IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4477 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 13, 2019 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

AN ACT 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to 

Congress a plan to address certain high risk areas identified by the Comptroller General of the United States 

regarding the Department of Veterans Affairs in the 

2019 High-Risk List of the Government Accountability 

Office, and for other purposes. 


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HR 4477 RFS

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reducing High Risk 

5 to Veterans and Veterans Services Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REPORT AND PLANNED ACTIONS OF THE SEC7 RETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TO ADDRESS 

8 CERTAIN HIGH-RISK AREAS OF THE DEPART9 MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

10 (a) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 180 days 

11 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

12 of Veterans Affairs, in consultation with the Comptroller 

13 General of the United States, shall submit to the Commit14 tees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and House of Rep15 resentatives a report outlining the plan the Secretary has 

16 developed and the actions the Secretary has taken to ad17 dress the areas of concern identified by the Comptroller 

18 General for the Department of Veterans Affairs in the 

19 2019 High-Risk List of the Government Accountability 

20 Office (GAO–19–157SP) regarding— 

21 (1) acquisition management; and 

22 (2) managing risks and improving health care. 

23 (b) ELEMENTS.—The report under subsection (a) 

24 shall include each of the following: 


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1 (1) Root causes of the areas of concern de2 scribed in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a). 

3 (2) Corrective actions and specific steps to ad4 dress each root cause, including— 

5 (A) the progress of the Secretary in imple6 menting those actions and steps; and 

7 (B) timelines and milestones the Secretary 

8 determines feasible to complete each corrective 

9 action. 

10 (3) Resources the Secretary determines are nec11 essary to implement corrective actions, including— 

12 (A) funding; 

13 (B) stakeholders; 

14 (C) technology; and 

15 (D) senior officials responsible for imple16 menting the corrective actions and reporting re17 sults. 

18 (4) Metrics for assessing progress in addressing 

19 the areas of concern described in paragraphs (1) and 

20 (2) of subsection (a). 

21 (5) Key outcomes that demonstrate progress in 

22 addressing the areas of concern described in para23 graphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a). 

24 (6) Obstacles to implementation of the plan 

25 that the Secretary identifies. 


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1 (7) Recommendations of the Secretary regard2 ing legislation or funding the Secretary determines 

3 necessary to implement the plan. 

4 (8) Any other information the Secretary deter5 mines is relevant to understanding the progress of 

6 the Department toward the removal of the areas of 

7 concern from the High Risk List. 

8 (c) ANNUAL UPDATES.— 

9 (1) UPDATE REQUIRED.—Not less than once 

10 each year during the implementation period under 

11 paragraph (2), the Secretary shall submit to Con12 gress an update regarding implementation of each 

13 element of the plan under subsection (b). 

14 (2) IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD.—The implemen15 tation period described in this paragraph begins on 

16 the date on which the Secretary submits the report 

17 required under subsection (a) and ends on the ear18 lier of the following dates: 

19 (A) The date on which the Comptroller 

20 General removes the last area of concern for 

21 the Department from the most recent High22 Risk List of the Government Accountability Of23 fice. 


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1 (B) The date that is 8 years after the date 

2 on which the Secretary submits the plan re3 quired under subsection (a). 

4 SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORT BY SECRETARY OF VETERANS AF5 FAIRS ON IMPLEMENTATION OF PRIORITY 

6 RECOMMENDATIONS OF COMPTROLLER GEN7 ERAL OF THE UNITED STATES PERTAINING 

8 TO DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

9 (a) ANNUAL REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 

10 270 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 

11 not less than once during each of the subsequent 3 years, 

12 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Com13 mittees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and House of 

14 Representatives and to the Comptroller General of the 

15 United States a report on the implementation of priority 

16 recommendations of the Comptroller General that pertain 

17 to the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

18 (b) CONTENTS.—Each report submitted under sub19 section (a) shall include, for the period covered by the re20 port, the following: 

21 (1) The progress of the Secretary in imple22 menting all open priority recommendations of the 

23 Comptroller General for the Department of Veterans 

24 Affairs. 


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1 (2) An explanation for each instance where the 

2 Secretary has decided not to implement, or has not 

3 fully implemented, an open priority recommendation 

4 of the Comptroller General for the Department. 

5 (3) A summary of the corrective actions taken 

6 and remaining steps the Secretary plans to take to 

7 implement open priority recommendations of the 

8 Comptroller General. 

9 (c) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT CERTAIN RE10 QUIRED REPORTS OR WRITTEN STATEMENTS.—The re11 port under this section shall not be construed to supplant 

12 any report or written statement required under section 

13 720 of title 31, United States Code. 

Passed the House of Representatives November 12, 

2019. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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