As shown in table 1, VBA has six of these areas and VHA has two. Progress Made in VBA Yet Concerns Remain Regarding Applications, COTS Products, and Contingency Planning

VBA has made progress in addressing the recommendations in our May 1997 report and in making its information systems Year 2000 compliant. Unless these issues are addressed, the issuance of benefits to veterans and their dependents could be delayed or interrupted. For example, it changed its Year 2000 strategy from developing new systems to converting existing ones. Second, a single VBA Year 2000 project office now oversees and coordinates all VBA Year 2000 activities. It also has reported completing renovation for its vocational rehabilitation and insurance systems, and making significant progress in its education system. According to VBA’s Year 2000 Project Manager, one of its largest vendors, which initially informed VBA that its products were Year 2000 compliant, recently told VBA that some of its products were not compliant and announced that it was beginning to assess and test its product line for Year 2000 compliance. Only VBA’s Insurance Service has developed such a plan. VHA Has Made Progress in Renovating Mission-Critical Systems, but Concerns Remain

VHA has made progress in assessing and renovating its two mission-critical systems for Year 2000 compliance. Also, VHA’s medical facilities have not completed Year 2000 business continuity and contingency plans. This appears to be a viable solution since VHA has reportedly renovated 100 percent of its VISTA applications, and 93 percent of these have been validated. VHA also relies on information provided by the manufacturers. However, it also faces several remaining risks because it has not completed Year 2000 assessments of software applications developed or modified by its medical facilities. Recommendations

To reduce the likelihood of delayed or interrupted benefits, we recommend that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, with support from VBA’s Chief Information Officer (CIO), ensure that VBA:
Reassesses its Year 2000 mission-critical efforts for the compensation and pension online application and the Beneficiary Identification and Record Location Sub-System, as well as other information technology initiatives, such as special projects, to ensure that the Year 2000 efforts have adequate resources, including contract support, to achieve compliance in time. VA stated that it is committed to ensuring that its benefit and health care services to veterans will not be adversely affected by the Year 2000 problem and it has applied dedicated resources to address these issues. The report raises concerns surrounding the renovation of two key VBA mission-critical applications, COTS software products, and contingency planning, and the Year 2000 compliance status of VHA’s locally developed software applications, COTS products, facility-related systems, and biomedical devices. 2. 4. We modified the report to delete the word “considerable.” Our statement that VHA has not completed its assessment and that it does not know the full extent of the Year 2000 problem at its medical facilities is accurate and consistent with the findings in the report. 8. 9. 10. 12. 15. 16.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO assessed the status of the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) corrective action to prevent computer system failures at the turn of the century, focusing on: (1) the Veterans Benefits Administration's (VBA) Year 2000 program; and (2) the Veterans Health Administration's (VHA) Year 2000 program.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) VBA has made progress in addressing the recommendations in GAO's May 1997 report and making its information systems year 2000 compliant; (2) it has changed its year 2000 strategy from developing new applications to fixing the current ones and established a year 2000 project office to oversee and coordinate all VBA year 2000 projects; (3) it has also reportedly renovated 75 percent of its mission-critical applications as of June 1998, and completed renovation of two specific mission-critical systems--vocational rehabilitation and insurance; (4) despite this progress, concerns remain; (5) for example, VBA has made limited progress in renovating two key mission-critical software applications: (a) compensation and pension online, which processes claims benefits and updates benefit information; and (b) the Beneficiary Identification and Record Locator Sub-System; (6) VBA also has to reassess its commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) products because one of its largest vendors, which initially informed VBA that its products were year 2000 compliant, recently informed VBA that some of its products were not compliant and that others were being assessed and tested; (7) this problem is not unique to VBA--it applies to all consumers of these products; (8) except for its Insurance Service, VBA has not developed year 2000 business continuity and contingency plans for its core business processes; (9) these issues could affect the timely processing of benefits to veterans and their dependents; (10) VHA has also made progress in addressing the year 2000 problem; (11) since September 1997, it has reported having assessed all and renovated the vast majority of its mission-critical information systems and having completed 98 percent of its renovation by June 1998; (12) however, concerns also remain; (13) for example, VHA does not know the full extent of its year 2000 problem because it has not yet completed its assessment of: (a) locally developed software applications or customized versions of national applications used by its medical facilities; (b) COTS products; (c) facility systems; and (d) biomedical devices; (14) VHA's efforts on several of these issues are complicated by the fact that it, like other consumers of these products, has to receive compliance information from the manufacturers, some of which have been slow to respond to VHA's requests for compliance information; (15) like VBA, VHA has not developed year 2000 business continuity and contingency plans; and (16) failure to adequately address these issues could result in disruptions in patient care at VHA medical facilities.