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systems; for pay and associated costs; and for the capital 
asset acquisition of information technology systems, includ-
ing management and related contractual costs of said ac-
quisitions, including contractual costs associated with oper-
ations authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States 
Code, $4,278,259,000, plus reimbursements: Provided, That 
$1,272,548,000 shall be for pay and associated costs, of 
which not to exceed $37,100,000 shall remain available 
until September 30, 2018: Provided further, That 
$2,534,442,000 shall be for operations and maintenance, of 
which not to exceed $180,200,000 shall remain available 
until September 30, 2018: Provided further, That 
$471,269,000 shall be for information technology systems 
development, modernization, and enhancement, and shall 
remain available until September 30, 2018: Provided fur-
ther, That amounts made available for information tech-
nology systems development, modernization, and enhance-
ment may not be obligated or expended until the Secretary 
of Veterans Affairs or the Chief Information Officer of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs submits to the Committees 
on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress a certifi-
cation of the amounts, in parts or in full, to be obligated 
and expended for each development project: Provided fur-
ther, That amounts made available for salaries and ex-
penses, operations and maintenance, and information tech-
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nology systems development, modernization, and enhance-
ment may be transferred among the three subaccounts after 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs requests from the Commit-
tees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress the au-
thority to make the transfer and an approval is issued: Pro-
vided further, That amounts made available for the ‘‘Infor-
mation Technology Systems’’ account for development, mod-
ernization, and enhancement may be transferred among 
projects or to newly defined projects: Provided further, That 
no project may be increased or decreased by more than 
$1,000,000 of cost prior to submitting a request to the Com-
mittees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress to 
make the transfer and an approval is issued, or absent a 
response, a period of 30 days has elapsed: Provided further, 
That funds under this heading may be used by the Inter-
agency Program Office through the Department of Veterans 
Affairs to define data standards, code sets, and value sets 
used to enable interoperability: Provided further, That, not-
withstanding any other provision of law, $300,000 shall be 
available to carry out a matching program with the De-
partment of Education to identify veterans who are unem-
ployable due to a service-connected disability and who are 
also borrowers of Federal student loans in order to stream-
line and expedite the process through which such veterans 
may discharge their Federal student loans. Provided fur-
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ther, That of the funds made available for information tech-
nology systems development, modernization, and enhance-
ment for VistA Evolution or any successor program, not 
more than 25 percent may be obligated or expended until 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs: 
(1) Certifies in writing to the Committees on Ap-
propriations of both Houses of Congress that the De-
partment of Veterans Affairs has met the require-
ments contained in the National Defense Authoriza-
tion Act of Fiscal Year 2014 (Public Law 113–66) 
which require that electronic health record systems of 
the Department of Defense and the Department of 
Veterans Affairs have reached interoperability, com-
ply with national standards and architectural re-
quirements identified by the DoD/VA Interagency 
Program Office in collaboration with the Office of Na-
tional Coordinator for Health Information Tech-
nology; 
(2) submits to the Committees on Appropriations 
of both Houses of Congress the VistA Evolution Busi-
ness Case and supporting documents regarding con-
tinuation of VistA Evolution or alternatives to VistA 
Evolution, including an analysis of necessary or de-
sired capabilities, technical and security require-
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ments, the plan for modernizing the platform frame-
work, and all associated costs; 
(3) submits to the Committees on Appropriations 
of both Houses of Congress, and such Committees ap-
prove, the following: a report that describes a strategic 
plan for VistA Evolution, or any successor program, 
and the associated implementation plan including 
metrics and timelines; a master schedule and lifecycle 
cost estimate for VistA Evolution or any successor; 
and an implementation plan for the transition from 
the Project Management Accountability System to a 
new project delivery framework, the Veteran-focused 
Integration Process, that includes the methodology by 
which projects will be tracked, progress measured, and 
deliverables evaluated; 
(4) submits to the Committees on Appropriations 
of both Houses of Congress a report outlining the stra-
tegic plan to reach interoperability with private sec-
tor healthcare providers, the timeline for reaching 
‘‘meaningful use’’ as defined by the Office of National 
Coordinator for Health Information Technology for 
each data domain covered under the VistA Evolution 
program, and the extent to which the Department of 
Veterans Affairs leverages the State Health Informa-
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tion Exchanges to share health data with private sec-
tor providers; and 
(5) submits to the Committees on Appropriations 
of both Houses of Congress, and such Committees ap-
prove, the following: a report that describes the extent 
to which VistA Evolution, or any successor program, 
maximizes the use of commercially available software 
used by DoD and the private sector, requires an open 
architecture that leverages best practices and rapidly 
adapts to technologies produced by the private sector, 
enhances full interoperability between the VA and 
DoD and between VA and the private sector, and en-
sures the security of personally identifiable informa-
tion of veterans and beneficiaries: 
Provided further, That the funds made available under this 
heading for information technology systems development, 
modernization, and enhancement, shall be for the projects, 
and in the amounts, specified under this heading in the 
report accompanying this Act. 
OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL 
For necessary expenses of the Office of Inspector Gen-
eral, to include information technology, in carrying out the 
provisions of the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. 
App.), $160,106,000, of which not to exceed 10 percent shall 
remain available until September 30, 2018. 
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