VA’s three operational administrations—the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), and the National Cemetery Administration (NCA)—each manage their own separate regional network of facilities to provide program services to veterans and their families. These services include a diverse array of educational, disability, survivor, and health benefits. VHA holds the nation’s largest integrated health care system consisting of, among other things, medical centers and community-based outpatient clinics that are decentralized across 21 Veterans Integrated Service Networks. In addition to its primary program mission area of providing health care to veterans, VHA—specifically—is also responsible for managing the majority of the department’s underutilized and excess property and land-use agreements at the local level. It should be noted that the management of underutilized and vacant spaces can be costly. Decision making on how to use these properties may involve competing considerations such as budgetary constraints, legal limitations, and stakeholder input. VA utilizes various leasing authorities as a means of avoiding or decreasing its costs by maximizing available resources through the joint use of facility space. VA may use these authorities to enter into agreements that include outleases, licenses, permits, sharing agreements, and EUL agreements with public or private entities to use land and buildings for revenue or in-kind consideration. See table 1 below for the various types of authorities available to VA, a brief description of the authority, and how proceeds may be used if revenue is generated. Depending upon the terms specified and the type of agreement, agreements may generate revenue, in-kind considerations (such as cost savings or avoidance, or enhanced services), or both for the benefit of veterans, VA’s operations, or the community at large. When veterans benefit directly from these agreements, they may enjoy access to an expanded range of services that would otherwise not be available on VA medical center campuses because in some cases VA is not authorized to provide such services itself. VA benefits from land-use agreements by offsetting or avoiding altogether the costs associated with operating and maintaining underutilized or vacant properties. Finally, local communities may also benefit from agreements through the provision of services such as credit unions, daycare, or the placement of rooftop antennas to strengthen cell-phone reception. Details about land-use agreements, including estimated revenue and indications of in-kind considerations, are to be recorded in VA’s CAI system by administration, network, or medical facility personnel who are responsible for those agreements. According to VA, it uses this system to evaluate property management by its administrations, regional networks, and medical centers. The inventory data from this system are to form the basis for decision making used in VA’s strategic capital-investment planning processes. CAI data are also reported to external stakeholders, including Congress and GAO. To be entered into CAI, each land-use agreement must have its own revenue source and accounting codes. VA headquarters staff process requests and register the land-use agreements with these codes. Once assigned, the codes are to be entered into the CAI database. VA medical centers in VA’s 21 service networks are then responsible for updating the land-use agreement information into CAI immediately after they are notified that the codes have been entered as well as updating CAI at the time of execution of the land-use agreement. VA medical centers are also required to immediately update the CAI database for any subsequent changes in the land-use agreements. Each year, VA headquarters staff initiate a call for the VA medical centers to review existing data in CAI, including land-use agreements; update any needed changes to CAI; and certify the data are complete and accurate at that point in time. Enhanced use leases (EUL) are centrally managed at headquarters by the Office of Asset Enterprise Management (OAEM). OAEM is responsible for administering and managing the EUL program, with support from local facility staff from VA’s administrations. This monitoring includes tracking lease requirements and identifying benefits and expenses for EUL projects, once leases are executed. VA is also responsible for producing an annual consideration report to Congress for EULs that includes information on revenue, cost avoidance, cost savings, enhanced services, and expenses paid by VA. Unlike the central management of revenues and agreements associated with EULs, VA generally uses a decentralized approach in the monitoring of sharing agreements, outleases, licenses, and permits. The scope of projects can be diverse, ranging from space for medical research, day care, and rooftop telecommunications equipment, to 1-day special events for community causes. Regardless of the type of project, roles and responsibilities may vary by medical facility when overseeing land-use agreements. The monitoring of agreements, including ensuring the space is properly maintained or occupied, may involve offices responsible for asset management or contracting, for instance. According to VA officials, the medical centers are allowed considerable discretion in their management of these agreements. Based on our review of land-use agreement data for fiscal year 2012, VA does not maintain reliable data on the total number of land-use agreements and VA did not accurately estimate the revenues those agreements generate.provided to us from VA’s CAI system, VA reported that it had over 400 land-use agreements with over $24.8 million in estimated revenues for fiscal year 2012. However, in the course of our testing the reliability of the data, one of VA’s administrations—VHA—initiated steps to verify the accuracy and validity of the data it originally provided to us. During this verification process, VHA made several corrections to the data that raised questions about their accuracy, validity, and completeness. Examples of these corrections include the following: According to the land-use agreement data VHA reported multiple entries for a single land-use agreement. Specifically, VHA had 37 separate land-use entries for the same agreement entered in CAI—one for each building listed in the agreement—that were, in fact, for only one agreement at VA’s facility in Perry Point, Maryland. VHA also noted in its revisions that there were 13 agreements that had been terminated prior to fiscal year 2012 that should have been removed from the system. At the three VA medical centers we reviewed, we also found examples of errors in the land-use agreement data. Examples of these errors include the following: VHA did not include 17 land-use agreements for the medical centers in New York and North Chicago, collectively. VHA initially reported that it had 9 non-EUL land-use agreements that generated about $3.2 million in revenues at its North Chicago medical center in fiscal year 2012. In its revisions, VHA stated that its North Chicago medical center maintained 7 land-use agreements that generated no revenue, instead of 9 agreements that generated revenues. However, on the basis of our independent review of revenue receipts, we found that 5 agreements generated more than $240,000 in revenue in fiscal year 2012. For the medical center in West Los Angeles, VHA revised its estimated revenues from all land-use agreements in fiscal year 2012 from about $700,000 to over $810,000. However, our review of VA’s land-use agreements at this medical center indicated that the amount that should have been generated was approximately $1.5 million. Guidance in this area states that reliable data can be characterized as being accurate, valid, and complete.reasonably complete and accurate, can be used for their intended purposes, and have not been subject to inappropriate alteration. Additionally, data in systems should also be consistent—a subset of accuracy—and valid. Consistency can be impaired when data are entered at multiple sites and there is an inconsistent interpretation of what data should be entered. Finally, data that are valid actually represent what is Reliable data means that data are being measured. Thus, despite the corrections made by VHA, we cannot conclude that the revised number of land-use agreements held by VA or the amount of revenue these agreements generated in fiscal year 2012 are sufficiently reliable. VA policy requires that CAI be updated quarterly until the agreement ends. VA’s approach on maintaining the data in CAI relies heavily on data being entered timely (quarterly) and accurately by a staff person in the local medical center. VA OAEM makes annual requests to medical centers to update the data in CAI, which also calls for the medical centers staff to verify the data. VA officials stated that a number of deficiencies remained after an annual update of the data in CAI. According to VA officials, the errors may be a result of manual data entry or medical centers not adhering to the guidance for updating CAI on a quarterly basis. Our review found that VA does not currently have a mechanism to ensure that the data in CAI are updated quarterly as required and that the data are accurate, valid, and complete. Federal internal control standards state that relevant, reliable, and timely information is to be available for external reporting purposes and management decision making. Additionally, these standards also state that management should put in place control mechanisms and activities to enable it to enforce its directives and achieve results, such as providing relevant, reliable, and timely information. VA officials recognize the importance of maintaining quality data. According to VA’s guidance on CAI, the maintenance of high-quality data is critical to the organization’s credibility and is an indication of VA’s commitment to responsible capital asset portfolio management. Additionally, VA contends that high-quality data are needed to be responsive to policymakers and others. Officials at the VA headquarters reported that they undertake a few activities throughout the year to improve their data, such as the annual update. For example, an official told us that staff at headquarters had recently deployed a training session in 2014 that focused on updating data in CAI. According to a VA official, six sessions have been provided through June 2014. While these activities are positive steps, they do not provide the assurance needed that the data maintained in CAI are reliable.