Veterans Employment: VA Should Address Human Capital Needs and Other Issues in High-Tech Training
Highlights
What GAO Found
The Veteran Employment Through Technology Education Courses (VET TEC) program administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides financial support to veterans enrolled in high-tech programs through eligible training providers. VA data show more than 20,300 veteran enrollments during the 5-year VET TEC pilot, which began in April 2019. VA reported spending nearly $262 million on the program as of December 2024.
GAO found that the VET TEC pilot did not fully align with leading practices for pilot design (see figure). VA officials said the agency did not have sufficient staff to fully address these practices. While VA initially determined it had sufficient staff to meet the pilot objectives, it did not continually assess staff resources. Given that a new VET TEC is authorized through 2027, assessing its human capital needs would help VA assure the program has appropriate resources.
Alignment of the VET TEC Pilot Program with Leading Practices for Effective Pilot Design
VA oversaw training providers by evaluating their applications. It denied 165 of 221 applications, suspended five provider facilities, conducted two on-site reviews, and referred one instance of potential provider fraud to its Office of Inspector General. GAO's analysis of VA data indicated about $4 million in potential overpayments in tuition and fees to providers, or about 2 percent of payments. VA officials said that providers sometimes submitted information after an initial payment, such as when a veteran never began training, creating a potential overpayment. VA did not have written procedures applicable to the pilot to detect certain potential overpayments. Such procedures would enhance VA's internal controls for the VET TEC payment process.
Veterans reported multiple challenges with training providers, including recruiting, educational quality, and career placement services. However, VA did not explicitly collect or analyze ongoing feedback through the GI Bill School Feedback Tool, its primary feedback mechanism. Doing so would help VA obtain critical input and enable it to assess and inform its VET TEC implementation.
Why GAO Did This Study
The federal government helps veterans transition to the civilian workforce. The Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017 (the “Forever GI Bill”) instructed VA to carry out a 5-year pilot to train veterans for high-tech jobs. VA created VET TEC to support veterans who enrolled in high-tech courses through VA-approved training providers. In January 2025, legislation was enacted to establish a new program through September 2027.
The Forever GI Bill included a provision for GAO to assess VET TEC. GAO issued an initial report on VET TEC in October 2022. This report builds on GAO's prior work and examines (1) VET TEC's alignment with leading practices for effective pilot design, (2) VA's oversight of training providers, and (3) challenges reported by participants.
GAO compared VA's efforts to leading practices for effective pilot design and analyzed VA program data from April 1, 2019-August 19, 2024, the most recent available. GAO also analyzed 124 VET TEC comments submitted through the GI Bill Feedback Tool from July 2, 2019–January 5, 2024. GAO reviewed relevant VA documents, federal laws, and regulations and interviewed officials.
Recommendations
GAO is making four recommendations, including that VA assess its human capital needs to effectively implement VET TEC, address certain provider overpayments, and collect and analyze participant feedback. VA agreed with all but one of the recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Veterans Affairs | The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should develop and implement a plan and related procedures for assessing the agency's current and future human capital needs to effectively implement the VET TEC program. This plan and related procedures could also assist the agency in administering future pilots, as applicable. (Recommendation 1) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
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| Department of Veterans Affairs | The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should develop and implement a written, systematic process to help prevent, identify, and recoup overpayments from VET TEC training providers, as appropriate. This could include documenting criteria aligned with the VET TEC milestone payment process to be applied before payments are made. In cases in which a payment has already been issued, such procedures could flag payments (1) for which the training provider subsequently submitted updated information and (2) that must be recovered from preferred providers because the veteran did not obtain meaningful employment. (Recommendation 2) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
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| Department of Veterans Affairs | The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should clearly communicate that participants can use the GI Bill School Feedback Tool to provide ongoing feedback about the VET TEC program. For example, VA could modify the tool by (1) revising the introductory language to ensure veterans are aware the tool is not exclusive to schools or training providers eligible to receive GI Bill benefits, (2) adding language to clarify which program(s) a veteran is submitting feedback about, or (3) adding a check box for any non-GI Bill program and pilot programs, as well as check boxes for "other" or "unknown" programs. (Recommendation 3) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
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| Department of Veterans Affairs | The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should develop and implement a plan to analyze ongoing feedback it receives from VET TEC participants, including feedback VA receives through the GI Bill School Feedback Tool, to inform program implementation. This analysis could be incorporated into any future evaluation of the program. (Recommendation 4) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
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