16

shouldn't be concerned if the answer isn’t always positive as
as we use it in such a way that it helps us with your main
in one sentence, and that is to get veterans jobs.

Mr. GOETz. I couldn’t agree with you more.

Mr. QUINN. And I agree that—Bob Filner and I have talked
about this a number of times throughout these hearings, that we
are not just building up a whole separate industry here of tallking
about tracking and outcomes and incomes and through-puts and
that kind of stuff.

Thank you for the answer. I appreciate that GAO was here, and
they contend that the VBA has contracted for services to review

i education institutions that have already been reviewed by
the Department of Education.

And this is part of my question, is there interaction going on
with the other agencies, both Federal and State agencies? id
someone comment on that observation by GAO?

Ms. DOLLARHIDE. Well, we do work with the Di ent of Edu-
cation, and the GAO has indicated that we do—I think the com-
ment was something to the effect that we duplicate services or
quality of review of institutions of higher learning by the Depart-
ment of Education.

I am not aware that they actually have a quality assurance
gram in effect at the Department of Education. I do believe that

ey require institutions who are interested in participating in
their it and loan programs, such as Pell grants, Stafford loans
and that type of thing, to show that they are accredited or li-
censed—are financially stable and meet other administrative
criteria.

The State-approving cies with whom we contract, by law,
under Title 38 are the offices in the States designated by the gov-
ernor to approve programs of education and training for the enroll-
ment of veterans to ensure that the requirements of Title 38 are
met, State requirements are met and that it is a bona fide program
of education.

To accomplish this, they actually make on-site visits to the insti-
tution or training facility, assure that the program of education or
training meets the standards required. They look at the credentials
of the instructors and so forth, the ical plant, and assure that
they have the administrative capability to certify veterans’ enroll-
ment to VA.

Mr. QUINN. Excuse me. Who makes the actual visit?

Ms. DOLLARHIDE. Members of the State-approving agency. Those
are the ones that we contract with; and they are generally employ-
ees of the State Department of ‘Education or in that arena, des-
ignated by the governor to handle that.

Mr. . In his or her State?

Ms. DOLLARHIDE. In the State, yes. It is a State activity. They
are under contract to us, and we reimburse them. This is all under
the umbrella and mandated by the laws that govern the GI bill.

Now, basically, we have dealt with State-approving agencies for
years. They have handled our approval issues for years, and they
are really a gatekeeper up front and have also overseen school
within their State basically to assure that the veteran is receiving
a valuable education or training and saving the taxpayers’ dollars.


37

GOAL #1: Identify the level of satisfaction our customers have with the
services we provide and begin setting improvement targets by 1998.

To assess progress in realizing this goal, we have developed three
performance objectives and indicators. The first indicator, the Evaluation
Completion Rate, measures the proportion of veterans who pursue their claim for
vocational rehabilitation services and complete a vocational evaluation. The
current completion rate is 71 percent. Many of those who do not complete an
evaluation do not have a clear understanding about what participation in the
vocational rehabilitation program requires. Our goal is to have as many veterans
as possible complete an evaluation and get a decision on their claims.

Toward this end we are reviewing all program publications to ensure that
these materials effectively explain the purpose and requirements of the.
vocational rehabilitation program. Improved understanding of our program will
help reduce the number of spurious claims filed by veterans.

The second indicator, the Evaluation Timeliness Rate, measures the time the
veteran and counselor take to complete a vocational evaluation and determine
whether a veteran is eligible for vocational rehabilitation services leading to
employment. Improving this indicator will meet customers’ concerns with
getting a timely decision on their claims for vocational rehabilitation benefits.
Part of the evaluation process, the determination of basic entitlement, is
performed in the Adjudication Division. We are studying the feasibility of
transferring this function to the VR&C Division to eliminate an unnecessary
hand-off and potentially improve the timeliness of the process.

Last, we will increase customer satisfaction as reflected in scores on the
third indicator, the Customer Service Index, which measures how our customers
assess the quality of the services being provided to them. Information for this
index will be provided through the use of a customer satisfaction survey, which
is presently under development. We anticipate beginning to assess how satisfied
cour customers are with the services we provide during 1998. We expect that
improving the published materials which describe our program requirements
will result in customers making more informed decisions about program
participation. Improved staff development will also contribute to advancing staff
knowledge of the most up-to-date rehabilitation practices and improving service
delivery.


33

We have identified three performance objectives and corresponding
indicators to measure levels of service. The Montgomery GI Bill Usage Rate will be
used to determine the extent to which veterans are furthering their education
under this program. Currently the usage rate is 37 percent and we expect it to
increase to 42 percent in 1998. We are working with those interested in veterans’
issues such as the Department of Defense (DOD) and the academic community to
determine methods of providing additional information to servicemembers about
the GI Bill and to encourage them to plan their educational goals as they prepare
to leave the military. Servicemembers have taken a pay reduction to enroll in the
program; to better enable them to readjust to civilian life and enhance the
Nation’s workforce, we would like to see much greater utilization of the
program. In fact, due to the efforts mentioned above, we expect the usage rate to
increase to 75 percent by 2002.

Another performance objective, the Customer Service Index, will provide a
measure of how our customers judge our service in relation to the Education
Customer Service Standards as shown in the Fiscal Year 1998 Business Plan.
Customer satisfaction will be measured by a survey questionnaire. The
questionnaire will be tested in June and a full survey of veteran students is
scheduled to be released at the beginning of Fiscal Year 1998.

The third performance objective, the Blocked Call Rate, measures the success
veterans have in reaching us by telephone. We have been most interested in
providing better access to VA for our veteran-students and school officials. This
has become more critical as we consolidated education claims processing to four
regional offices. In January, we installed toll-free telephone service in our St.
Louis office as a pilot for the states of Missouri and Illinois. Interactive voice
response is a part of this service to enable MGIB students to receive updated
information on the status of their checks. We hope to expand this service to our
St. Louis beneficiaries and to the other education offices during FY 1998.

Mr. Chairman, while I am discussing customer satisfaction and customer
service, I would like to mention our activities in cyberspace. Our internet site on
the Web is alive and well. We have expanded our service by providing veterans,
school officials and other users with the ability to contact our education
processing offices concerning specific claims. Through this medium we are also
able to announce the latest developments in our programs and policies to school
certifying officials, veterans organizations and veteran students.


10

Our second goal is to improve payment and service accuracy and
claims processing timeliness.

So far this year, our payment accuracy has average 93 percent.
Our goal for 1997-1998 is 94 percent. We intend to improve our
payment accuracy by at least 2 percent by the year 2000.

As for average days to complete, we are pleased to note that our
four education processing offices are adjudicating cases in just
under 13 days this year. Reasons contributing to this include edu-
cation consolidation, balancing of the workload between offices and
the dedication of our employees in the field.

While we were very pleased with the timeliness results thus far
in fiscal year 1997, we are concerned that as the staffing is reduced
to meet fiscal year 1998 ceilings and, as the traditional increase in
enrollments begin late in the summer, we will be unable to con-
tinue to meet these timeliness gains. hanced traini

ur third goal is to implement an enhan: raining program
and adopt the VBA Employee Survey by 1998.

Our fourth goal is to develop a management tool to identify the
cost of administering the educational assistance programs by 1998.

The activity based costing initiative has been identified as the
vehicle which will enable us to isolate the actual unit costs of our
education operations as required by the Government Performance
and Results Act. A successful model was implemented in St. Louis
and has now been exported to our Atlanta office. In a few weeks,
it will be ted to our Muskogee regional office and then to Buf-
falo and will carry us into the next fiscal year.

As part of strategic planning, Education Service is using business
process reengineering as a tool for the systematic analysis and re-
design of our processes, with an eye to achieving significant per-
formance gains. The reengineering project team identified edu-
cational and vocational attainment as a possible desired outcome.
There is still much to do on this issue, and we will work with our
stakeholders and this committee in developing meaningful outcome
measures.

Let me turn now to the Vocational Rehabilitation and Counseling

Program.
fe have four major goals to achieve.

The first is to identify the level of satisfaction our customers
have with the services we provide and to begin setting improve-
ment targets by 1998. As part of this goal, we have developed
changes in program delivery systems, staff training and perform-
ance objectives and indicators. These changes will ensure veterans
get more timely decisions on their claims, more clearly understand
vocational rehabilitation and are increasingly satisfied with our
services. :

The second goal is to increase the relative number of vocational
rehabilitation program participants who successfully complete their
programs.

We have developed initiatives to emphasize employment services,
proposed streamlined staffing and set up performance objectives
and indicators to measure success in getting an eligible veteran to
achieve an employment objective. These changes will increase the
number of veterans who develop a rehabilitation plan, reduce proc-


20

Is good news for America’s veterans for efficient goverment should provide
better veterans’ services.

This Subcommittee has heid two previous hearings on the Results Act strategies
for the Veterans Employment and Training Service, and the Department of
Veterans Affairs Compensation and Pension Service. Americans want and need
good government and should know that veterans are again leading the way.

We will hear from two panels. First, our first panel, the General Accounting
Office, will comment on VA's efforts thus far and present their views on what the
Results Act will do for us. Finally, we will hear from the directors of the education
and Vocational Rehabilitation programs. We welcome the veterans organizations
to submit their GPRA comments for the record. Of course, if they hear or read
something here today that peaks their interest, they are welcome to comment on
it.

| would like to welcome each of the members this moming and especially my
ranking member, Bob Filner, and with that, I'll recognize him for any remarks he
may have. Bob....

Do any of the members have any opening remarks?

Could we have the first pane! please. The General Accounting Office is
represented by Ms. Cynthia M. Fagnoni, Acting Associate Director, Veterans’
Affairs and Military Health Care Issues, and is accompanied by Ms. Irene Chu,
Assistant Director, Veterans’ Affairs and Military Health Care Issues, and Mr. Jay
Eglin, Assistant Director, Education and Employment issues

GAO has been reviewing agencies’ strategic planning including their GPRA
efforts and has provided the Congress with a great deal of advice on the process.
Ms. Fagnoni, welcome, and may we have you begin?

Thank you Ms Fagnoni. Ms. Chu, Mr. Eglin, did you have anything you'd like to
add? Then, I'd like to start the questioning.

Thank you Ms. Fagnoni, and | look forward to continuing a close working
relationship on this issue with the GAO.

Our final pene! is composed of representatives of the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs. Ms. Celia Dollarhide is the Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs
Education Service, and Mr. Jeffrey T. Goetz is the Operations Manager of the
VA's Vocational Rehabilitation and Counseling Service. They both are


38

GOAL #2: Increase the relative number of Vocational Rehabilitation Program
participants who successfully complete their programs.

We have developed three performance objectives and indicators to
measure how effective VR&C staff are in assisting vocational rehabilitation
program participants in reaching specific vocational objectives. The desired
outcome is to assist every veteran determined eligible for services to acquire
appropriate skills and obtain competitive employment.

Planning effectiveness refers to VR&C staff success in motivating and
assisting an eligible veteran to complete a plan of vocational rehabilitation
services and begin a rehabilitation program. The first indicator, the Planning
Effectiveness Rate, is the ratio of eligible veterans to those who develop a plan of
rehabilitation services that will lead to employment. We have established and
are implementing a new staff position, the Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor,
at the field level. These counselors will provide veterans with seamless services
throughout their vocational rehabilitation programs, and eliminate the
processing hand-offs that previously existed.

Employability effectiveness refers to VR&C staff's success in assisting an
eligible veteran to maximize participation in their vocational rehabilitation
program and acquire all the skills needed for employment. The second
performance indicator is the Employability Effectiveness Rate, the ratio of the
number of veterans who begin a vocational rehabilitation program compared to
veterans who remain in the program and acquire the skills to get a good job.
These data are currently not available, but will be captured through use of
WINRS, a new management information system. Implementation of the
Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor position as well as streamlining VR&C
procedures through BPR will have a positive impact upon this indicator.

The third indicator, the Rehabilitation Effectiveness Rate, compares the
number of vocational rehabilitation program participants who become
employable, that is acquire skills to get a good job, to the number who obtain and
maintain suitable employment, and are thus rehabilitated. Our goal is to
continue to place proportionately more veterans completing a program of
services into competitive jobs.


GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE AND RESULTS
ACT STRATEGIES FOR BOTH THE VETER-
ANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION'S EDU-
CATION SERVICE AND THE VOCATIONAL
REHABILITATION AND COUNSELING SERV-
ICES

THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 1997

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
SUBCOMMITTEE ON BENEFITS,
CoMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS,
Washington, DC.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 9:30 a.m., in room
334, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Jack Quinn (chairman of
the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Representatives Quinn, Filner, Mascara, Reyes, and

‘vans.

OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN QUINN

Mr. QUINN. Good morning, everybody. The subcommittee will
come to order, and I have a statement that I will submit for the
record, an opening. statement. But I do want to mention a couple
of things before I yield to Mr. Filner.

As we continue to work toward a balanced budget, both the Con-
gress and the executive branch need a way to determine whether
programs are accomplishin; ing what they were designed to do. As re-
sources become constraine it is vital that we be able to Judge the
relative performance and cost of a wide range of all of the pro-
grams here in the Congress. Done properly, it will allow us to put
our resources where they do the most good and we all—I believe
all of us in the room and the subcommittee and the full committee,
believe that that is the best thing for veterans as well.

Today, we continue a series of oversight hearings on the manage-
ment of veterans benefits programs using the Government Per-
formance and Results Act as a framework. The Results Act, of
course, was passed during the 103rd Congress to provide the execu-
tive and legislative branches common reference around which to
judge the performance of these government programs. Probably the
single most important feature of the act is linking performance of
the budget process by focusing on outcomes rather than through-
put in a series of agreed measures to judge that performance.

@


31

‘Measuring and Assessing Performance

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.

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

(106763)

7 GAO/T-HEHS-97-148


17

Mr. |. Now the Results Act—thank you.

The ults Act, as we have all said, is new to all of us, new
here. You all are at the forefront of this, I think, and ahead of a
lot of other cies in the Federal Government. So, in a sense, we
are the trial here, in the trial and error method.

Because it is new, are you in a position to comment on these
State-ap, i cies? Are they more helpful, less helpful? Do
they | lerstand the Results Act enough to be helpful?

. DOLLARHIDE. They are working with us, as far as our busi-
ness process reengineering effort; and we are also looking at their
activities, particularly as we—as resources within the Department
of Veterans’ Affairs are getting tighter, to see if we can have them
provide more support to us. Let’s put it that way.

We have talked with them about the Government Performance
and Results Act. There are some in the room. The president of the
national association, who is from the State of New York, inciden-
tally, is in the room; and we have been talking with him about it
this week. I think we have a very cooperative relationship, and I
think it will be interesting to see how we work things out in the

Mr. QUINN. So we contracted these people. Do we know how
much it has cost us?

Ms. DOLLARHIDE. This is out of our readjustment benefits ac-
count, and the cap mandated by law is $13 million. Some States
have two State approving agencies. Some handle only the Depart-
ment of Labor issues, such as apprenticeships and on-the-job train-
ing But we have at least one State-approving agency in each State.

. QUINN. Finally, while we are on the State-approving n-
cies and we have about outcome data and who collects that,
and Mr. Goetz talked about what we do with it once we collect it
a little bit, can some of those State-approving agencies help us with
that collection, do you think?

Ms. DOLLARHIDE. We have talked with them about it. We histori-
cally, in VA, have been very good at collecting internal data, which
is not hel, in this instance. We have with the Depart-
ment of Education about the statistics that they collect on a na-
tional basis, and we have talked with the State-approving agencies
to look more closely at some of the things that have been raised,
such as grade point averages of our veteran students, which would
be difficult to collect otherwise. We do not have the capability in
our current systems.

We know how many veterans are enrolled in institutions of high-
er learning, ear, 2 year, graduate programs, premise on-
the-job training, fli bt training, that type of thing. We rely on the
schools to assure that veterans are progressing based upon their
standards of progress; and that is something that the State-approv-
ing agencies monitor, as do we.

ut as far as specific degrees awarded and that of thing, we
do not have the information internally in VA; and the State-ap-
proving agencies have agreed to start looking into that for us.

Mr. QUINN. I didn’t mean to insinuate that we even want you to
get into that business, believe me.

Ms. DOLLARHIDE. We will see what we get.

Mr. QUINN. Frankly ——


23

Several years ago | served as President of the San Diego
Board of Education. In that position, | was Instrumental In
the overhaul of that city’s poorly-functioning public school
system and the establishment of a results-oriented
evaluation of the. quality of education in San Diego. This was
one of the most satisfying — and one of the most frustrating —
efforts of my life. The entrenched Institutional resistance to
change was enormous, and it took an extraordinary effort
and near-constant supervision of the school system in order

to accomplish our goals.

if G-P-R-A Is to succeed, all of us must commit to a
sustained focus on — and commitment to - achieving the
goals we establish together. | don’t want us to hold a
hearing five years from now and discover that nothing has
changed in the way VA does business. If that happens,
Congress should be held as accountable as the agency. The
veterans of this nation deserve our very best effort.


APPENDIX

Honorable Jack Quinn

Remarks
Veterans Education &
Vocational Rehabilitation & Counseling
Oversight Hearing

dune 5, 1997

Good moming. The Subcommittee will come to order. Before we proceed, |
‘would like to welcome the newest member of the subcommittee, Silvestre Reyes
from the 28" district in San Antonio, Texas. He has big shoes to fill and judging
from his bio, he’s more than capable of doing It.

(As we continue the work towards a balanced budget, both the Congress and the
Executive branches need a way to determine whether programs are
‘accomplishing what they were designed to do. As resources become
constrained, it is vital that we be able to judge the relative performance and cost
of a wide range of programs. Done property, it will allow us to put our resources
where they do the most good, and that is the best thing for veterans.

Today, we continue a series of oversight hearings on the management of
veterans benefits programs using the Goverment Performance and Results Act
as a framework. The Results Act was passed during the 103” Congress to

Performance of government
important feature of the Act is linking performance to the budget process by
focusing on outcomes rather than throughput and a series of agreed measures to
Judge that performance. For instance, in the case of the VA's Education Service,
a throughput is something like saying the education service assisted 150,000
veterans with filling-out education claim forms. More importantly, the Education
Service must be concemed about an outcomes like how many veterans got
degrees or finished OJT.

For Voc Rehab, we are interested in the type of employment and pay of veterans
completing the vocational education program. We are also very interested in why
veterans drop out. Further, we must know whether employment opportunities are
being generated for graduates of the program that are commensurate with their
newly attained skills.

The Act requires agencies to consuit with Congress in developing the
performance goals and measures. These are not easy concepts and measures to
define, but through consultation, we will have a better understanding of exactly
what our programs are doing for veterans and at what cost. We believe that this

(19)


32

STATEMENT OF
CELIA P. DOLLARHIDE, DIRECTOR
EDUCATION SERVICE
VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON BENEFITS
COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 5, 1997

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the Subcommittee to
discuss the implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act
(GPRA) for the Department of Veterans Affairs Educational Assistance program
and the Vocational Rehabilitation and Counseling program. Earlier this year,
both the Education Service and the Vocational Rehabilitation Service briefed staff
members of the Subcommittee on our implementation plan for GPRA. It is a
pleasure to be here today to share with the members of the Subcommittee the
substantive details of both the 1998 business plans. First, let me discuss the
Educational Assistance program.

GPRA (Education Service)

We have developed our Fiscal Year 1998 Business Plan as part of, and in
support of, the overall Business Plan for the Veterans Benefits Administration. To
assure that we tap the knowledge and experience of the group actually working
veterans’ claims, directors from the four education processing offices (St. Louis,
Atlanta, Buffalo and Muskogee) were included in developing the business plan
and setting the strategic direction of the Educational Assistance program. We
meet regularly with these directors to review our goals, objectives, operating
plans, and to share feedback on performance. This ongoing dialogue assures a
full understanding of our strategies and eventual outcomes.

Goal #1: Identify the level of satisfaction our customers have with the service
and benefits we provide and begin setting improvement targets by 1998


14

I have read your four goals and I have read the performance
measurements of the goals. And I don’t see the word “job” in any
of‘ them—the very word you used here today as your primary

ve.

It looks like we are building up a whole bunch of “stuff” that is
supposed to help you get results—but may not. We are developing
management tools fe are making sure your employees are
trained. But most of this “stuff” has nothing to do with the veteran

ing a jovt There is a whole number of these thi that are
quantifiable, but I am not sure they have anything to do with the
veteran actually getting a job. And none of this tells me whether
you are doing your job.

It looks like we are compiling reports for the sake of meeting the
industry toa of the Resi aa and then developing a whole new

to do that and not meet your true objectives.

ETZ. Well, we would be the first to admit that this is a
fttiime effort for us in terms of GPRA; and we have perhaps
been not clear.

We often sometimes use the word “rehabilitation.” For us, that
means suitable employment, or a suitable job and I can see where
that could be misleading.

Mr. FILNER. Well, if somebody completes their ‘am, which is
one of your measures what does not tell me? I could serve 2 years

in Congress. Does that mean I have done my job?

I could tell you I have completed my educated program. I went

school to an undergraduate college; 1 we went 8 years to graduate
1; and I completed my program. Does that mean I know any-
about what it is I was su] posed to have learned? That meas-
ure, in itself, doesn’t mean ing except the time I put in.

After I get a Ph.D., can I teach? It doesn’t tell me that.

Mr. GOETZ. Well, I would think, in our case, the measure that
we would be emphasizing there would be how you were able to
profit from the services and acquire the skills to acquire employ-
ment and we would certainly consider you, if you were going
through our vocational rehabilitation program and were in the po-
sition you are in now, as being suitably employed and properly
using those skills and education that you were provided.

Mr. FILNER. Yes, but did they get a job?

Mr. GARDNER. Can I jump in a second?

I agree with you, but we are not good yet at focusing on the out-
comes and zeroing in on that and communicating that back and
forth to you and other stakeholders. We are getting better at un-
derstanding our outcomes, figuring out how to measure them, but
our lives are still too full of, as was said before, staffing and pro-
ductivity and timeliness.

And I would offer to you there is the issue of, coming to with
a lot lot of data about getting veterans jobs and then somel would

to you “But it takes them too long to do that.” we
wou ld get back into some satisfaction issues. You almost have to
get into tiers of formance measures. And there is no doubt, I
think, in our min that the outcomes, jobs for veterans in this case,

itely the highest priority. We need to get a lot better at ar-
it and communicating that and measuring it.


6

Mr. FILNER. As I was reading the testimony of the folks who are
going to be here today, it strikes me how difficult it is to interpret
these measurements.

For example, in the case of the Montgomery GI Bill benefits: we
can look at what poreent are using these benefits and whether that
isa proper goal, ut what is the relationship between that, for ex-
ample, and the benefit level that Congress has mandated?

, for example, only 40 percent of veterans are making use of the
benefit that doesn’t tell us really what is the problem. It is just col-
lecting data without making sure that we know the reasons behind
the data. It is troublesome to me that agencies may just collect
data and think that the job is done.

How do you deal with putting too much emphasis on “the meas-
urement” as the way to deal with the Results Act?

Ms. FAGNONI. Well, one of the key things in the Results Act is
what is really going on right now, which is this consultation proc-
ess where agencies and the Congress together hopefully reach some
sort of agreement on what the major program mission and goals
should be, the idea being that if agencies can develop strategic
plans that are results oriented and focus on am results, what
they choose to measure will—it will be clear how they link to those
results and that the measures—the goal is that the measures will
be limited to those few key measures that an agency can show are
really affecting program results.

Also, the does have plans, and they are in the process of
trying to develop some cost measures. Right now, for example, they
are not able to easily say how much it costs, for example, to reha-
bilitate a disabled veteran and provide them employment. So they
recognize that they need to be able to link results also with the
costs of achieving e results.

But you are right, this is an area where it is very important that
the agencies focus on those measures that they can show will affect
program results, and have a clear understanding of why it is they
are collecting data and measuring certai: things.

Mr. FILNER. I was just reading your list of measures. I am not
sure what it tells us. I don’t want VA to just collect the data and
do no further interpretation and say we have complied with the Re-
sults Act. I have seen that happen before in other bodies.

Ms. Cuu. Maybe I can help clear up some things.

For a program to focus on outcome for these types of entitlement
programs, it seems that measures would tend to focus on what

pens to the veteran as opposed to what services the VA pro-
vides them. That is important, but ultimately we are trying—we
have these programs so that it makes a difference in veterans’
lives. And so the types of measures one might want to think about
that are results oriented are those like: Are the veterans receiv-
ing—disabled veterans receiving suitable employment? What types.
of employment are they getting? How does that compare with other
disabled veterans, who don’t go through the p. 2? How does it
compare with those disabled veterans who don’t go through the
program and how does it compare with non-disabled veterans in
the private sector?

And similarly, in the education program, one wants to focus on
what type of education the veteran received. How does that com-


29

— _ 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 tmprovement targets;

- improve payment and service accuracy and claims processing timeliness;

- Implement an enhanced tralning programm 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.

CHALLENGES VBA FACES

‘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

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.

5 GAO/T-HEHS-97-148


26

Purpose and Requirements of the Results Act

‘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 1996
Paperwork Reduction Act, and the 1996 Clinger-Cohen Act.) As we noted in our May
1997 testimony before this Subcommittee,' 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)

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.

‘YA Vocational Rehabilitation
and Educational Assistance Programs

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.” 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

r
mini

(GAO/T-HEHS97-131, May 14, 1997).

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

2 GAO/T-HEHS-97-148


3

T still have concerns about the VA and the GPRA process and
goals. I still have concerns about VBA providing this committee
with enough information to provide fruitful and productive con-
sultations. Too often it seems to me VA regards our committee not
as a friend, but more as a foe.

If VA would provide candid assessments of the problems the:
face and provide solutions, together we could accomplish mu
more. I invite the VA to join with us in a partnership for the bene-
fit of both our veterans who have earned their benefits and the

taxpayers.

‘Additionally, I want to take this opportunity to convey again my
concerns about the need for a significant improvement in providing
our veterans vocational rehabilitation counseling, job placement as-
sistance and actual job placement. Based on the information I re-
ceive from veterans and others who should know, VA is failing to
provide our veterans the quality vocational rehabilitation and coun-
seling services they deserve to receive. These services must be bet-
ter and produce better results with and for our veterans. Our veter-
ans deserve no less.

Again, I thank you for your continuous oversight on this issue,

Mr. QUINN. Thank you, Mr. Evans. We appreciate the fact that
you are with us today and your comments.

Mr. Mascara, any opening remarks?

Mr. Mascara. I do not have any.

Mr. QUINN. All right. We are going to operate under the 5-
minute rule if that is okay with everybody today, including the wit-
nesses. We will, of course, accept any other documents and full tes-
timony that you have. Ms. Fagnoni.

STATEMENT OF CYNTHIA M. FAGNONI, ACTING ASSOCIATE DI-
RECTOR, VETERANS’ AFFAIRS AND MILITARY HEALTH CARE
ISSUES, ACCOMPANIED BY IRENE CHU, ASSISTANT DIREC-
TOR, VETERANS’ AFFAIRS AND MILITARY HEALTH CARE IS-
SUES, AND JAY EGLIN, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, EDUCATION
AND EMPLOYMENT ISSUES, U.S. GENERAL ACCOUNTING
OFFICE

Ms. FAGNONI. Thank you. I would like to submit my full state-

ment for the record. I have with me today Irene Chu and Jay
. QUINN. Good morning.

Ms. FAGNONI. Good morning.

Good morning, 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 Ad-
ministration in implementing the Government Performance and
Results Act of 1993. As you know, the Congress intended that the
Results Act would fundamentally shift the focus of Federal man-
agement and accountability from staffing and activity levels to pro-
gram results. The Congress recognized that measuring program re-
sults would be difficult and has provided for the Results Act to be
phased in over several years.

VBA is responsible for administering programs that provide
financial and other benefits to veterans, their dependents and sur-


2

I would submit a full statement for the record of a couple of more
pages, but want to thank our witnesses here this morning. And I
would yield to Mr. Filner for an opening statement.

(The prepared statement of Chairman Quinn appears on p. 19.]

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BOB FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I too, will submit a state-
ment.

Just briefly, I just want to repeat something I think we have all
agreed to over our set of hearings, that as we look at the Results
Act and have a joint commitment to goals that we establish, we
must continue to monitor those goals. We must continue to focus
on it, to make sure that 5 years from now our successors or we our-
selves don’t have to have hearings that say nothing has happened.

So as an institution, the Congress must be as accountable as the
agency in making sure that we do our oversight. And that is in the
interest of the veterans of this Nation and I hope that we all fulfill
our functions here. I will submit a full statement for the record.
aoyte prepared statement of Congressman Filner appears on p.

Mr. QUINN. Thank you, Bob.

We have two panels today. Our first panel is the General Ac-
counting Office, and they will comment on the VA’s efforts thus far
to present their views on what the Results Act will do for us; and
secondly, we will hear from the directors of the Education and Vo-
cational Rehabilitation programs.

We welcome the veterans’ organizations to submit their GPRA
comments for the record. Of course, if they hear or read something
here today that piques their interest, they are always welcome to
comment on it.

And I would like to ask our first panel, Ms. Cynthia Fagnoni, to
pome to the witness table, please, and anybody who is going to join

er.
As you are ing your seats this morning, I would like to yield
at this time to the ing Member of the full committee for any
opening statements Mr. Evans may have.

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. LANE EVANS, RANKING
DEMOCRATIC MEMBER, COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS

Mr. Evans. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank you and
commend you and Bob Filner, the Ranking Member, for the rigor-
ous examination of GPRA that is being made by this subcommittee.
I believe this continuous oversight is very important to make sure
we get responsible information from the Department of Veterans
Affairs. So I appreciate the continuing interest in this issue.

The consolidation of educational claims processing in four offices
now appears to be working smoothly. The Education Service has
also made significant strides in developing a number of pilot
projects which should provide veterans more effective and efficient
services. As this subcommittee evaluates these pilot programs, I
hope you will focus on the actual and.expected outcomes, including
the concrete impact of educational benefits on the lives of our
veterans.


15

We need to be able to provide service to veterans, and that
means timeliness and accuracy and more traditional things, and we
need to measure those things better, too. I believe it is an evolving
process, and there is no doubt that we need to get a lot better at
identifying the key measures and communicating them in our plan-

process.
as 3 FILner. As a layperson trying to understand what you are
doing, you say your objective is “jobs” and “education”, but I don’t
find either of these words used in your goals and measures. You
are building up a whole new vocabulary to talk about something
that is really much simpler and should be more easily commu-
nicated. That is just my reaction.

Ms. DOLLARHIDE. Could I just add something, Mr. Filner? With
the various educational programs Congress has given us—it has
outlined clear purposes for each of the programs. They total around
10. And Ms. Fagnoni from the GAO has indicated that we are chal-
lenged with trying to synthesize these into several really easily
identifiable outcomes to support the intent of Congress and the
Pulte are of the lam do this. W te what

le are starti lo this. We appreciate what are saying.
We recognize that as we strive to meet the requirements of th
law.

Mr. Chairman, nothing further.

Mr. QUINN. Just to follow up on that a little bit, when you start
talking about outcomes, part of it would be, if I follow up on Bob’s
point here that it may simpler than what all the vocabul:
means, Bob says, “did they get a job?” And I associate myself wit
those remarks, even thou; spilled coffee all over him.

Is the veteran better off than when he or she started before? Can
yu list some outcomes for Voc Rehab, for example, that you are

looking at? Are you talking about how many are placed in jobs, of-
fered salary? Are we tracking them to find out if they stay in the
jobs, promotions?

Mr. GoETz. Obviously, the major outcome in the vocational reha-
bilitation Program is getting veterans jobs.

es.

Mr. Gotz. We have done some, if you will, socioeconomic analy-
sis. In other words, what type of income did they have when they
entered the program? What type of income do they have when they
leave the program and are they suitably empl: ? We need to get
a lot better at acquiring that kind of information, including are
they still empl a year, 2 or 3 years after they finish the pro-
gram and get their first job?

As Bob points out, we need to do a better job at getting that kind
of information to understand how well we are actually accomplish-
ing what it is we are trying to accomplish.

. QUINN. Or how well we are not doing it.

Mr. GOETZ. How well we are not.

Mr. QUINN. I mean, you talk about education. I happen to be a
teacher. Sometimes the results you get from the questions you ask
and the data you receive isn’t always absolutely positive. But it
helps you make decisions on how to better do your job, which I be-
lieve you are all about. That is what we all want to do. So that we


5

how well its programs are meeting their goals and making im-
rovements. ‘However, in doing so, VBA faces some significant chal-
lenges. Measuring results will be difficult because the link between

program operations and results may be hard to establish in some

cases. Also, a result may occur years after an agency has completed

a task.

Nevertheless, under the Results Act, agencies are expected to use
the performance and cost data they collect to continuously improve
operations, identify gaps between their performance an: rm-
ance plans and goals and develop plans for closing formance

gaps.

VBA will need to develo, appropriate performance measures and
collect adequate and reliable performance and cost data to effec-
tively measure and assess its performance. At the same time, VBA
must carefully balance the cost of data collection against the desire
for complete, accurate and consistent data.

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.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Fagnoni appears on p. 24.]

Mr. QuINN. Thank you very much.

Ms. Chu or Mr. Eglin, do you have anything to add to the state-
ment at this point? Are you here for expertise?

Mr. EcLIN. Support.

Ms. Cuu. Support, yes.

Mr. Quinn. And the ride over probably.

Okay. Thanks for your statement. We appreciate the full state-
ment submitted for the record.

I have some questions. I am going to start with something I
heard you say in your testimony that I didn’t prepare, but you
mentioned just toward the end that the VBA must integrate its
plan with Federal agencies and other State agencies.

We have had two hearings already on this whole matter. This is
our third and final one today. But that integration of plans and
how the process moves along, Bob and I were talking one or two
hearings ago about training and how that is integrated and those
kinds of things.

Can you say a little bit more about the need for that and how
it fits the bigger picture, for example?

Ms. FAGNONI. Well, as we have pointed out in quite a bit of our
work, there are a number of agencies who either rely on other
agencies for assistance in achieving Program results—for example,
in the case of the VR program, relies on the Department of
Labor, as well as State and local employment ncies,.to help dis-
abled veterans obtain employment. And, therefore, it is important
that as VBA is developing its strategic plan and determining goals
and measures, it understand and coordinate with these organiza-
tions to help achieve the program results.

Mr. QUINN. Thank you. And there must be some communication
and dii ogue that is going on. That is probably a question more for
our second panel, I am certain, but the point is well stated. Thank

you.
Ms. FAGNONI. Yes.
Mr. QUINN. Mr. Filner.


21

‘accompanied by Mr. Robert Gardner, Chief Financial Officer, Veterans Benefits
Administration.

Welcome and may we begin with Ms. Dollarhide
Thank you. | have a couple questions.
| now recognize the Ranking Member.

| would like to thank all of today's witnesses for appearing before the
Subcommittee. As | said in my opening remarks, the Results Act offers a
framework to pursue better government - a way to try to get a handle on whether
today’s programs are accomplishing what Congress intended. We will try to
cover most of the benefit areas using the Results Act as a framework and | look
forward to an open dialogue on the process. The Subcommittee stands
adjoumed.


GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE AND RESULTS ACT STRATEGIES FOR BOTH
THE VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION'S EDUCATION SERVICE
AND THE VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION AND COUNSELING SERVICES

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON BENEFITS

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED FIFTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION

JUNE 5, 1997

Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

Serial No. 105-12

ee

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
44-682 CC WASHINGTON : 1997

For sale by the US Government Pnnting Office
‘Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402

ISBN 0-16-055720-8



8

For example, in the case of education, is an individual able to ac-
tually obtain an education? Did they obtain an education that they

ight not otherwise have obtained?

0 it isn’t meant to ignore staffing and activity, but rather, to put
the focus first on results and then show how activities and proc-
esses contribute to those results.

Mr. Mascara. That is a good answer. Thank you.

Ms. FAGNONI. Thank you.

Ms. Cuu. I will try something else.

Ms. FAGNONI. Sure.

Ms. CuHu. I think one of the things we show in Voc Rehab, you
know, is process is important, but if you don’t focus on the out-
come, what happens to the program is what we had demonstrated,
that very few people, veterans, were completing the program and
getting jobs. And so we are saying that those are important, the
process 1s important and also the outcome is important.

Mr. Mascara. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. QUINN. Thank you, Mr. Mascara.

I sy e are r off taking it home and having yourself
go to sleep if went home and you were sleepy and you
read it and you couldn't get to sleep. I think we would all be in
a lot more trouble if that was the situation.

I have another question. Part of the statement—your statement
says that “Measures should be linked to offices that are directly re-
sponsible for making programs work,” end quote, which makes a
lot of sense.

Can you give me an example of that, either in Education or the
Voc Rehab Programe? In other words, you are saying the measures
should be linked directly to the offices that make the programs
work. I agree. I just need an example or two, if you are able to.

an you?

Ms. Cuu. Well, for example, in de ining Voc Rehab eligibility,
there has to be a determination of a disability, service-connected
disability. So the link would be to—with the Department of De-
fense in terms of the information Defense has that provides service
connected data.

Mr. QUINN. Thank you. Then we are back to my original question
where we talked about that other agency business that you are
dealing with other Federal cies, whether it is the De-
partment, the Department of Defense or State agencies.

Ms. CuHu. Right. The coordination has to be there, yes. VBA does
consider them stakeholders.

Mr. QUINN. Exactly the point I was trying to make. Thank you.

Bob, any questions’

Mr. FILNER. No.

Mr. QUINN. Mr. Evans, any questions for the panel?

Mr. Evans. No.

Mr. QUINN. Anything to add?

Ms. FAaGNONI. No. .

__ Mr. Quinn. Thanks very much. I appreciate your time this morn-

Mis. FAGNONI. Thanks.
Mr. QUINN. We will move to our second panel. I guess it is our
second panel. Representatives of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs,


7

pare with other veterans who didn’t go through the program? And
similarly, you know, how does it compare with the individuals in
the civilian sector?

So when we are talking about outcome, we are talking about
things that affect the recipients of the program and not so much
what the process is of delivering the service to the veteran.

Mr. FILNer. I will pass.

Mr. QUINN. Mr. Evans.

Mr. Evans. No questions.

Mr. QUINN. No questions. Mr. Mascara.

Mr. Mascara. I had a hard time falling asleep last night, so I
took this home with me and I didn’t require any sleeping pills.

I refer to part of the report that says that under the Posults Act
every major Federal agency must now ask itself some basic ques-
tions: What is our mission?

And I will just continue, but just keep that in mind.

I need to know, in 10 words or less, what the mission is? What
are our goals and how will we achieve them? How can we measure
our formance? How will we use the information to make im-
provements?

And this is the one that catches my eye here: 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 over-
riding issue, results. How do you get away from staffing an activity
level that must play an important role in the result?

It just seems like there is some clever verbiage here, and that is
the reason I started to fall asleep because you lost me when you
said that we have to shift away from staffing and activity levels,
when we all know that there are problems out there that exist as
a result of the lack of staffing in many instances, and that, per-
haps, the wrong activities are being generated in providing service
to our veterans.

Anybody?

Ms. FAGNONI. Well, you are right. I think one of the points of the
Results Act is if an agency can start with looking at what is the
mission of the program, and for that particular, question, where the
agency would start would be what has the Congress determined
that the mission of our program should be as it is stated in the
aw:

For example, in the case of the Education Assistance program,
one of the stated legislative goals of the program is to provide vet-
erans with an education that they might not otherwise have been
able to obtain. Another purpose of that program, as stated in the
law, is to aid in the recruitment and retention of highly qualified
military personnel.

So you are absolutely right that staffing and activity levels make
a difference, but I think what the Results Act is trying to do is, if
the mcies or programs can start with the legislated mission, as

with the Congress as far as what the program is supposed
to accomplish, try to measure to what extent it is achieving those
results, and then it would be in a better position to see how things
like process and staffing and activity levels are contributing to that
outcome.


40

Rehabilitation Program divided by the total benefit dollar expenditure for the
fiscal year, indexed to base fiscal year 1997 for cost-of-living increases. The goal
is to reduce administrative costs as much as possible without compromising the
quality of services. The data for both indicators will be gathered from a variety
of sources, and analyzed to identify potential cost savings.

One strategy for achieving this goal is to use Activity Based Costing to
specifically identify the costs outlined in these two performance indicators. We
recently completed the initial work to integrate VR&C into the ABC initiative in
St. Louis, and look forward to the results of this project.

The training of VR&C staff on revised business processes is another
component of the success of this goal. A variety of media is being considered for
this purpose, including distance learning, training the trainer, and interactive
computer assisted instruction. Development and implementation of this
initiative will continue through FY 98.

As part of VR&C’s Strategic Planning Initiative, we are continuing,
Business Process Reengineering to streamline operations and are currently
developing a business case. The Business Process Reengineering effort builds on
the work of the VR&C Design Team, the more than 200 operating procedural
changes recommended by field staff implemented within the past year, and the
suggestions of stakeholders.

We are confident that the successful implementation of the goals we have
presented, and the strategies outlined to achieve those goals will enable us to
effectively address program concerns. We will also be more capable of
responding to ongoing demands for results oriented program performance.

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my testimony. In the spirit of continual
consultation, we would appreciate the Subcommuttee’s comments and
suggestions on our implementation of the Government Performance and Results
Act as we strive to improve our service to veterans, We would be pleased to
answer any questions you or members of the Subcommittee may have.

O°

ISBN 0-16-055720-8
| | | |

9°780160"557200


28

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.

In fiscal year 1996, VBA established a new Results Act strategic planning process

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 position 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

“Office of the Inspector General, Review of the Implementation of VBA's Strategic Plan
6R1-B18-100 (Washington, D.C.: VA, Aug. 25, 1996).

“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
1996.

. GAO/T-HEHS-97-148


27

employment handicap.’ 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
and, if 90, the counselor and the veteran jointly develop a rehabilitation plan.‘ 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.L 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
accotinted 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
educational institutions or to extend the time period of training programs. Of the 12
million educational assistance claims processed by VBA in fiscal year 1996, about 167,000
(14 percent) were initial claims.

YBA'S IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RESULTS ACT IS EVOLVING

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

*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.

‘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.

3 GAO/T-HEHS-97-148


4

vivors. My statement today centers primarily on two VBA pro-
grams: vocational rehabilitation and counseling and educational
assistance.

The information I am presenting today is based on prior work we
have done in the VA program area, a review of ’s strategic
plan and discussions with VBA officials.

In summary, VBA has taken positive first steps to implement the
Results Act, but this process is evolving over time. VBA faces many
challenges in its efforts to establish results-oriented goals, to meas-
ure mance and to use that information to improve perform-
ance and enhance program results.

To date, VBA has developed a strategic plan with a mission and
goals and has begun consultation wi e Co! s and other
stakeholders to obtain their views on its plan. VBA has, for exam-
ple, established four goals for the VR program. Three of these goals
are focused on improving the efficiency of the rehabilitation process
and assessing the level of satisfaction customers have with services
that VBA provides.

The fourth goal, that of increasing the number of VR program
participants who successfully complete their program, is focused to
some extent on program results. To help track its pro; in
achieving these goals, VBA has established several performance
measures such as the average number of days it takes to evaluate
a claim for rehabilitation benefits and then notify the claimant,
and the percentage of veterans who are found to be entitled to re-
habilitation services and then go on to develop a rehabilitation

jan.

P The one measure VBA has established that is directed at pro-
gram results is the percentage of veterans who complete their
training phase, enter the emp! oyment services phase and then go
on to acquire and maintain suitable employment.

VBA has also established four goals for its educational assistance
program. As with the VA program goals, they are oriented toward
improving the accuracy and timeliness of claims processing and de-
termining beneficiary satisfaction with VBA services. Performance
measures include the average number of days required to complete
educational assistance claims processing and the percentage of eli-
gible veterans, service members and reservists who are using their
Montgomery GI Bill educational benefits.

As you can see from these examples, VBA has made a good start
in setting forth goals and measures, but is not yet in a position to
fully measure and assess program performance and results. Setting
goals and establishing measures aimed at improving accuracy,
timeliness and customer satisfaction is important. But it is also im-
portant for VBA to know what differences its programs are making
in the lives of eligible veterans. VBA is aware that it needs to focus
more on program results and recognizes that additional data and
research will be required, including formal program evaluations
and extensive consultations with stakeholders.

VBA will also need to integrate its plan with other VA programs
and Federal or State agencies that support veterans benefits
programs.

As VBA’s strategic planning efforts progress, VBA must ensure
that it effectively measures and assesses performance to determine


18

Ms, DOLLARHIDE. But the questions, very frankly, have been
Mr. quam. Okay. Good.

DOLLARHIDE. So we will deal with them.
Me QUINN. Thank you. I don’t have any further questions. Mr.

Filner.
Mr. FILNER. No

Mr, QUINN. ; on the panel want to add anything at this
poin'
Then we would like to thank you for your testimony today and
your response to the questions, and the stands adjourned.
Ms. DOLLARHIDE. Thank you very much.

(Whereupon, at 10:30 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.)


35

We are most interested in providing our employees with the necessary
tools to do their jobs. To this end, we are designing training programs for our
veterans claims examiners. The training is aimed at our new employees hired by
the education processing offices. Future training modules will include refresher
and skills enhancement issues for all employees. In addition, we will analyze the
results of the VBA employee survey to assist us in assuring our employees serve
veterans better.

Goal #4: Develop a Management Tool to Identify the Cost of Administering
the Educational Assistance Programs by 1998

There are two performance indicators that will allow Education program
managers to view the cost of administering a nationwide program and enable
those managers to make informed decisions in the allocation of scarce resources.
One measure is the Administrative Cost per Trainee. The other is the Cost per Benefit
Dollar, which will tie our administrative costs to the amount of money we deliver
in the way of readjustment benefits. We will identify the direct operating costs as
well as all indirect support costs used in administering the Educational
Assistance Program.

This Activity Based Costing (ABC) initiative has been identified as the
vehicle which will enable us to isolate the actual unit costs of our education
operations as required by the Government Performance and Results Act. A
successful model was implemented in St. Louis and has now been exported to
the Atlanta office. It will eventually be exported to our other education
processing offices and will carry us into the next Fiscal Year. We believe the end
result of Activity Based Costing will be a much more efficient use of taxpayer
dollars in the operation of our programs.

Business Process Reengineering (BPR)

As part of Strategic Planning, Education Service is using Business Process
Reengineering (BPR) as a tool for the systematic analysis and redesign of our
processes, with an eye to achieving significant performance gains. Currently, a
guidance team exists to give the BPR project direction. It is composed of the
Directors of the education processing offices, as well as VBA’s Chief Financial
Officer, Chief Information Officer, the Director for Accession Policy in the


36

Department of Defense, a representative of the National Association of State
Approving Agencies, and the Director of the Education Service. These officials
oversee the work of the project team which has been formed to analyze and
review all aspects of the education program to date. Membership includes
employees from the education processing offices and VA Central Office, a
veteran student, representatives from the educational community, the National
Association of State Approving Agencies and the Department of Defense,
including the Defense Manpower Data Center in Monterey. To date, the project
team has conducted more than 50 interviews with veteran students, stakeholders,
and other interested parties within the government and the private sector as they
begin to analyze the program.

Ultimately, utilization of the Montgomery GI Bill enhances the economic
capacity of eligible veterans and strengthens our Nation’s workforce. We have
begun substantive discussions, both within the Department and with our
stakeholders, on the intended outcomes of the Educational Assistance Program.
The BPR project team identified attainment, either educational or vocational, as a
possible desired outcome. There is still much work to do on this issue and we
will work with our stakeholders in developing meaningful outcome measures.

GPRA (Vocational Rehabilitation and Counseling Service)

I would now like to discuss the efforts of the Vocational Rehabilitation &
Counseling (VR&C) program to improve the services we provide to disabled
veterans.

In our Fiscal Year 1998 Business Plan, we respond to customers’ and
oversight groups’ concerns. They had told us that they want efficient and timely
services. The implementation of the goals we outlined in our Fiscal Year 1998
Business Plan and our ongoing BPR activities will make the more efficient and
effective delivery of benefits under our program a reality.

The VR&C Business Plan, which supports the Business Plan developed for
the Veterans Benefits Administration, was developed with the assistance of the
VR&C Advisory Committee. It also is congruent with our BPR efforts, and will
serve as a template from which we may continue to refine our initiatives and
activities through Fiscal Year 1999 and beyond.


24

United States General Accounting Office

GAO

~ Testimony

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

Keeeeaen” 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




11

essing hand-offs, improve program management and, more impor-
tantly, increase job placements of disabled veterans.

The third goal is to ensure that all employees have the skills
needed for their positions in order to maintain a highly skilled and
motivated and adaptable workforce.

We have developed initiatives to emphasize employment services,
established new staff qualification standards, proposed increased
support for staff training and set up associated performance objec-
tives and indicators to measure the quality of staff training and
performance.

Our fourth goal is to develop a management tool to identify the
cost of delivering vocational rehabilitation benefits by 1998. As part
of this goal, we intend to acquire appropriate cost information, im-
prove management decisions and function in an environment of
scarce resources.

As a result of our vocational rehabilitation strategic planning ini-
tiative, we are continuing to streamline operations and develop a
performance- and results-oriented organization.

In our fiscal 1998 business plan, we provide more efficient and
timely delivery of vocational rehabilitation services. Together with
our redesign efforts, this business plan will help to refine our ini-
tiatives and activities through fiscal year 1999 and beyond.

Our program’s redesign efforts to date have yielded greatly in-
creased numbers of veterans reaching their rehabilitation goals,
numbers that we expect our business planand redesign efforts will
continue to increase.

I would briefly like to take this opportunity to mention one of our
recent rehabilitation placements. We talked about it earlier this
morning. A disabled veteran has begun a full-time, on-job training
position in your district office, Mr. Chairman; and we want to
thank you for showing your support.

I would also like to mention that our office in San Diego is work-
ing with Congressman Filner’s staff to develop a similar program
for one of our disabled veterans.

. Chairman, this concludes my testimony. We would appre-
ciate the subcommittee’s comments and suggestions today as we
work together in the future to implement the Government Perform-
ance and Results Act and improve service to veterans. We will be
pleased to answer any questions you or members of the subcommit-
tee may have, and I would like to submit the full statement for the

ret ls

Mr. QUINN. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you very much.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Dollarhide appears on p. 32.]

Mr. QUINN. Let me begin by asking a couple of the questions that
I have, maybe the types of questions that you might not have infor-
mation for today. So if it is a particular kind of question, I would
invite you, if you can’t get your hands on it today, to get it back
to us and prepare it for the staff in the next week or so. That
would be fine with us.

The Results Act we have said is part of the strategic planning
process. There is no question about that. This is our third hearing
we have set on it.


13

cating exercise, and we are really ly beginning it through this busi-
nese Process reengineering initiative.
Mr. QUINN. Thank you. So that you had liaisons before that you
said you were working with and helping out. That really means sit-
i down at the table. hat
OLLARHIDE. This is what we are Going now, actually sitting
down and talking about exactly what thi aah gamer is is to deliver,
how we should be delivering it, how we should
fits to veterans and their dependent its, what their rine Oe are
on Mr QUINN And, aay 1 to? I
wi of people are you mean,
Jee eee eae ad eer Decortonn Maybe T aid
not hear the answer.
nM DOLLARHIDE. The Department of Education, we visited with

Ake Quo . Who are you talking with at the Department of Edu-
cation, for example?

DOLLARHIDE. Both in the postsecondary area and in reports
ats statistics.

Mr. QUINN. Okay. Good.

Ms. OLLARHIDE. In the Department of Defense, of course,
gram managers of the various services but also the director of ac-
cession policy and his staff and the DMDC out in Monterey.

Mr. QUINN. Great.

Ms. DOLLARHIDE. We have always worked closely with them as
far as systems interaction. We are redesigning our reserve payment
system. They are redesigning their system out there. Of course, we
have been working with them.

Mr. QUINN. Sure. Are you ‘satisfied generally with the response
you are receiving from these other cies?

Ms. DOLLARHIDE. Very much so, uh-huh.

Mr. QUINN. Thank you. Thank Ic you very much. Those are exactly
the examples H was Tooking for for. Thanks.

Mr. Filner, di perce Teh have any questions?

Mr. FILNER. had to put in one sentence the goal for both
the vocational rehabilitation and the educational service, what
would say the goal was?

LLARHIDE. I am going to let Jeff talk to the vocational re-
havtiteten ae gists and let me give him a chance to talk here.
But, basicall, think for the education program we hope to help
them meet their educational—attain their educational and voca-

tional
a ee For the vocational rehabilitation program, in one sen-
to it would be to assist service-disabled veterans to get jobs,
suitable jobs.
Mr. FILNER. I would agree with you that both are worthwhile

I somehow—I don’t have enough experience with this, and I don’t
mean to be unkind, but I have read the testimony and I have had
some experience with this approach. Sometimes in respondin g to
what an agency it see as a bureaucratic deman: cy
itself becomes very ucratic in dealing with the and
whole bureaucracies are created that “measure” and don't d do any-
thing to meet the goals. The goal is to get someone a job.

44-582 97 -2


CONTENTS

Page
OPENING STATEMENTS
Chaigman Quinn .... 1
repared statement of Chairman Quinn .. 19
Hon. rbd Filner .... 2
Prepared statement of Congressman Filner 22
Hon, Lane Evans, ranking democratic member, Committee on Veterans Af
airs
WITNESSES
Dollarhide, Celia, Director, Education Service; Jeffrey T. Goetz, Operations
Manager, Vocational Rehabilitation and Counseling Service; and Robert
Gardner, Chief Financial Officer, Veterans Benefits Administration, De-
partment of Veterans Affairs . 9
Prepared statement of Ms. D 32
Fagnon He Cynthia M., Acting Associate
ith Care Issues, accompanied by Irene Chu, Assistant Director,
Veterans! Affeies and Military Health Care Issues, and day Belin Assistant
Director, Education and Employment Issues, U.S. ral Accounting 3

(am)


34

Goal #2: Improve payment and service accuracy, and claims processing
timeliness

Payment accuracy addresses the number of veterans’ claims reviewed with
correct payments under our quality assurance program. Thus far this year,
payment accuracy for veterans’ and dependents’ benefits has averaged 93.2
percent. Our goal for 1997/1998 is 94 percent. We intend to improve our
payment accuracy by at least two percent by the year 2000.

Service Accuracy refers to the percent of claims with appropriate
development and notification to the claimant. Our goal for 1997/1998 is an
accuracy rate of 82.5 percent. So far this year, the Service Accuracy rate is 89
percent. We are pleased with this improvement; we will build upon it, and
modify the goals for 1998 and 1999.

Average Days to Complete is an internal performance indicator which refers
to the elapsed time it takes to complete education claims. A more appropriate
measure of timeliness would capture the elapsed time between the date the
veteran enters into training and the date he or she receives payment. Until we
are able to capture the total elapsed time, we are monitoring average days to
complete.

The goal for Fiscal Year 1997 is 20 days. We are especially pleased that our
four educational processing offices have been able to adjudicate education cases,
on average, in just under 13 days this year. This is the result of several factors:

«Education consolidation: the transfer of all education work to four offices was
completed last year and we are now seeing the full efforts of consolidation

© Equalization of the workload at each of the four education processing offices

© The dedication of our employees in the field

We are very pleased with the timeliness results thus far in Fiscal Year 1997.
However, as staffing is reduced to meet Fiscal Year 1998 ceilings and the
traditional increase in enrollments begins late in the summer, we are concerned
that we will be unable to continue to maintain these timeliness gains.

Goal #3: Implement an Enhanced Training Program and Adopt the VBA
Employee Survey by 1998


22

Congressman Bob Filner
Opening Statement
Subcommittee on Benefits — June 5, 1997
GPRA — VA Education Service and Vocational Rehabilitation

and Counseling Service

Mr. Chairman, I’m pleased we are holding this hearing
today on the efforts of VA’s Education Service and the
Vocational Rehabilitation Service to Implement the
Government Performance and Results Act (G-P-R-A). This
Act gives all of us, In both the executive and the legislative
branches of government, an opportunity to closely examine
the missions and goals of Federal agencies. We in
Congress have the responsibility to review Congressional
intent - why did we establish certain benefits and programs?
- are they accomplishing the purposes for which we created
them? - are Federal agencles implementing programs and

benefits in accordance with the intent of Congress?

I do, though, want to mention my personal experience

with “government reinvention” and add a word of caution.


COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS

BOB STUMP, Anzona, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey LANE EVANS, Illinois.

MICHAEL BILIRAKIS, Florida
FLOYD SPENCE, South Carolina
TERRY EVERETT, Alabama
STEVE BUYER, Indiana

JACK QUINN, New York
SPENCER BACHUS, Alabama
CLIFF STEARNS, Florida

DAN SCHAEFER, Colorado
JERRY MORAN, Kani
JOHN COOKSEY, Louisiana
ASA HUTCHINSON, Arkansas
J.D. HAYWORTH, Arizona
HELEN CHENOWETH, Idaho
RAY LAHOOD, Illinois

JOSEPH P. KENNEDY II, Massachusetts

BOB FILNER, California
LUIS V. GUTIERREZ, Illinois
SANFORD D. BISHOP, Jr , Georgia

JAMES E. CLYBURN, South Carolina

CORRINE BROWN, Florida
MICHAEL F. DOYLE, Pennsylvania
FRANK MASCARA, Pennsylvania
COLLIN C. PETERSON, Minnesota
JULIA CARSON, Indiana
SILVESTRE REYES, Texas

VIC SNYDER, Arkans

Cart D. ComMENaTOR, Chief Counsel and Staff Director

SUBCOMMITTEE ON BENEFITS
JACK QUINN, New York, Chairman

DAN SCHAEFER, Colorado
J.D. HAYWORTH, Arkansas
RAY LAHOOD, Illinois

BOB FILNER, California
FRANK MASCARA, Pennsylvania
SILVESTRE REYES, Texas
CIRO D. RODRIGUEZ, Texas

an


30

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
1988 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

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;

-  VAhas contracted for quality reviews of higher education and training institutions
that have already been reviewed by the Department of Education;’ 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.’ 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.” 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.

‘Teaining Programs (GAO/HEHS-96-22, Oct. 30, ee)

“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.L. Bill benefits.

. oP
Agency Performance (GA0/T-HEHS-97- 128, May 7, 1987).
6 GAO/T-HEHS-97-148


39

One key strategy for achieving this goal is our ongoing partnering
relationship with the Department of Labor, as outlined in a recently revised
Memorandum of Understanding. The Memorandum of Understanding
delineates the mutual responsibilities and concerns of each department and their
commitment to active cooperation and coordination of employment services for
vocational rehabilitation program participants. We have also established a joint
task force whose goal is to improve and refine this cooperative working
relationship. This group is composed of field and headquarters staff from each
department, and has completed a preliminary analysis of our respective systems.
A Technical Assistance Guide will be completed in the near future.

GOAL #3: Ensure all employees have the skills needed for their positions in
order to maintain a highly skilled, motivated and adaptable workforce.

To provide the best possible services to veterans, an empowered, well-
trained workforce is needed. The new Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor
position, with qualification standards that are consistent with the rehabilitation
profession, will help realize this goal. In addition, VR&C will be developing staff
capabilities, as reflected in the Competency Scores, which will measure the extent
to which VR&C staff members have comprehensive knowledge of rehabilitation
practices, and VR&C programs and operating procedures. Through analysis of
these scores we will develop training programs to correct knowledge deficiencies
and improve service delivery.

GOAL #4: Develop a management tool to identify the cost of delivering
vocational rehabilitation benefits by 1998.

Consistent with overall Veterans Benefits Administration efforts to acquire
appropriate cost information, improve management decisions, and function in an
environment of scarce resources, VR&C has developed two performance
indicators.

First, we will reduce Administrative Costs per Trainee. This indicator is
expressed as VR&C’s administrative direct operating costs and indirect support
costs divided by the number of program participants for the fiscal year.

The second performance indicator is the Cost per Benefit Dollar, the direct
operating costs as well as all indirect support costs to administer the Vocational


25

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

. In fiscal year 1996, VBA provided vocational rehabilitation benefits to
62,000 disabled veterans; provided educational assistance to 397,000 veterans,
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, a3
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

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—

educational
assistance programs are in the process of implementing the Results Act's requirements.

GAO/T-HEHS-97-148


9

Ms. Celia Dollarhide, the Director of the Department of Veterans
Affairs Education Service; Mr. Jeff Goetz, who is the Operations
Manager for the VA Voc Rehab and Counseling Service; and they
are both accompanied by Mr. Robert Gardner, CFO of the Veterans
Benefits Administration.

This is also an opportunity for me now to publicly thank you all
for the briefings that Mr. Filner and I received earlier this
when the committees were combined and you were kind enough to
present us with a great deal of information. We appreciate it very
much,

We are going to operate, Ms. Dollarhide, also under the 5-minute
rule. You may have a full statement for the committee, but if you
could, condense your comments into about 5 minutes or so, and
then we will do some questioning. Is that okay?

STATEMENT OF CELIA DOLLARHIDE, DIRECTOR, EDUCATION
SERVICE; JEFFREY T. GOETZ, OPERATIONS MANAGER, VO-
CATIONAL REHABILITATION AND COUNSELING SERVICE;
AND ROBERT GARDNER, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, VET-
ERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF VET-
ERANS AFFAIRS

Ms. DOLLARHIDE. That is fine. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, thank you for
the opportunity to appear before the subcommittee to discuss im-
plementation of the Government Performance and Results Act for
the Department of Veterans Affairs Educational Assistance pro-
gram and the Vocational Rehabilitation and Counseling program.

With me today on my left, Mr. Robert Gardner, Director of Veter-
ans Benefits, Office of Resource Management; and on tight, Mr.
Jeffrey Goetz, Operations Manager, Vocational Rehabilitation and
Counseling Service.

Historically, VA education and rehabilitation programs have had
significant impact on education in society as a whole. We know
that more education directly results in increased income and a bet-
ter quality of life. We are proud of our part in the process.

Earlier this year, members of both the Education Service and the
Vocational Rehabilitation and Counseling Service briefed staff
members of the subcommittee on our implementation plans for the
Government Performance and Results . It_is a pleasure to be
here today to discuss with you substantive details of both 1998
business plans.

First, let me turn to the education assistance pro; . We have
four major goals to accomplish: the first, to identify the level of sat-
isfaction our customers have had with the service and benefits we
provide and begin setting improvement targets by 1998. As part of
this goal, we intend to increase the usage rate of veterans’ training
under the Montgomery GI Bill from the current 37 percent level to
75 percent by the year 2002.

is will be accomplished, in n art, by improved customer service;
by providing greater access to VA for education information; and by
providing, in cooperation with the Department of Defense, informa-
tion on the benefits available to service members before they are
discharged.


12

The straightforward question is, when can the committee expect
delivery of the draft strategic plan and how complete will it be
when we receive it?

Ms. DOLLARHIDE. Let me ask Mr. Gardner to respond to that
question.

Mr. GARDNER. I know the Department is working feverishly on
this. We are very interested in being as responsive to you as we
can.

For our part, in terms of VBA, we met with Mr. Duffy and his
staff on Tuesday and are reviewing a draft. I know it is their intent
to try to get something to you by the end of this week.

I would also say that we want it to be a good document. I will
only just not speak for the Department but for my VBA piece—I
want it to be a quality document that we can have a good dialogue
on. and not something that we have rushed through to get to you
quickly.

I am struggling with a lot of those issues as to trying to put a
little more time into it, working with our program directors, espe-
cially in the outcome area, to try to put a little more information
into it.

There is a constant trade-off between taking a little more time
but not getting you something we can’t begin a dialogue on. I would
certainly say that my understanding is that they are aiming to get
something to you by the end of this week.

Mr. QuINN. That would be fine.

For the record, it was due June 1. We are only talking about a
few days. I happen to agree with you. A few extra days to make
it more complete is w that. If we are not headed toward the
end of this week—well, today is Thursday already. Just keep us in-
formed if you are going to need a couple of extra days into next
week. Just let us know so we know what to expect there. If you
run into a major problem where it is going to be 2 or 3 weeks, we
would like to know that. O! Thanks.

Then let me get back to question I asked the first panel—
and any or all of yu can respond to this—about this discussion,
communication and dialogue with other agencies, Federal agencies
and State agencies, and as it relates to the whole Results Act.

Could you comment on some examples of some of that discussion
that is taking place? I want to know that we are not operating in
vacuums here all along the way.

Ms. DOLLARHIDE. Well, I will go ahead and speak to the edu-
cation program.

We, as part of our strategic planning right now, are going
through a business reengineering process program and, as a part
of that, we are working closely with officials from the Department
of Defense, school officials, our State approving agency member-
ship, veterans’ groups and the like. They are members of the
project team and members of the steering Freee or guidance team
which gives the project team guidance and direction as they ana-
lyze the program.

We are just beginning, frankly, in the education program. We
have always had liaison with other agencies, State agencies, edu-
cational organizations and so forth. But to sit down and plan stra-
tegically like this is new for us, and we are doing it. It is an inter-