VA Staffing and Vacancies Transparency Act of 2017

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make certain improvements in the transparency of the personnel vacancies and staffing levels of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the VA Staffing and Vacancies Transparency Act of 2017 2. Sense of Congress regarding Department of Veterans Affairs staffing levels (a) Findings Congress makes the following findings: (1) The Department of Veterans Affairs needs to fill at least 45,000 positions. (2) Prolonged personnel vacancies in the Department result in staffing shortages that cause veterans to receive delayed benefits and services. (b) Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that the Department should make the resolution of staffing shortages a top priority. 3. Department of Veterans Affairs personnel transparency (a) Publication of staffing and vacancies (1) Website required Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall make publicly available on an internet website of the Department of Veterans Affairs the following information, which shall be displayed by departmental component or, in the case of information relating to Veterans Health Administration positions, by medical facility: (A) The number of personnel encumbering positions. (B) The number of accessions and de-accessions of personnel during the month preceding the date of the publication of the information. (C) The number of vacancies, by occupation. (D) The number of active job postings that have been filled during the 30-day period ending on the date of publication of the information, including the length of time for which each position was posted prior to being filled. (2) Update of information The Secretary shall update the information on the website required under paragraph (1) on a monthly basis. (3) Treatment of contractor positions Any Department of Veterans Affairs position that is filled through a contractor employee may not be treated as a Department position for purposes of the information required to be published under paragraph (1). (4) Inspector General review On a semi-annual basis, the Inspector General of the Department shall review the administration of the website required under paragraph (1) and make recommendations relating to the improvement of such administration. (b) Report to Congress The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to Congress an annual report on the steps the Department is taking to achieve full staffing capacity. Each such report shall include the amount of additional funds necessary to enable the Department to reach full staffing capacity.

Summary: VA Staffing and Vacancies Transparency Act of 2017 This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to publish and update monthly on a publicly available VA website, for each VA component and Veterans Health Administration medical facility, the number of: personnel encumbering positions; accessions and de-accessions of personnel during the preceding month; vacancies, by occupation; and active job postings that have been filled during the preceding 30 days, including the length of time for which each position was posted prior to being filled. The Inspector General of VA must review and make recommendations for improving the administration of the website semiannually. The VA shall report to Congress annually on the steps it is taking to achieve full staffing capacity.