S. 2336 would require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to assess and report on its Information Technology (IT) systems and procedures. Specifically, the bill would require VA to:
Review the agency’s processes for managing the risk of cost overruns or schedule delays that projects for acquiring or modifying IT systems could experience;
Report on IT projects with obligations of $25 million or more;
Provide additional information on IT projects in the agency’s annual budget submission; and
Monitor IT performance metrics.
The bill also would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review and report on VA’s practices for managing risks in the department’s IT programs.
VA is already completing many of the bill’s requirements so implementing related provisions would not have a significant additional cost, CBO estimates. On the basis of the costs of similar studies and reports completed by VA and GAO, CBO estimates fulfilling the bill’s requirements on GAO would cost $2 million over the 2020-2025 period; such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
