Some troubled VA projects face cancellation
Veterans Affairs continues its review of 45 troubled IT projects with some getting a restart while others could be canceled.
The Veterans Affairs Department is still evaluating the 45 information technology projects that were halted in June, and some have been restarted.
VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker said today the agency is “making good progress,” but he declined to go into greater detail while speaking at a breakfast hosted by market research firm Input.
The projects that have restarted have the resources to succeed and “all will be managed to tight milestones,” he said.
The VA’s IT projects are now being evaluated under the Program Management Accountability System that includes planning, management, spending plans and metrics, Baker said.
Baker and his deputies are currently evaluating the projects to determine their priority, resources and progress, and are focusing most of their attention on troubled projects. “We are dealing with problem communications now,” he said.
Baker hinted that several “below-the-line” and low-priority programs are among the 45 IT programs that will be eliminated, and said he was learning how difficult it was to terminate contracts. “The issue at the VA is that the VA tried to do three times what it had the capacity to be successful to do,” Baker said.