S. 1591, Acquisition Reform and Cost Assessment Act of 2025

S. 1591 would make changes to acquisition and contracting processes used by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Specifically, the bill would:

• Establish a new office to evaluate the cost of major acquisition programs;
• Require several studies and reports on how VA acquires products and services;
• Reorganize VA’s current acquisition workforce; and
• Establish new rules for vendors that test VA programs, such as those dealing with information technology.
• In total, implementing S. 1591 would cost $24 million over the 2026-2030 period, CBO estimates. Such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

The costs of the legislation, detailed in Table 1, fall within budget function 700 (veterans benefits and services).

Cost Assessment Office. S. 1591 would establish a new Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation. The director would lead a team responsible for estimating the cost of new major acquisition programs and evaluating the effectiveness of existing ones. Using information on similar offices at other agencies, CBO estimates that VA would eventually require 25 full-time equivalent employees to perform the office’s duties. Those employees would receive an average annual compensation of about $200,000. As a result, establishing the new office would cost $22 million over the 2026-2030 period, CBO estimates.

Studies and Reports. The bill would require VA to contract with the Department of Defense’s Acquisition Research Center to conduct a study of VA’s acquisition processes. Using information from VA, CBO estimates that satisfying that requirement would cost 
$1 million. The bill also would require four other studies and reports. Using information on the cost of similar efforts, CBO estimates that satisfying those requirements would cost 
$1 million. In total, the bill’s study and reporting requirements would cost $2 million over the 2026-2030 period, CBO estimates.

Acquisition Reorganization. S. 1591 would reorganize VA’s existing acquisition workforce and processes under a new Assistant Secretary for Acquisition. VA currently employs people who would fill positions under the reorganization and meet the bill’s requirements for acquisition processes (such as appointing managers for major programs). Thus, CBO estimates that any associated costs would be less than $500,000.

Program Testing. The bill would direct VA to contract for independent verification and validation (IV&V) services, including for testing information technology systems to ensure they function properly and meet VA’s requirements. Any such contract must ensure that the vendor has experience performing IV&V services at other agencies and has no conflict of interest that would prevent independent testing. VA currently contracts for IV&V services for major acquisition programs. CBO estimates that the cost of modifying those contracts to meet the bill’s requirements would be less than $500,000.

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Logan Smith. The estimate was reviewed by Christina Hawley Anthony, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.