WASHINGTON — Veterans Affairs officials have backed off plans to hire outside help to upgrade the department’s GI Bill benefits system, saying they will rely on the current manual process to deliver checks next fall.
Last month department technical experts told lawmakers that private contractors would have to be brought in to help with the GI Bill transition, because the internal IT staff lacked the expertise and manpower to lead the move from the old education benefits system to a larger, completely automated one.
But in a statement last week, Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake said the department did not receive enough qualified outside proposals in its search for outside help, scrapping those plans.
"While it is unfortunate that we will not have the technical expertise from the private sector available to assist us in developing the information technology solution, the VA can and will deliver the benefits program on time," he said.
The new GI Bill benefits, passed by Congress in June, mandate a $1,000 monthly housing stipend and four years of tuition at any state university for all veterans who served at least three years on active duty since Sept. 11, 2001.
Under the old system, veterans received a flat rate for their education based on their contributions into the system.
But the new system will be more complex, calculating different rates for recipients based on how long they served, what school they attend and where they live.
Plans to contract out the parts of the work had come under fire from veterans groups, lawmakers and even workers within the department, who thought they should be given a chance to update the system.
But Keith Wilson, a director in the Veterans Benefits Administration, said the latest move isn’t a reversal of the decision based on that criticism.
"We stated VA lacks the skills and staff to set up a fully automated system by (August 2009)," he said.
"That still stands and is why we will continue our current manual process to process claims after August.
"Our long-term strategy remains an automated process, but we do not have sufficient confidence a new, fully automated system can be in place by Aug. 1 and are not willing to gamble with veterans’ education benefit payments."
Establishing that automated system with internal staff is expected to take two to three years, department officials said.
They also need to hire more staff to handle the larger number of GI Bill claims under the manual system, but could not provide specifics on how many new employees that will be.
Defense Department officials have said they’re confident their computer systems will be ready to share military personnel records with the Veterans Affairs Department by March, which they hope will give the agencies plenty of time to sort out any confusion before the veterans’ checks start getting sent out at the end of the summer.
