Veterans Benefits Administration: Focusing on Results in Vocational
Rehabilitation and Education Programs (Testimony, 06/05/97,
GAO/T-HEHS-97-148).

GAO provided its views on the progress made and challenges faced by the
Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) in implementing the Government
Performance and Results Act.

GAO noted that: (1) VBA has taken an important first step in
implementing the Results Act, but this process is an evolving one; (2)
to date, VBA has developed a strategic plan with a mission and goals and
has begun consulting with the Congress and other stakeholders to obtain
their views on its plan; (3) for the vocational rehabilitation and
educational assistance programs, VBA has identified specific goals and
measures that are primarily process oriented; (4) while these goals and
measures are important, the key to successful implementation of the act
is to focus on results; (5) as it continues through the planning
process, VBA needs to strive to focus its strategic plan on results, as
required by the act, such as those related to the overall purpose of
these programs--to assist veterans in their readjustment to civilian
life after military service--and not merely on the process used to
administer benefits, such as the timeliness and accuracy of claims
processing; (6) in addition, to help it achieve quality service, VBA
needs to integrate its strategic plan with VA's overall plan and with
the plans of other key federal agencies that support veterans' benefits
programs, such as the Department of Defense, the Department of
Education's state vocational rehabilitation and Student Financial
Assistance programs, and the Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment
and Training Service; (7) down the road, VBA will also need to ensure
that it effectively measures and assesses its performance, as mandated
by the act, to determine how well its programs are meeting their goals
and making improvements; and (8) VBA is aware of the need to focus on
results and is currently working through this process.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  T-HEHS-97-148
     TITLE:  Veterans Benefits Administration: Focusing on Results in 
             Vocational Rehabilitation and Education Programs
      DATE:  06/05/97
   SUBJECT:  Veterans benefits
             Strategic planning
             Agency missions
             Congressional/executive relations
             Veterans education
             Vocational rehabilitation
             Interagency relations

             
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Cover
================================================================ COVER


Before the Subcommittee on Benefits, Committee on Veterans' Affairs,
House of Representatives

For Release on Delivery
Expected at 9:30 a.m.
Thursday June 5, 1997

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION -
FOCUSING ON RESULTS IN VOCATIONAL
REHABILITATION AND EDUCATION
PROGRAMS

Statement of Cynthia M.  Fagnoni,
Acting Associate Director
Veterans' Affairs and Military Health Care Issues
Health, Education, and Human Services Division

GAO/T-HEHS-97-148

GAO/HEHS-97-148T


(105753)


Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV

  BPR - ABC
  GPRA - ABC
  OMB - ABC
  VA - ABC
  VBA - ABC

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION: 
FOCUSING ON RESULTS IN VOCATIONAL
REHABILITATION AND EDUCATION
PROGRAMS
============================================================ Chapter 0

Mr.  Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: 

We are pleased to be here today to provide our views on the progress
made and challenges faced by the Veterans Benefits Administration
(VBA) in implementing the Government Performance and Results Act of
1993 (known as GPRA or the Results Act).  Over the past several
years, the Congress has taken steps to fundamentally change the way
federal agencies go about their work, in response to management
problems so common among federal agencies that they demanded
governmentwide solutions.  The Results Act was passed to require
agencies to clearly define their missions, set goals, measure
performance, and report on their accomplishments. 

VBA is responsible for administering the Department of Veterans
Affairs' (VA) nonmedical programs that provide financial and other
benefits to veterans, their dependents, and survivors.  These
benefits include disability compensation, pensions, rehabilitation
assistance, education benefits, home loan benefits, and insurance
coverage.  As requested by the Subcommittee, my statement will focus
primarily on two VBA programs:  vocational rehabilitation and
counseling, and educational assistance.  These programs accounted for
about $1.3 billion of VBA's $20 billion fiscal year 1996
appropriation.  In fiscal year 1996, VBA provided vocational
rehabilitation benefits to 52,000 disabled veterans; provided
educational assistance to 397,000 veterans, reservists, and service
members; and provided education and training assistance to 41,000
dependents of veterans.  My statement will address the progress VBA
has made and challenges it faces in implementing the Results Act. 
The information in this statement is based on reports we have issued
in the vocational rehabilitation area and a review of VBA's strategic
plan. 

In summary, VBA has taken an important first step in implementing the
Results Act, but this process is an evolving one.  To date, VBA has
developed a strategic plan with a mission and goals and has begun
consulting with the Congress and other stakeholders to obtain their
views on its plan.  For the vocational rehabilitation and educational
assistance programs, VBA has identified specific goals and measures
that are primarily process oriented.  While these goals and measures
are important, the key to successful implementation of the act is to
focus on results.  As it continues through the planning process, VBA
needs to strive to focus its strategic plan on results, as required
by the act, such as those related to the overall purpose of these
programs--to assist veterans in their readjustment to civilian life
after military service--and not merely on the process used to
administer the benefits, such as the timeliness and accuracy of
claims processing.  In addition, to help it achieve quality service,
VBA needs to integrate its strategic plan with VA's overall plan and
with the plans of other key federal agencies that support veterans'
benefits programs, such as the Department of Defense, the Department
of Education's state vocational rehabilitation and Student Financial
Assistance programs, and the Department of Labor's Veterans'
Employment and Training Service.  Down the road, VBA will also need
to ensure that it effectively measures and assesses its performance,
as mandated by the act, to determine how well its programs are
meeting their goals and making improvements.  VBA is aware of the
need to focus on results and is currently working through this
process. 


   BACKGROUND
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:1

Under the Results Act, every major federal agency must now ask itself
some basic questions:  What is our mission?  What are our goals and
how will we achieve them?  How can we measure our performance?  How
will we use that information to make improvements?  The act forces a
shift in the focus of federal agencies away from such traditional
concerns as staffing and activity levels and toward a single
overriding issue--results.  The act requires agencies to set goals,
measure performance, and report on their accomplishments.  VBA's
vocational rehabilitation and counseling and educational assistance
programs are in the process of implementing the Results Act's
requirements. 


      PURPOSE AND REQUIREMENTS OF
      THE RESULTS ACT
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:1.1

The Results Act is the centerpiece of a statutory framework provided
by recent legislation to bring needed improvements to federal
agencies' management activities.  (Other parts of the framework
include the 1990 Chief Financial Officers Act, the 1995 Paperwork
Reduction Act, and the 1996 Clinger-Cohen Act.) As we noted in our
May 1997 testimony before this Subcommittee,\1 the Results Act is
intended to help correct a number of management problems in federal
programs.  These include (1) lack of clear agency missions; (2)
fragmentation of programs among multiple federal agencies; (3)
performance measurement based on process instead of on achieving
program results; (4) lack of strategies for achieving agency
missions; and (5) inadequate information on program results and
costs. 

The Results Act was designed to focus federal agencies' attention on
the results of the programs they administer--not just on program
operations.  Instead of focusing on the amounts of money they spend
or the size of their workloads, agencies are expected to rethink
their missions in terms of the results they provide, develop goals
based on their results-oriented missions, develop strategies for
achieving their goals, and measure actual performance against the
goals.  Also, the act requires agencies to consult with the Congress
in developing their strategic plans.  This gives the Congress the
opportunity to work with agencies to ensure that their missions and
goals are focused on results, consistent with the Congress' intent in
establishing programs, and reasonable in light of fiscal constraints. 
The products of this consultation should be clearer guidance to
agencies on their missions and goals and better information to help
the Congress make choices among programs, consider alternative ways
to achieve results, and assess how well agencies are achieving the
results the Congress intended for programs. 

The Results Act requires VA and other agencies to complete their
strategic plans by September 30, 1997.  Future actions required under
the act include the following: 

  Beginning in fall 1997 (for the fiscal year 1999 budget cycle),
     agencies will submit an annual performance plan to the Office of
     Management and Budget (OMB). 

  Beginning with the fiscal year 1999 budget, OMB will include a
     governmentwide performance plan in the President's budget
     submission to the Congress. 

  On March 31 of each year, beginning with 2000, agencies will submit
     annual performance reports, comparing their actual performance
     with their goals, to the Congress and OMB. 


--------------------
\1 Veterans' Affairs:  Veterans Benefits Administration's Progress
and Challenges in Implementing GPRA (GAO/T-HEHS-97-131, May 14,
1997). 


      VA VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION
      AND EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE
      PROGRAMS
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:1.2

The mission of the vocational rehabilitation and counseling program,
as stated in VBA's strategic plan, is to provide all services and
assistance necessary to enable veterans with service-connected
disabilities to achieve maximum independence in daily living and, to
the maximum extent feasible, to become employable and to obtain and
maintain suitable employment.\2 Veterans are eligible for program
services if they have a 20-percent or higher service-connected
disability and they have been determined by VA to have an employment
handicap.\3 The law defines an employment handicap as an impairment
of a veteran's ability to prepare for, obtain, or retain employment
consistent with his or her abilities, aptitudes, and interests.  A
veteran with a 10-percent service-connected disability also may be
eligible if he or she has a serious employment handicap.  The
eligibility period generally extends for 12 years, beginning on the
date of the veteran's discharge.  A veteran found eligible for
services can receive up to 48 months of benefits during the 12-year
period. 

The vocational rehabilitation process has five phases.  In the first
phase, VA receives the veteran's application, establishes
eligibility, and schedules a meeting with the veteran.  In phase two,
a counselor determines whether the veteran has an employment handicap
and, if so, the counselor and the veteran jointly develop a
rehabilitation plan.\4 The veteran then moves into training or
education (phase three), if needed, and on to employment services
(phase four) if training or education is not needed or after it is
completed.  During phase four, VA and other federal and state
agencies help the veteran find a job.  In phase five, the veteran is
classified as rehabilitated once he or she finds a suitable job and
holds it for at least 60 days. 

The mission of VA's educational assistance program, as stated in
VBA's strategic plan, is to provide education and training
opportunities to veterans and their dependents, assist the military
services in recruiting new members for the All-Volunteer Force, and
encourage membership in the Selected Reserve and National Guard.  The
vast majority of VA's beneficiaries receive assistance under the
Montgomery G.I.  Bill, which provides financial assistance for
attendance at colleges and other higher education and training
institutions.  This program has two major parts: 

  the Active Duty portion, which is generally for veterans who
     entered active duty on or after July 1, 1985, served on active
     duty for at least 3 years, have honorable discharges, and have
     high school diplomas; and

  the Selected Reserve portion, which is generally for individuals
     who agreed, on or after July 1, 1985, to begin a 6-year
     commitment (or extend an existing commitment by 6 years) to
     serve in a reserve or National Guard unit. 

Those who are eligible for Montgomery G.I.  Bill benefits have up to
10 years from the end of their active duty, or from the beginning of
their eligibility as reservists, to use their benefits.  In fiscal
year 1996, VA had about 383,000 Montgomery G.I.  Bill beneficiaries--
281,000 veterans, 16,000 service members, and 86,000 reservists. 
These beneficiaries accounted for about 87 percent of all VA
educational assistance beneficiaries. 

Potential educational assistance beneficiaries must file initial
claims with VBA to establish their eligibility for benefits.  Also,
beneficiaries file supplemental claims to request changes in their
education and training programs; for example, to change educational
institutions or to extend the time period of training programs.  Of
the 1.2 million educational assistance claims processed by VBA in
fiscal year 1996, about 167,000 (14 percent) were initial claims. 


--------------------
\2 VA defines a suitable job as a position consistent with the
veteran's aptitudes, abilities, and interests. 

\3 Eligible veterans are assigned disability ratings ranging from 0
to 100 percent, in increments of 10 percent.  The rating represents
the average impairment in earning capacity resulting from
service-connected injuries or a combination of injuries. 

\4 A rehabilitation plan outlines specific services to be provided to
the veteran, the duration of services, and a basis for assessing
progress toward the program goal. 


   VBA'S IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
   RESULTS ACT IS EVOLVING
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:2

In implementing the Results Act, VBA's planning process has been
evolving.  VBA first developed a strategic plan in December 1994
covering fiscal years 1996-2001.  The plan laid out VBA's mission,
strategic vision, and goals.  For example, the vocational
rehabilitation and counseling goal was to enable veterans with
service-connected disabilities to become employable and to obtain and
maintain suitable employment.  The educational assistance goal was to
help provide education and training that would aid veterans,
reservists, National Guard members, and veterans' dependents in their
readjustment to civilian life, and to help develop a more highly
educated and productive workforce.  In addition, a goal of both
programs was to treat beneficiaries in a courteous, responsive, and
timely manner.  However, as VA's Inspector General noted, VBA's plan
did not include specific program objectives and performance measures
that could be used to measure VBA's progress in achieving its
goals.\5

In 1995, VBA established a new Results Act strategic planning process
that included business process reengineering.\6 VBA began developing
five "business line" plans corresponding with its major program
areas:  compensation and pension, educational assistance, loan
guaranty, vocational rehabilitation and counseling, and insurance. 
Each business line plan supplements the overall VBA strategic plan by
specifying program goals that are tied to VBA's overall goals.  Also,
each business line plan identifies performance measures that VBA
intends to use to track its progress in meeting each plan's goals. 

VBA's vocational rehabilitation plan has four goals: 

  Identify the level of satisfaction customers have with the services
     VBA provides and begin setting improvement targets. 

  Increase the relative number of vocational rehabilitation program
     participants who successfully complete their programs. 

  Ensure all employees have the skills needed for their positions in
     order to maintain a highly skilled, motivated, and adaptable
     workforce. 

  Develop a management tool to identify the cost of delivering
     vocational rehabilitation benefits. 

Three of these goals are oriented toward improving the efficiency of
rehabilitating clients and improving customer satisfaction with
rehabilitation services.  The second goal, which addresses
participants completing their plan of services, attempts to measure
program outcomes. 

Performance measures that VBA has identified to determine its
progress in achieving the vocational rehabilitation plan's goals
include

  the percentage of individuals who file claims for benefits but then
     fail to pursue their claims;

  the average number of days required to complete the processing of
     veterans' claims for vocational rehabilitation benefits and to
     notify the claimants;

  the percentage of veterans who are found to be entitled to
     rehabilitation services and then go on to develop their
     rehabilitation plans; and

  the percentage of veterans who become employable (complete the
     training phase and enter the employment services phase of their
     plans) and then go on to acquire and maintain suitable
     employment. 

Similarly, the four goals for the educational assistance program are
oriented toward the timeliness and accuracy of claims processing, and
beneficiaries' satisfaction with VBA's services.  These goals are to

  identify the level of customer satisfaction with VBA's educational
     services and benefits and begin setting improvement targets;

  improve payment and service accuracy and claims processing
     timeliness;

  implement an enhanced training program for the VBA staff
     responsible for administering the educational assistance
     program; and

  develop a management tool to identify the cost of administering the
     educational assistance program. 

Performance measures that VBA has identified to track its progress in
achieving the educational assistance plan's goals include

  the percentage of eligible veterans, service members, and
     reservists who are using their Montgomery G.I.  Bill educational
     benefits;

  the percentage of the time VBA determines the correct amounts of
     educational assistance payments;

  the average number of days required to complete the processing of
     educational assistance claims; and

  the average administrative cost per program participant. 


--------------------
\5 Office of the Inspector General, Review of the Implementation of
VBA's Strategic Plan and Performance Measurements, 5R1-B18-100
(Washington, D.C.:  VA, Aug.  25, 1995). 

\6 Business processing reengineering (BPR) is a systematic,
disciplined approach for achieving dramatic, measurable performance
improvements by fundamentally reexamining, rethinking, and
redesigning the processes that an organization uses to carry out its
mission.  VBA began BPR with its compensation and pension program in
October 1995. 


   CHALLENGES VBA FACES
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:3

As VBA continues its process of implementing the Results Act, it
faces some difficult challenges.  If the full intent of the act is to
be achieved, VBA will need to develop a strategic plan with a clear
mission, goals, and performance measures that are truly results
oriented.  In addition, VBA will need to integrate its strategic plan
with those of other VA programs and other federal agencies to ensure
quality service, since VBA is not the only agency providing veterans'
benefits.  Furthermore, VBA will need to effectively measure and
assess its performance to fully complete the process that the Results
Act mandates for improving federal programs. 


      FOCUSING ON RESULTS
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:3.1

VBA has identified specific goals and measures in its current
strategic plan, but again, they tend to be process oriented.  While
these goals and measures are important, they do not reflect program
results.  For example, the purpose of the vocational rehabilitation
and counseling program is to provide eligible service-disabled
veterans with services and assistance to help them become employable
and to obtain and maintain suitable employment.  Given this program
purpose, results-oriented goals would focus, for example, on issues
such as how well the program assisted disabled veterans in overcoming
their employment handicaps to obtain and maintain employment
consistent with their abilities, aptitudes, and interests.  VBA's
current strategic plan measures veterans' progress in completing each
rehabilitation phase.  However, it does not provide an assessment of
the program's overall effectiveness. 

Similarly, one purpose of VBA's educational assistance program is to
extend the benefits of a higher education to qualifying men and women
who might not otherwise be able to afford such an education.  A
results-oriented goal would focus on issues such as whether the
program indeed provided the education that the veteran could
otherwise not have obtained.  VBA has not yet tackled these types of
difficult questions and will need to do so in consultation with the
Congress in order to develop a truly results-oriented strategic plan. 

VBA is aware that it needs to focus more on its benefits programs'
outcomes for veterans rather than only on the process used to
administer the benefits.  In its fiscal year 1998 budget submission,
VBA stated that, historically, VA has engaged in little policy or
program analysis of its benefits programs and that this work is
needed if the intended results of the act are to be fully achieved. 
VBA acknowledges that additional data and research will be required,
including formal program evaluations and extensive consultation with
stakeholders. 


      INTEGRATING STRATEGIC PLANS
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:3.2

As VBA continues its strategic planning, it will need to integrate
its plan with those of the rest of VA and those of other federal and
state agencies that support veterans' benefits programs.  For
example, our work has shown that

  state vocational rehabilitation agencies, the Department of Labor,
     and private employment agencies also help veterans find
     employment once they have acquired all of the skills to become
     employable;

  VA has contracted for quality reviews of higher education and
     training institutions that have already been reviewed by the
     Department of Education;\7 and

  VBA relies on the Department of Defense for information about
     veterans' military service, including their medical conditions,
     to help determine eligibility for vocational rehabilitation and
     educational assistance programs. 

VBA will need to determine what impact these other entities will have
on the success of VBA's performance. 

Currently, VA is in the process of developing a departmentwide
strategic plan and VBA is participating in this effort.  In addition,
VA has initiatives under way to improve its information exchange with
the Department of Defense.  For example, VBA plans, in coordination
with the Department of Defense, to improve the dissemination of
information on Montgomery G.I.  Bill benefits to active duty service
members who have elected to participate in the program.\8
Participants would receive a letter outlining their benefits and the
requirements for maintaining their eligibility.  Furthermore, as we
recently testified before this Subcommittee, the Department of
Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service has developed a
draft strategic plan and performance measures.\9 VBA will need to
continue to coordinate with these agencies that are critical to
veterans' benefits programs to ensure overall high-quality service to
veterans. 


--------------------
\7 VA Student Financial Aid:  Opportunity to Reduce Overlap in
Approving Education and Training Programs (GAO/HEHS-96-22, Oct.  30,
1995). 

\8 Upon entering military service, recruits can agree to have their
pay reduced by $100 per month for 1 year to establish their
eligibility for Montgomery G.I.  Bill benefits. 

\9 Veterans' Employment and Training Service:  Focusing on Program
Results to Improve Agency Performance (GAO/T-HEHS-97-129, May 7,
1997). 


      MEASURING AND ASSESSING
      PERFORMANCE
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:3.3

Once VBA has identified results-oriented goals, it will need to
effectively measure and assess its performance.  As mandated by the
Results Act, federal agencies must link their performance measures to
their fiscal year 1999 budget requests, which are to be submitted to
OMB this fall.  Agencies are also to submit their performance plans
to the Congress after the President submits his fiscal year 1999
budget in early 1998.  Federal agencies are expected to limit their
performance measures to a few that

  best demonstrate how an agency's goals are met;

  allow agency managers to balance quality, costs, customer
     satisfaction, stakeholder concerns, and other matters; and

  are linked directly to the offices in each agency that are directly
     responsible for making programs work. 

The Congress, in enacting the Results Act, recognized that measuring
the results of many federal programs will be difficult and,
consequently, permitted the act to be phased in over several years. 
Measuring results will be a challenge because the link between
program operations and results can be difficult to establish.  Also,
a result may occur years after an agency has completed a task (for
example, awarding a research grant).  Nevertheless, agencies such as
VBA are expected to use the performance and cost data they collect to
continuously improve their operations, identify gaps between their
performance and their performance goals, and develop plans for
closing performance gaps.  As a result, appropriate performance
measures and adequate and reliable performance and cost data will be
needed to effectively measure and assess VBA performance. 


-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:3.4

Mr.  Chairman, this completes my testimony this morning.  I would be
pleased to respond to any questions you or Members of the
Subcommittee may have. 


*** End of document. ***