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Open Recommendations

Coast Guard: Monitoring of Disability Evaluation System Could Be Improved
GAO-26-107161
Dec 10, 2025
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
United States Coast Guard The Commandant of the Coast Guard should ensure that the Commander of the Personnel Service Center fully applies relevant leading practices for program monitoring to DES, including establishing performance goals; developing and implementing a monitoring plan; evaluating results; and taking action. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

VA Leasing: VA Should Systematically Identify and Address Challenges in Its Efforts to Lease Space from Academic Affiliates
GAO-26-107821
Nov 25, 2025
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Veterans Affairs The Secretary of VA should develop and implement a lessons-learned process that aligns with key practices identified in GAO's prior work to capture information about its efforts to use sole source leasing with academic affiliates now, rather than waiting until 10 leases have been signed. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Veterans Employment: VA Should Address Human Capital Needs and Other Issues in High-Tech Training
GAO-25-106876
Sep 30, 2025
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4 Open Recommendations
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)
Open
VA concurred with this recommendation in principle. VA stated the program is not permanent, with its current authority set to expire in 2027. As a result, they cannot submit a budget request in the regular budget cycle, which is developed 2 years in advance of the year of execution. VA said that new program features in each iteration of VET TEC make it difficult to forecast future staffing needs but that it would provide human capital requirements to Congress upon request (or if the program becomes permanent). We acknowledge that VET TEC is a time-limited program. However, a time limited program authorization should not preclude VA from determining the level of human capital needed to effectively implement the VET TEC program until the current program expires. For example, human capital planning could help VA ensure it has the necessary staff and contracting resources to accomplish not only the VET TEC objectives of helping veterans gain skills and employment but VA's overall mission objectives. Moreover, while the program may or may not be extended, understanding human capital needs for the current program would help inform a future program, should it be continued.
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)
Open
VA disagreed with this recommendation. The agency stated that the VET TEC pilot did not fall under statutorily required processes for detecting potential overpayments and the new VET TEC program enacted in January 2025 requires the use of existing oversight methods. VA noted they have a robust systematic process to minimize errors and prevent overpayments and that the same systematic process to prevent overpayments for all other educational assistance programs prevents overpayments for VET TEC. In addition, VA said it mandates training for certain training provider officials and relies upon them to report accurate enrollment and graduation information, and that erroneous information provided by these officials is the only scenario that would result in an overpayment. We believe that while the processes and activities VA uses are important for its educational assistance programs generally, the processes VA described do not meet the intent of this recommendation, which is to develop a systematic oversight process that addresses risks specific to the milestone payments made under VET TEC. The process VA used during the pilot did not prevent payment errors as shown by VA's own validation of our analysis of potential overpayments during the pilot. During the validation, VA identified some that were due to its own administrative errors, and others that reflected corrected information submitted by providers after an initial payment. These instances suggest that a systematic process, for preventing, identifying, and addressing potential overpayments, is important for VET TEC. A systematic process could include, for example, an algorithm or other written procedures that would check all information available to VA at each milestone. While officials told us in December 2024 that a systematic process, such as an algorithm, would help detect potential overpayments, VA later commented that it did not believe an algorithm could improve upon existing practices. In addition, VA noted, and we agree, that VET TEC claims processing is inherently data-driven. We continue to believe that having a systematic process for detecting and recouping potential overpayments specific to the VET TEC program remains important, given the past implementation of the milestone payment process. We clarified the intent of our recommendation-for example, that the systematic process is to be specific to the VET TEC program and could include an algorithm or written procedures that would help prevent, identify, and recoup overpayments.
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)
Open
VA agreed with this recommendation and said it woiuld update the GI Bill Feedback Tool to include VET TEC and publish participant feedback on the GI Bill Comparison Tool. Further, VA said it will develop and implement an outreach plan to inform VET TEC participants about how to provide feedback. VA estimated completing these efforts in April 2027. We will consider closing this recommendation when these efforts are complete.
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)
Open
VA agreed in principle with this recommendation. The agency plans to analyze feedback once the GI Bill Feedback Tool has been updated to include VET TEC, and to incorporate this feedback into existing oversight procedures, as are currently followed for other education benefit programs. In addition, VA said it will continue to send out participant experience surveys to VET TEC participants to obtain their feedback on providers and overall program satisfaction. Although these changes will not be in place to allow feedback to inform initial implementation of the newly enacted VET TEC program, VA noted that participant feedback and findings from oversight activities will inform updates to policies, procedures, training, guidance, and stakeholder engagement, among other activities. VA expects to complete these efforts in April 2027. We will consider closing this recommendation when these efforts are complete.

VA Disability Benefits: Additional Oversight and Information Could Improve Quality of Contracted Exams for Veterans
GAO-25-107483
Sep 03, 2025
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4 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Veterans Affairs The Secretary of VA should ensure that MDEO develops and uses written procedures to validate the accuracy of its financial incentive calculations, including data entry and scoring of performance measures. (Recommendation 1)
Open
VA agreed with this recommendation. The agency stated that MDEO will work to formalize the standard operating procedures for the financial incentive calculation process detailing roles, responsibilities, objectives, and reporting. They expect to finalize the SOP next year. We will monitor the progess of these efforts.
Department of Veterans Affairs The Secretary of VA should ensure that MDEO recalculates all financial incentives since 2022 and documents and corrects any inaccurate penalties and payments. (Recommendation 2)
Open
VA agreed with this recommendation. MDEO stated that it will work to recalculate all financial incentives since 2022 and document and correct any inaccurate penalties and payments. We will monitor the progress of these efforts.
Department of Veterans Affairs The Secretary of VA should ensure that MDEO conducts Special Focused Reviews of contracted exams for complex claims (traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma, and Gulf War Illness) on a biennial basis, in accordance with its procedures. (Recommendation 3)
Open
VA agreed with this recommendation in principle. VA stated that the referenced procedures allow for some flexibility and include a disclaimer that they can be adapted to the specific needs of a given review. VA stated that without the necessary resources, MDEO might not be able to complete these reviews on a biennial basis. The agency plans to assess its current resources, review the requirements for the Special Focused Reviews, and revise the procedures, if appropriate. We note that exams for these complex claim types are challenging for examiners to perform. While we acknowledge that the procedures allow for some flexibility, we found VA has fallen behind schedule across the board. Specifically, VA is already behind schedule on reviews for two complex claim types and could not provide a completion timeframe for the third claim type. These reviews monitor changes in exam quality and assess the effects of corrective actions from prior reviews. Accordingly, we believe prioritizing the completion of these reviews as scheduled would better position MDEO officials to improve thequality of these higher-risk exams.
Department of Veterans Affairs The Secretary of VA should ensure that MDEO identifies and uses a mechanism to collect and address direct feedback from examiners on the quality of exams. (Recommendation 4)
Open
VA agreed with this recommendation and said it will develop a plan to add an additional mechanism to gather direct examiner feedback. We will monitor the progress of these efforts.
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