Forever GI Bill Train Wreck

Chairman Roe: Forever GI Bill Glitch Becomes ‘A Train Wreck’

A series of IT glitches for GI Bill payments has created a financial catastrophe for many tens of thousands of veterans relying on the benefit for food and rent.

By August, Robert Worley, head of the GI Bill program, promised VA’s IT system would be ready to go when processing the updated Forever GI Bill. Contractor Booz Allen Hamilton is possibly involved in the transition process that should have gone smoothly (and will be called on to testify to Congress about the matter).

By October, when the switch flipped, veterans suddenly began reporting they did not receive payments. The problem has yet to be fixed, and many veterans are without money for rent and food as a result.

VA reports the problem relates to updating the zip code where a veteran attends school rather than where they live. The Forever GI Bill changed the subsistence payment criteria, but VA was unable to implement a functional fix before the criteria went live.

“This is — to be kind — a train wreck,” said Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. “It’s really frustrating the amount of money that Congress has appropriated for veterans, and this is the way VA has rolled it out. This discussion started over a year ago.”

Chairman Roe sent his staffers to check out the GI Bill processing office at VA in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Reports from staffers indicated the IT systems do not work as promised. Instead, the software crashes frequently resulting in 5 minutes tasks now taking 45 minutes. A total of 16,890 work hours were lost due to the glitches.

A hearing is tentatively scheduled for this Thursday, so be sure to tune in to watch the fireworks. There is no excuse for this mess given the hundreds of millions of dollars VA has already pumped into its GI Bill processing software since 2012.

I remember watching former VBA under secretary Allison Hickey explain why the Post 9/11 GI Bill cost more than twice what was projected at the time only to tell Congress that system was still only worked right half the time.

That was 2014.

While we know VA pumped many more hundreds of millions into that system as well as updating it for the Forever GI Bill change, one has to wonder why these kinds of mistakes keep occurring and who is to blame. I have my ideas.

Who do you think is really responsible for the tech glitch turned train wreck?

Is it new VBA chief Paul Lawrence or is it the longtime bureaucrat Margarita Devlin serving as his principal deputy under secretary? Or, is there a third party responsible?

Someone was asleep at the wheel.

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13 Comments

  1. sheite, I can’t even call my care team on the phone, but I’m expected to call them in an emergency according to myhealthevet. Billions spent on IT went into someone’s pocket for a big manse or boat or vacation or ho’s, while veterans live in poverty half the time… . Nothing will change because most of America, Congress, Potus, scotus, et al, don’t really care about veterans, just use some as window dressing for good visuals for VA. who are remfs that belong to the do nothing VSO’s. They want us to get angry and depressed and commit suicide to save them money. But I know Who is really in charge and Scripture says He’s about fed up and ready to come back.

  2. No accountability for those in charge , it’s a “ me first” mentality in leadership the hell with the vets in an agency designed for vets! Unbelievable!

  3. Nothing will ever be done. Looks like all this Shit will continue until someone or organization files suit against the commi bastards

  4. When this happened to me in 1975, I believe it was a fraud. Never caught up my payments and then was billed for overpayment. The Chief of the Department of Ed was found to be embezzling funds from the Department of Ed including the College but none of it was ever traced to the GI bill checks that many of us missed. Our money was never found and therefore claimed we had received it. Copies of cancelled checks were refused. No auto banking at that time.

  5. is there anyone in the VA related department competent enough to do their job the right way?

  6. Who is to blame? I would suggest that they ask who knew the underlying system (computer program) and whether that person was asked to help guide the transition. I would wager that the VA hired or let a contract to an outside “cheapest” source and didn’t talk to the original programmers or the end-users. Also, instead of thinking outside the box, such as using LINUX or Apple systems, the programmers stuck with Microsoft programming which can crash when there is not enough computing power to run the programs. I would further suggest that when they were bringing the system on-line, the contractors didn’t go to the end-users but instead relied on supervisors or “volunteers” who do not do the daily grunt work.

  7. I blame We The People for failing to dismantle this trsin wreck called VA. Americas biggest disgrace is that we allow VA to continue unabated, enchecked, and without reigns to piss in the faces of American veterans year after year, generation after generation, and veteran after veteran.

    This nightmare called VA will only go on to consume more and more cash, kill more and more veterans, and fearher the nest of more and more vipers and the insanity just goes on, and on, and on. Dismantle VA now or accept the fact this den of serpents will forever plague America.

    1. va dc hq one big federal rico crime racket !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! trumper man shut this rico insanity down aap !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    2. (Five minute and less read)

      Agree and true Dennis. The VA is a symptom, a tool, or great example for how the SES types, the Feds (all levels), Deep-state, the shadow leaders, corporate/banker masters use and are about. They have agendas/controls to meet and dollars to make, period. To hell and suffering for vets. Companies, the contractors still get their bucks for total failures or functions and “write offs.” If openly given the threats about ‘not finding health care here again ever if you leave the VA or keep complaining,’ they will see to it the machines follow through with their warnings, fear tactics, threats. Oh three cheers for nationally supported retaliation games, intentional IT SNAFUs and circus!

      Ben, is this included in the benefits package’s screw ups, non-payments, intentional or not but plenty of lame excuses? “https://federalnewsnetwork.com/federal-drive/2018/11/va-hit-with-lawsuit-claiming-1000s-of-vets-never-received-medical-reimbursements/”

      “Zip codes?” Cop outs. The smallest error, wrong code, spelling error, mis-placed (.), wrong suffixes, prefixes, blah blah can create issues or have you not in the system at all or lost records. I’ve heard it all including the Zip shit. Or someone somehow is using your info or replaced with others crap. To upgrades not fashioned to suit well with other programs or computers in place or being used around the gaming circles, to outside systems if need be, to having to totally switch out and upgrade pc systems, etc. Or the hear the “systems are down” to ‘computers not working or stalling today, sorry, call back.’ Horse feathers.

      For the lazy: This is a little snaky lick from the ice-berg called the VA Titanic and cacophony of BS and VA (government’s) train-wreck of IT functions.
      “https://marketing.federalnewsnetwork.com/features-2/digital-customer-experience-executive-briefing?utm_campaign=Sponsored%20Content%202018%20-%20Highpoint%20Global&utm_source=inarticle_promo” Now think about how many people and those “integrated programs”, contractors, the entire sheebang…AND… peoples hands all this info goes through or depends on. Oh and don’t forget the unions, activist, thugs, nation busters and veteran haters, Marxists, foreigners, companies, and others that absolutely do NOT want anything in this country to function at all or to work well as intended. Weaponized? Everything else is.

      Remember the gossip and tale telling game in Kindergarten where one small thing or issue is mentioned and the point or truth is totally demolished by the time it gets to the kid in the ending chair??? May start out over a pet cat and end up being about the “Cat in the Hat and Green Ham,” I am I am. Get it? Or to some kid eating his/her buggers in the end spot and not knowing what was said to him or her at all ending with ‘I dunno chomp chomp’ on the bugger they go.

      Who is to blame? Can’t shake a stick at them all.

    3. cj ¯¯̿̿¯̿̿’̿̿̿̿̿̿̿’̿̿’̿̿̿̿̿’̿̿̿)͇̿̿)̿̿̿̿ ‘̿̿̿̿̿̿\̵͇̿̿\=(•̪̀●́)=o/̵͇̿̿/’̿̿ ̿ ̿̿ says:

      Dennis, I’ve been waiting for you to post a comment so I could reply. I saw your post, about having cancer. I don’t post here anymore, and will not after leaving this. I just wanted to let you know that I have the utmost respect for you, and how you have dealt with all the crap in your life, and how you’ve overcome it all, to be the fine person you have become. I wish you the best, and people you don’t know, or will never meet, have been impacted greatly by your life’s story. For me? I just wanted to say thank you.

      No need to reply, this is just a personal message from me to you.

  8. I wonder if all this is being done deliberately only to justify the funding for the $ervice, I don’ t put nothing past these Criminals if there was another investigation put together.

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