issue Area Recommendation

Long-term improvement plan 	Develop a long-term plan to address key
management areas such as establishing attainable milestones for remedial
and long-term actions and keeping workforce involved in organizational
transformation.

Management metrics 	Develop adequate management metrics to effectively
monitor critical acquisition processes and thus provide visibility over
status of contract requirements, operations, and contract due dates.

Strategic planning	Revise the business plan to identify operational goals,
objectives, and performance measures for the entire workforce, and
encourage employees to participate in its development.

Contract file reviews 	Expand and institutionalize a process review at
critical acquisition milestones rather than a single review prior to
award. A standard process, such as instituting a contract review board,
should involve the customers as key participants.

Postaward functions 	Emphasize greater attention to postaward contract
management such as developing a contract administration plan,
participating in postaward and technical reviews, and placing a greater
emphasis on postaward file documentation.

Customer relations 	Establish mechanisms to improve customer relations by
developing customer and contracting teams to coordinate purchases and
conduct program reviews, and establishing a survey to obtain customer
feedback on contractor performance.

Employee morale 	Take the necessary steps to improve employee morale in
the problem areas cited, and conduct annual employee satisfaction surveys
and give results to employees.

Communication 	Ensure that improved communication processes are
established with employees to include regular staff meetings and
appropriate dissemination of information and contract policy.

9          Warranting         Review the levels of contracting authority   
                                 granted to the workforce and adjust as       
                                             deemed appropriate.              
10 Current standard operating   Review and revise content contained within 
      procedures                      the agency's current standard operating 
                                 procedures to more accurately and thoroughly 
                                         cover the topics discussed.          
11   New standard operating     Establish a standard operating procedure   
              procedure              implementing a contract review board     
                                   process for key acquisition milestones.    
12                               Review current list of legal issues to    
          Legal involvement        provide seamless and continuous support    
                                     throughout the acquisition process.      
13                            Engage customers early in the development of 
         Acquisition planning        the acquisition to allow sufficient      
                                  advance notice of contracting requirements  
                                     to facilitate acquisition planning.      

Appendix I: NAVSUP's Report Recommendations

                         No. Issue Area Recommendation

14 File documentation 	Ensure file documentation identifies the correct
Federal Acquisition Regulation citation as the authority for the action.
Additionally, discussion of source selection criteria in sole source
situations is misleading and should be avoided.

15 Supporting rationale for modifications 	Ensure that the rationale and
authority supporting contract modifications are documented.

16 Description of contract type Be conscientious to properly describe
contract types.

17 	Fund/identify guaranteed minimum under Ensure indefinite delivery
indefinite quantity contracts are awarded correctly with the indefinite
delivery indefinite quantity appropriate elements, such as guaranteed
minimums and maximum ordering contracts limitations.

18 Lease-purchase analysis and screenings 	Personnel should become
familiar with and employ proper leasing practices when deemed appropriate.
Further, pricing of all contract actions should be meaningfully analyzed
to ensure fairness and reasonableness.

19 Processing Federal Supply Ensure General Service Administration         
      Schedule                  schedule orders are being placed in           
               orders                     accordance with Federal Acquisition 
                                Regulation Part 8 requirements. Specifically, 
                                        performance-based statements of work, 
                                   evaluation criteria, price reductions, and 
                                 complete documentation of price negotiation  
                                                memorandums.                  

20 File organization	Issue a standard operating procedure that will
clearly establish uniform guidance for contract file organization and
documentation.

21 Contract modifications 	Establish a process to ensure the underlying
rationale for modifications is documented.

22 Contract administration 	Establish a standard operating procedure for
documenting significant postaward contract actions.

23 	Letter contracts/undefinitized contractual Develop documented process
for approval of letter contracts to ensure consistency actions and ensure
the proper level of review is provided for these actions.

24 Claims Create a database or other system for tracking claims and
disputes.

                             Source: NAVSUP report.

                       Appendix II: Scope and Methodology

To select the key recommendations from those identified in the NAVSUP
September 2004 report, we focused on recommendations that, if successfully
implemented, are likely to have the broadest and most significant impact
on the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) operations. We chose
recommendations that are crosscutting in nature. Accordingly, in many
instances recommendations we did not identify as being key are
nevertheless, we believe, covered to some extent by one or more of the key
recommendations. In making our selections, we relied primarily on our
professional judgment and the experience gained over many years in reviews
of acquisition management issues governmentwide. In particular, we relied
on the observations and guidance captured in a draft of a GAO report
entitled Framework for Assessing the Acquisition Function at Federal
Agencies.1 With this insight, we determined that 7 of the 24 NAVSUP
recommendations were key.

To identify the progress VA has made in implementing these seven key
NAVSUP recommendations, we met with acquisition officials at VA's Office
of Acquisition and Materiel Management (OA&MM). We also reviewed documents
intended to demonstrate the status of VA's actions.

In order to attain a broader view of VA acquisition issues, we identified
and reviewed other VA and independent reports issued prior to the NAVSUP
report. This included VA's Procurement Reform Task Force (May 2002)
report, which recommended ways to improve procurement practices across VA,
and reports by the VA Inspector General (August 2004) and Carnegie Mellon
(June 2004) that noted contract management problems on a VA contract for
the Core Financial and Logistics System (CoreFLS). We reviewed past and
current policies, procedures, and internal controls associated with VA
acquisition processes. We obtained statistics from OA&MM on the authorized
size of the VA Acquisitions Operations Service (AOS) contracting workforce
and positions that still need to be filled. We obtained data from the
Federal Procurement Data System on what VA spent during fiscal year 2004
for products and services. Further, we obtained data from VA on the amount
of contract dollars being managed

1To help assess the strengths and weaknesses of agencies' acquisition
processes, GAO developed a framework of general guidance-using input from
federal government and industry experts. The framework has four
interrelated elements that promote an efficient, effective, and
accountable acquisition process: (1) organizational alignment and
leadership, (2) policies and processes, (3) human capital, and (4)
knowledge and information management. GAO, Framework for Assessing the
Acquisition Function at Federal Agencies, GAO-05-218G, (Washington, D.C.:
Sept. 2005).

Appendix II: Scope and Methodology

by VA's Office of Acquisitions as of June 2005. We did not conduct an
independent assessment of the state of the acquisition function at VA.

We conducted our work from March to August 2005 in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards.

Appendix III: Comments from the Department Of Veterans Affairs

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