Digital GI bill delays are a reflection of VA’s IT management problem, lawmakers say

The Department of Veterans Affairs “has made tremendous advancements” in processing claims through its new digital GI Bill system, a VA official said on Wednesday, even as House lawmakers said issues with the project were symptomatic of the department’s larger challenges with undertaking major IT modernization efforts.

VA awarded a $453 million contract to Accenture Federal Services in March 2021 to develop and implement a new system that could enhance claims processing for its education benefits programs. Since then, however, the project faced notable deployment delays, with an August 2024 report from VA’s Office of Inspector General finding that “insufficient planning” helped contribute to about $479 million in additional costs.

During a House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing, Kenneth Smith — executive director for education service at the Veterans Benefits Administration — said the initial contract underestimated the project’s complexity but that the project has made significant strides. He added that the modernization project also had to make adjustments as a result of legislative provisions and court cases, which resulted in additional costs.

“Since 2021, VA has processed 37% more claims,” he said. “And as of December 2025, VA is automating and delivering 65% of all claims without any human action in a day, reducing costs and improving service delivery.”

Lawmakers on the panel, however, said the project’s delays were indicative of VA’s overall issues with major IT modernization projects. In one notable case, VA paused most deployments of its new electronic health record system in April 2023 to address technical and usability challenges at the medical facilities where it had been deployed. The department is planning to restart site go-lives of the new EHR in April. 

Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., who heads the panel’s technology modernization subcommittee, warned that “large technology programs [across VA] continue to struggle under vague requirements and weak oversight,” and that issues with the digital GI Bill — like delays and cost overruns — were “not unique.”

Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Ill., the ranking member on the panel’s technology modernization subcommittee, also noted that a VA OIG report released last month on major management challenges across the department included information systems and innovation efforts.

“Siloed conversations about how VA manages one contract will not improve the issues,” Budzinski said, adding “I believe our time would be better spent taking a holistic view at the high level, systemic issues that plague VA’s IT modernization efforts, rather than playing whack-a-mole on each individual contract.”

Barrett also floated the idea of VA establishing an independent program management office that could provide specific expertise for major IT modernization projects. He added that this entity would be focused on “the actual implementation of an IT system, agnostic to the actual area under which it's going to be covering.”

Robert Orifici, executive director of benefits and memorial services within VA’s Office of Information Technology, said the department already has the necessary support between its IT and business program offices when it comes to delivering project outcomes.

But Barrett said “it seems to all come back to IT systems that are an overhaul — a massive overhaul — of a legacy system moving to an IT system.” He added that “to put this under one umbrella and then implement it, and it just seems to chronically have issues that arise from that, and moving it out into an office dedicated to this purpose perhaps would bring about a better result.”