Title: Department of Veterans Affairs Oversight Enhancement Act of 2018
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Department of Veterans Affairs Oversight Enhancement Act of 2018
This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to report on its corrective measures any year health care furnished by the VA appears on the high risk list published by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The high risk list is a list of programs that are vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement or that need transformation. The VA is also required to report annually on the implementation of recommendations from GAO.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2656 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2656

 To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to report biennially on 
actions taken to address areas of concern that led to the inclusion of 
     veterans health care in the High Risk List of the Government 
             Accountability Office, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 12, 2018

  Mr. Young (for himself and Ms. Klobuchar) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to report biennially on 
actions taken to address areas of concern that led to the inclusion of 
     veterans health care in the High Risk List of the Government 
             Accountability Office, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Department of Veterans Affairs 
Oversight Enhancement Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. BIENNIAL REPORT BY SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS ON ACTIONS 
              TAKEN TO ADDRESS AREAS OF CONCERN THAT LED TO INCLUSION 
              OF VETERANS HEALTH CARE IN THE HIGH RISK LIST OF THE 
              GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE.

    (a) Biennial Report Required.--No later than 120 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act and in each session of Congress 
thereafter in which the High Risk List of the Government Accountability 
Office published in that session includes health care furnished under 
laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Secretary 
shall submit to Congress, the appropriate committees of Congress, and 
the Comptroller General of the United States a report on the actions 
taken by the Secretary and the progress made by the Secretary in 
implementing the High Risk Action Plan of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs to address the areas of concern that led to the designation of 
such health care as high risk by the Comptroller General in the most 
recently published High Risk List.
    (b) Contents.--Each report submitted under subsection (a) shall 
include, for the period covered by the period, the following:
            (1) The corrective measures and specific steps necessary 
        for addressing root causes identified in the High Risk Action 
        Plan for removal from the high-risk designation, including the 
        progress of the Secretary in implementing those measures and 
        steps. The specific measures and steps shall--
                    (A) address each root cause;
                    (B) identify resources to implement corrective 
                actions, including funding, stakeholders, technology, 
                and the senior officials responsible for implementing 
                the corrective actions and reporting results;
                    (C) identify metrics that can be used to assess 
                progress and assign responsibility for tracking 
                progress, including the mechanism that will be used to 
                keep senior leadership informed about progress made or 
                challenges encountered;
                    (D) list key outcomes and goals that demonstrate 
                progress in addressing the concerns; and
                    (E) establish timeframes with overall and interim 
                milestones.
            (2) The progress of the Secretary in addressing the five 
        criteria for removal from the High Risk List for each of the 
        areas of concern identified by the Comptroller General.
            (3) An explanation and course of action for each failure to 
        fully adopt the Comptroller General's criteria for removal from 
        the High Risk list.

SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORT BY SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS ON 
              IMPLEMENTATION OF CERTAIN RECOMMENDATIONS OF COMPTROLLER 
              GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES PERTAINING TO DEPARTMENT OF 
              VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) Annual Report Required.--No later than 120 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act and not less frequently than once each 
year thereafter, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to 
Congress, the appropriate committees of Congress, and to the 
Comptroller General of the United States a report on implementation of 
recommendations of the Comptroller General that pertain to the 
Department of Veterans Affairs.
    (b) Contents.--Each report submitted under subsection (a) shall 
include, for the period covered by the report, the following:
            (1) The progress of the Secretary in implementing all open 
        priority recommendations of the Comptroller General for the 
        Department of Veterans Affairs.
            (2) An explanation for each instance where the Secretary 
        has decided not to implement, or has not fully implemented, an 
        open priority recommendation of the Comptroller General for the 
        Department.
            (3) Courses of action for the Secretary to implement open 
        priority recommendations of the Comptroller General, 
        including--
                    (A) resources to implement corrective actions, 
                including funding, stakeholders, technology, and the 
                senior officials responsible for implementing the 
                corrective actions and reporting results;
                    (B) metrics that can be used to assess progress and 
                assign responsibility for tracking progress, including 
                the mechanism that will be used to keep senior 
                leadership informed about progress made or challenges 
                encountered;
                    (C) key outcomes and goals that demonstrate 
                progress in addressing the concerns; and
                    (D) timeframes with overall and interim milestones.
    (c) Supplement and Not Supplant Current Report Requirements.--The 
requirements of this section shall supplement and not supplant the 
requirements of section 720 of title 31, United States Code.

SEC. 4. REPORT BY COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES ON ACTIONS 
              TAKEN BY SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TO ADDRESS AREAS 
              OF CONCERN THAT LED TO INCLUSION OF VETERANS HEALTH CARE 
              IN THE 2017 HIGH RISK LIST OF THE GOVERNMENT 
              ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE.

    (a) Report Required.--No later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 
shall submit to Congress and the appropriate committees of Congress a 
report on the implementation, the actions taken, and the progress made 
by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in implementing the High Risk 
Action Plan of the Department of Veterans Affairs to address the areas 
of concern that led to the designation of health care furnished under 
laws administered by the Secretary as high risk by the Comptroller 
General in the High Risk List published by the Comptroller General in 
2017.
    (b) Contents.--The report submitted under paragraph (1) shall 
include the following:
            (1) An evaluation of the progress of the Secretary in 
        implementing corrective measures and specific steps for 
        addressing root causes identified in the High Risk Action Plan 
        for removal of veterans health care from the High Risk List.
            (2) An evaluation of the progress of the Secretary in 
        addressing the five criteria for removal from the High Risk 
        List for each of the areas of concern identified by the 
        Comptroller General.
            (3) An evaluation of the Secretary's explanations and 
        courses of action for each failure to fully adopt the 
        Comptroller General's criteria for removal from the High Risk 
        List.

SEC. 5. APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS DEFINED.

    In this Act, the term ``appropriate committees of Congress'' means 
the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 
Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives.
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