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VA Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment: Better Incentives, Workforce Planning, and Performance Reporting Could Improve Program

GAO-09-34 Published: Jan 26, 2009. Publicly Released: Jan 26, 2009.
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Highlights

In 2004, the Veterans Affairs' Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) program was reviewed by a VR&E Task Force. It recommended numerous changes, in particular focusing on employment through a new Five-Track service delivery model and increasing program capacity. Since then, VR&E has worked to implement these recommendations. To help Congress understand whether VR&E is now better prepared to meet the needs of veterans with disabilities, GAO was asked to determine (1) how the implementation of the Five-Track Employment Process has affected VR&E's focus on employment, (2) the extent to which VR&E has taken steps to improve its capacity, and (3) how program outcomes are reported. GAO interviewed officials from VR&E, the 2004 Task Force, and veteran organizations; visited four VR&E offices; surveyed all VR&E officers; and analyzed agency data and reports.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Veterans Affairs To ensure VR&E's employment mission is fully supported, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should direct VR&E to consider cost-effective options for better aligning the program's financial incentives with its employment mission.
Closed – Implemented
To better align the program's financial incentives with its employment mission, VA stated that VR&E officials drafted a legislative proposal for consideration by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. This legislative proposal was necessary because the current law does not allow veterans to be paid a subsistence allowance while undergoing a program of employment services only. After VR&E officials drafted the legislative proposal, H.R. 297, the Veteran Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Subsistence Allowance and Improvement Act of 2009, was introduced on January 8, 2009. This bill proposes an increase in the subsistence allowance for veterans participating in VR&E, including the addition of a subsistence allowance for those veterans who are participating in a program of employment services only.
Department of Veterans Affairs To ensure that the current and future needs of veterans are met, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should direct VR&E to engage in a strategic workforce planning process that collects and uses relevant data, such as information on the appropriate counselor caseload and the critical skills and competencies needed by staff.
Closed – Implemented
In 2010, VR&E conducted a work measurement study to document the amount of time vocational rehabilitation counselors (VRCs), employment coordinators (ECs), and vocational rehabilitation officers spend on various activities. The study's final report was released in April 2011. The report made seven recommendations: (1) adopt a workload model as the basis for determining staffing levels; (2) remedy known problem areas to increase efficiencies; (3) allocate routine paperwork and administrative duties to case assistants; (4) determine which best practices are associated with efficient use of time; (5) adopt a work standard for paperwork that is associated with appropriate and efficient allocation of staff resources; (6) when replicating the time allocation measurements performed in this study, include information on the type of case associated with time spent on activities; (7) conduct additional research to determine how contracting affects VRC time. As of August 2011, VR&E has incorporated these recommendations into its Business Process Reengineering project. Additionally, in 2010, VR&E completed a skills survey of managers, VRCs, and counseling psychologists. An action plan was developed to address training concerns identified by the survey.
Department of Veterans Affairs To increase transparency in VR&E performance and budget reports, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should take actions such as separately reporting both the annual percentage of veterans who obtain employment and the percentage of those who achieve independent living, and fully disclosing changes in performance measure calculations when reporting trend data in key performance and budget reports.
Closed – Implemented
In its 2009 Performance and Accountability Report and 2011 Congressional Budget Justification, VA included separate performance measures for the annual percentage of veterans who obtained employment and the percentage of veterans who achieved independent living. In the budget justification, VA indicated it collected baseline data for these measures during 2009 and had set 2010 performance targets of 75 percent for employment rehabilitation and 92 percent for independent living. Based on these actions, we are closing this recommendation.

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Topics

Agency missionsAid for the disabledCapacity managementCost effectiveness analysisData collectionEmployee incentivesEmployment assistance programsEmployment of the disabledEmployment opportunitiesForce planningLabor forcePerformance appraisalPerformance measuresPeople with disabilitiesProgram evaluationProgram managementRehabilitation programsReporting requirementsStrategic planningVeteransVeterans benefitsVeterans employment programsVocational rehabilitationProgram goals or objectivesProgram implementationTransparency