Secretary Shinseki Announces Next Steps in Technology Advancements to Reduce Wasteful Spending and Increase Accountability

Initial 45 Projects Targeted for New Department-Wide Management System

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today that it will temporarily halt 45 information technology projects which are either behind schedule or over budget.  These projects will be reviewed, and it will be determined whether these projects should be continued.

“Leveraging the power of Information Technology to accelerate and modernize the delivery of benefits and services to our nations Veterans is essential to transforming VA to a 21^st century organization that is people-centric, results-driven and forward thinking,” Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki said. 

Secretary Shinseki ordered a review of the department’s 300 IT projects and implementation of the PMAS, designed to increase the department’s accountability for IT projects. 

Each of the 45 projects will be temporarily halted.  No further development will occur and expenditures will be minimized.  A new project plan that meets the requirements of Program Management Accountability System (PMAS) must be created by the project manager and approved by VA’s Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology before resuming.

“VA has a responsibility to the American people, who are investing millions of dollars in technology projects, to deliver quality results that adhere to a budget and are delivered on time.” Shinseki said.  “They need to have confidence that the dollars they are spending are being effectively used to improve the lives of our Veterans.” 

PMAS is a management protocol that requires projects to establish milestones to deliver new functionality to its customers.  Failure to meet set deadlines indicates a problem within the project.  Under PMAS, a third missed customer delivery milestone is cause for the project to be halted and re-planned. 

“Our goal is to increase our success rate for our systems development projects,” Roger W. Baker, VA’s Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology, said.  “We will use every tool at our disposal to bring about greater accountability and ensure that taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely.  PMAS and the IT Dashboard will be critical indicators of whether our IT projects are on schedule and on budget, and if they are not, we will take swift action to cut down on waste and redundancy.” 

PMAS, in conjunction with the analytical tools available through the IT Dashboard, will ensure early identification and correction of problematic IT projects.  The IT Dashboard, launched last month, is a one-stop clearinghouse of information, allowing the American people to track federal information technology initiatives and hold the government accountable for progress and results. 

Over the next year, all IT projects at VA will be required to move to PMAS.

The Obama Administration has made management reform a key government-wide priority.  From IT accountability to personnel and contracting reforms, the administration is committed to providing better value, efficiency, and effectiveness for taxpayers’ dollars.

Below is a complete list of all projects temporarily halted under PMAS at this time: