Title: Department of Veterans Affairs Oversight Enhancement Act of 2019
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Department of Veterans Affairs Oversight Enhancement Act of 2019
This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to report biennially on corrective measures taken to address concerns identified 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 the GAO.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 698 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 698

  To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to report biennially on 
 actions taken to address areas of concern regarding the Department of 
Veterans Affairs in the High Risk List of the Government Accountability 
                    Office, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 22, 2019

  Mr. Banks introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to report biennially on 
 actions taken to address areas of concern regarding the Department of 
Veterans Affairs 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 2019''.

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

    (a) Biennial Report Required.--Not 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 areas of concern relating to 
the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
shall submit to 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 such areas of concern identified 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 report, 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 criteria of the Comptroller General 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.--Not 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 the 
appropriate committees of Congress and to the Comptroller General of 
the United States a report on the 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. 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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