Secretary of Veterans Affairs puts a hold on 45 IT projects

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Secretary of Veterans Affairs puts a hold on 45 IT projects

VA Department of Veterans Affairs
Office of Public Affairs
Media Relations
Washington, DC 20420
(202) 461-7600
www.va.gov
News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 17, 2009
VA Contact: Katie Roberts
katie.roberts@va.gov or 202-461-4982

OMB Contact: Jean Weinberg
Jean_B._Weinberg@omb.eop.gov or 202-395-7254


Secretary Shinseki Announces Next Steps in Technology Advancements to Reduce Wasteful Spending and Increase Accountability

Initial 45 Projects Targeted for New Department-Wide Management System

WASHINGTON - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today that it will temporarily halt 45 information technology projects which are either behind schedule or over budget. These projects will be reviewed, and it will be determined whether these projects should be continued.
"Leveraging the power of Information Technology to accelerate and modernize the delivery of benefits and services to our nations Veterans is essential to transforming VA to a 21st century organization that is people-centric, results-driven and forward thinking," Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki said.

Secretary Shinseki ordered a review of the department's 300 IT projects and implementation of the PMAS, designed to increase the department's accountability for IT projects.

Each of the 45 projects will be temporarily halted. No further development will occur and expenditures will be minimized. A new project plan that meets the requirements of Program Management Accountability System (PMAS) must be created by the project manager and approved by VA's Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology before resuming.

"VA has a responsibility to the American people, who are investing millions of dollars in technology projects, to deliver quality results that adhere to a budget and are delivered on time." Shinseki said. "They need to have confidence that the dollars they are spending are being effectively used to improve the lives of our Veterans."

PMAS is a management protocol that requires projects to establish milestones to deliver new functionality to its customers. Failure to meet set deadlines indicates a problem within the project. Under PMAS, a third missed customer delivery milestone is cause for the project to be halted and re-planned.

"Our goal is to increase our success rate for our systems development projects," Roger W. Baker, VA's Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology, said. "We will use every tool at our disposal to bring about greater accountability and ensure that taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely. PMAS and the IT Dashboard will be critical indicators of whether our IT projects are on schedule and on budget, and if they are not, we will take swift action to cut down on waste and redundancy."

PMAS, in conjunction with the analytical tools available through the IT Dashboard, will ensure early identification and correction of problematic IT projects. The IT Dashboard, launched last month, is a one-stop clearinghouse of information, allowing the American people to track federal information technology initiatives and hold the government accountable for progress and results.

Over the next year, all IT projects at VA will be required to move to PMAS.

The Obama Administration has made management reform a key government-wide priority. From IT accountability to personnel and contracting reforms, the administration is committed to providing better value, efficiency, and effectiveness for taxpayers' dollars.

Below is a complete list of all projects temporarily halted under PMAS at this time:

Scheduling Replacement
Laboratory System Reeingeering Project (LSRP)
Pharmacy Re-Engineering Pre .5
Health Data Repository (HDR) II
Pharmacy Re-Engineering Pre1.0
HeVet Middleware Services
Person Service Identity Management
Administrative Data Repository (ADR)
Document & Ancillary Imaging
Clinical Data Service
VA Learning Management
Home Telehealth (HT) Development
Occupational Health Record Keeping System (OHRS)
Enrollment System Redesign (ESR) v4
CHDR - Chemistry & Hematology: ADC Automation
Clinical Flow Sheet - CLIO
E-Gov: E-Training
Barcode Expansion
Delivery Service
Organization Service
Enrollment System Redesign (ESR) v3.1
Health Data Repository (HDR) Data Warehouse
Home Telehealth (HT) Infrastructure Enhancements
Radiology Outside Reporting
BCMA Inpatient Medication Request for SFG IRA
Blood Bank - VBECS v1.0
Prosthetics Enhancements
VIC (Veterans Identification Card) Development
Spinal Cord Injury & Disorders Outcomes v3.0
Radiology HL7 Interface Update
Ward Drug Dispensing Equipment (WDDE) Interface
Lab Data Sharing & Interoperability (LDSI) - Anatomic
Pathology/Microbiology
HBPC Medical Foster Home (MFH)
eClaims Plus
ASISTS Modification - Case Management
National Teleradiology Program
CAPRI Enhancements
Master Patient Index
RMS - Rights Management Server
National Teleradiology Program
Problem List Standardization
Radiology Standardization
LDSI Terminology Support
Clinical/Health Data Repositories (CHDR) Phase II
Fee Data and HERO