Oracle executives subpoenaed to testify over price spike in VA medical records contract

WASHINGTON — Oracle’s top executives have been served with subpoenas to testify before lawmakers about a $17 billion increase in its projected costs to modernize the Department of Veterans Affairs medical records network by 2031.

Democratic members of the House VA Committee reported that Larry Ellison, Oracle’s chairman, and chief executive officer Mike Sicilia were subpoenaed late Monday to answer questions under oath about a contract modification that brings the project completion cost to $27 billion.

Rep. Maxine Dexter, D-Ore., led the successful initiative at a House VA Committee oversight hearing on Sept. 2 to compel Ellison and Sicilia to testify. The committee voted unanimously to issue the subpoenas.

The executives will testify before the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Their testimony is expected before the end of the calendar year, a committee staff member said this week.

“The subpoenas are signed and served, and Larry Ellison and Mike Sicilia must answer under oath for what veterans will receive in exchange for a contract ceiling tripled behind closed doors,” said Rep. Mark Takano, of California, the top Democrat on the House VA Committee.

Oracle leaders initially agreed to testify at the Sept. 2 hearing but later backed out, Takano said.

The VA’s legacy system has been in use since the 1980s, has outdated software and does not easily connect with the Defense Department or non-VA community providers.

But the modernization project has encountered technical glitches, years of delays and spiraling costs.

The VA officially approved the higher cost ceiling on Aug. 18, executing a contract modification. The original figure was $10 billion.

The increase in Oracle’s contract raises the legal maximum limit the VA is authorized to pay the tech giant through May 2031.

Members of the House VA Committee criticized the higher price ceiling, stating that Oracle executives promised in 2022 to absorb cost overruns.

“When the vendor responsible for a taxpayer-funded contract going from $10 billion to roughly $27 billion will not sit at this table and answer our questions, all of us are being prevented from doing our oversight duties,” Dexter said at the Sept. 2 hearing.