WIA also requires the establishment of local workforce investment areas and boards to locally oversee the new one- stop center system. The data for these performance categories is collected by states for the programs administered by ETA. Veterans Receive Priority Service, but Effectiveness of Service Is Unknown

While veterans receive priority employment services at one-stop centers as required under the law, the effectiveness of the services, as indicated by the resulting employment, cannot be determined because VETS does not collect sufficient data to measure the outcomes veterans achieve from these services. Since veterans have these dedicated staff to serve them, they also received more intensive services, and received these services more readily, than nonveterans. However, the effectiveness of these services is unknown because VETS lacks adequate outcome data on job retention and wages. To show that states are providing priority service to veterans, VETS requires states to report data on the number and types of services provided to veterans and nonveterans as well as the percentage of each group served that enters employment. The agency does not have a comprehensive system in place to manage state performance in serving veterans. DVOP and LVER Programs Do Not Always Operate Well in One-Stop Centers

The DVOP and LVER grant programs do not always operate well in one- stop centers, according to the state and local officials we interviewed. Smaller employment services offices or one-stop centers may have a more difficult time meeting the employment needs of their veterans because of the restrictions in the law. The new one- stop center system, while giving veterans priority for employment services, gives states flexibility in planning and implementing employment and training systems and holds them accountable for performance. The Congress should consider revising title 38 to   provide states and local offices more discretion to decide where to locate DVOP and LVER staff and provide states the discretion to have half-time DVOP positions;   allow VETS and/or states the flexibility to better define the roles and responsibilities of staff serving veterans instead of including these duties in the law;   combine the DVOP and LVER grant programs into one staffing grant to better meet states’ needs for serving veterans;   provide VETS with the flexibility to consider alternative ways to improve administration and oversight of the staffing grants, for example, eliminating the prescriptive requirements for monitoring DVOP and LVER grants;   eliminate the requirement that VETS report to the Congress a comparison of the job placement rate of veterans with that of nonveterans; and   eliminate the requirement that VETS report on Federal Contractor Job Listings. Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

In designing our study, we obtained legislation, regulations, and Veterans Employment and Training Service (VETS) directives regarding the Disabled Veterans’ Outreach Program (DVOP) specialists and the Local Veterans’ Employment Representative (LVER) staffing grants to states. Veterans’ Employment and Training Service: Better Planning Needed to Address Future Needs (GAO/T-HEHS-00-206, Sept. 27, 2000). Veterans’ Employment and Training: Services Provided by Labor Department Programs (GAO/HEHS-98-7, Oct. 17, 1997).
What GAO Found

Recognizing that the country's fragmented employment and training programs were not serving job seekers or employers well, Congress enacted the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) in 1988. One of WIA's goals was to create a one-stop center system to help unify the services provided by many programs and give states the flexibility to design services better suited to local workforce needs. Veterans' employment and training programs, administered by the Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS), are mandatory program partners in this new one-stop center system. VETS administers two grants programs--the Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program (DVOP) and the Local Veterans' Employment Representative (LVER) program--that fund staff offering services for veterans. Although veterans receive priority employment services at one-stop centers, VETS does not collect appropriate data for determining the effectiveness of these services, including subsequent job retention and wages. VETS requires states to collect information on the number and type of employment services provided to veterans relative to nonveterans. This information showed that veterans received more intensive services, and received these services more readily, than did nonveterans seeking services through states' employment service offices or one-stop centers--an elevated level of service principally provided by DVOP and LVER staff. VETS' oversight of the DVOP and LVER grants is inadequate. The agency lacks a comprehensive system in place to manage state performance in serving veterans. The two programs do not always operate well within the one-stop center environment because states do not have the flexibility to design their services for veterans in a way that best meets the needs of employers and veterans. The success of the one-stop system depends on providing services that meet the changing employment needs in local communities. GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see: Veterans' Employment and Training Service: Greater Flexibility and Accountability Needed to Better Serve Veterans, by Sigurd R. Nilsen, Director of Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues, before the Subcommittee on Benefits, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. GAO-02-192T , Oct. 30 (13 pages).