DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR MANAGEMENT WASHINGTON DC 20420

APR 15 '2011

The Honorable Darrell E. Issa Chairman Committee on Oversight and Government Reform U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Mr. Chairman: The Committee has requested information from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regarding electronic systems that support business and accounting functions, grants and loans management, contracts management, and reporting to government-wide systems such as USAspending.gov and Recovery.gov. The enclosed responses address the Committee's request. If you need additional information, please contact me at (202) 461-6600 or your staff may call Mr. Edward J. Murray, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Finance, at (202) 461-6180. Similar letters are being sent to the other co-signers of your letter. Sincerely yours,

Enclosure

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS (VA)

Response to Requests for Information on Electronic Systems Used at VA The Honorable Darrell Issa Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 1. Identify and briefly describe each of your agency's business and accounting systems. If separate divisions, bureaus, or offices of your agency use separate systems, identify which divisions, bureaus, or offices use each system. Response:
The Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) core financial management system has over 50 interfaces. To respond in the allotted timeframe, VA is limiting the scope of our responses to our major systems, which in total are responsible for approximately 85 percent of outlays. a. The Financial Management System (FMS) manages the disbursement and collection systems and provides central accounting and financial reporting. FMS is the core accounting system used by VA. b. Personnel and Accounting Integrated Data (PAID) is VA's legacy Human Resources system and was VA's legacy Payroll system prior to conversion to the Defense Finance and Accounting System (DFAS) for payroll services. PAID is used by all of VA. c. Integrated Funds Distribution, Control Point Activity, Accounting and Procurement (IFCAP) is a legacy small purchasing application used to initiate procurements. IFCAP is used by all of VA except for the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). d. The Insurance General Ledger System (IGLS) is used to manage life insurance policies for VA's Insurance Center in Philadelphia and the Office of Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance in Roseland, New Jersey. The life insurance system is used by VBA and includes Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance, Veterans' Group Life Insurance, United States Government Life Insurance, National Service Life Insurance, Veterans' Special Life Insurance, Veterans' Reopened Insurance, Service Disabled Veterans Life Insurance, and Veterans' Mortgage Life Insurance. e. Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture Accounts Receivable (VistA AR) provides medical care collections fund (MCCF) revenue accounting information for nonservice-connected first party Veteran copays and third party insurance MCCF collections. This system is used by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). f. The VistA Integrated Billing (VistA IB) system supports the MCCF revenue billing process for nonservice-connected care first party Veterans copays and third party insurance MCCF collections. The system is used by VHA.

g. VistA Fee System (FEE) authorizes and tracks payments to private medical providers who provide for the treatment of Veterans outside of VA medical centers and clinics. In addition, FEE reimburses Veterans for associated travel and medical expenses. This system is used exclusively by VHA. h. Education - BDN (E-BDN) is a system that generates payments for eligible Veterans under the various Education programs (Chapter 30, Chapter 33, etc.). It also manages accounts receivables and other finance accounting transactions at a detail level. It maintains the historical record of all payments and eligibility actions. This system is used by VBA. Vocational Rehabilitation - The Benefits Delivery Network (VR-BDN) generates the monthly subsistence payments for eligible Veterans. It also manages accounts receivables and other finance accounting transactions at a detail level. VR-BDN maintains the historical record of all payments and eligibility actions. This system is used byVBA. j. Vocational Rehabilitation - CWINRS is a system used to maintain and approve payments for tuition, fees, books and supplies for Veterans who attend school under the Chapter 31 program. This system is used by VBA. k. Compensation & Pension (C&P) - The Veterans Service Network (VETSNET) processes claims for VA benefits. Once eligibility has been determined, the Finance and Accounting Office module will generate monthly payments and manage receivables and all other finance or accounting activities at the detail level. This system is used by VBA. Management Information Exchange (MinX) is a system that VA uses in conjunction with its core financial management system (FMS) to generate financial statements for financial reporting. This system is used by VA. m. Centralized Administrative Accounting Transaction System (CMTS) is a frontend accounting system for processing budget documents, Form 1358 obligations, procurement obligations worked by contracting staff in the Electronic Contract Management System (eCMS), accounts receivable, expenditure transfers, and cash receipts, etc. This system is used by the National Cemetery Administration (NCA) and VBA. n. Claims Processing and Eligibility Module (CPEM) is a system for payment and financial statement generation. This system is used by VHA. o. Enhanced Time & Attendance (ETA) is a system that tracks: (1) employees' tour of duty, and (2) attendance and leave data. It also generates VA timecards. This system is used by VA.

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2. Explain how the business and accounting systems identified in response to Request No.1 interact with one another.

Response:
a. FMS has bidirectional interfaces with other systems that have financial transactions. Subsidiary systems (such as IFCAP, IGLS, VistA AR, FEE, and VETSNET) that create transactions with financial implications send these transactions for recording into the FMS general ledger. b. PAID interfaces with FMS, DFAS, and ETA.

c. IFCAP has a bidirectional interface for financial data with FMS. d. IGLS sends financial data to FMS daily with monthly bi-directional interface recording obligations and expenses. e. VistA AR has a unidirectional interface and sends financial data to FMS. f. VistA IB has a unidirectional interface with VistA AR.

g. FEE has a bidirectional interface for financial data with FMS to record payments and adjustments to estimated authorizations. h. E-BDN interfaces with FMS at the summary level to update the general ledgers.

i.
ledgers.

VR-BDN interfaces with FMS at the summary level to update the general

j. VR-CWINRS has a daily interface with FMS. FMS generates the payment files and updates the general ledgers. All other accounting transactions such as receivables are directly inputted into and managed in FMS.

k. C&P VETSNET sends financial data to FMS and interfaces with FMS at the summary level to update the general ledgers.

I. MinX interfaces with FMS. FMS sends financial data to MinX for financial statement generation.
m. CAATS has a bidirectional interface for financial data with FMS. n. CPEM has a bidirectional interface with FMS for payment and financial statement generation. o. ETA sends timecard data to DFAS, and interfaces with PAID for employee information.

3. For each system identified in response to Request No.1, state whether information found in that system is regularly or periodically submitted to any of the government-wide accounting systems maintained by the Department of the Treasury, e.g., GFRS, FACTS I, FACTS II, IFCS, etc., and explain how and at what intervals those submissions occur, including descriptions of both manual and automated processes.

Response:
a. FMS is the core financial system used by VA. FMS regularly submits financial payment data daily to government-wide accounting systems maintained by the Department of the Treasury. b. PAID does not regularly or periodically submit data to any government-wide accounting system maintained by the Department of the Treasury. PAID information is sent via FMS. c. IFCAP does not regularly or periodically submit data to any government-wide accounting system maintained by the Department of the Treasury. IFCAP information is sent via FMS. d. IGLS does not regularly or periodically submit data to any government-wide accounting system maintained by the Department of the Treasury. The insurance accounting system submits a comprehensive daily transaction file to FMS via automated processing. e. VistA AR does not regularly or periodically submit data to any government-wide accounting system maintained by the Department of the Treasury. VistA AR information is sent via FMS.

f. VistA IB does not regularly or periodically submit data to any government-wide accounting system maintained by the Department of the Treasury. VistA IB information is sent via FMS.
g. FEE reports information annually to the Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA). FEE information is sent via FMS. h. E-BDN does not regularly or periodically submit data to any government-wide accounting system maintained by the Department of the Treasury. That information is sent via FMS. i. VR-BDN does not regularly or periodically submit data to any government-wide accounting system maintained by the Department of the Treasury. That information is sent via FMS.

j. VR-CWINRS does not regularly or periodically submit data to any governmentwide accounting system maintained by the Department of the Treasury. That information is sent via FMS.
k. C&P-VETSNET sends payment files directly to Department of the Treasury. MinX regularly submits financial information through an automated process monthly, quarterly, and annually to government-wide accounting systems maintained by the Department of the Treasury. The MinX system, after retrieving information from FMS, reports to the Government-wide Financial Report System (GFRS) and Federal Agencies Centralized Trial Balance System I (FACTS I) annually. MinX reports to the Federal

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Agencies Centralized Trial Balance System II (FACTS II) and Intragovernmental Fiduciary Confirmation System (IFCS) quarterly. m. CMTS does not regularly or periodically submit data to any government-wide accounting system maintained by the Department of the Treasury. CMTS information is sent via FMS. n. CPEM regularly submits information to government-wide accounting systems maintained by the Department of the Treasury once payment and financial statement information is created via the CPEM:FMS bidirectional interface. That information is sent via FMS. o. ETA does not regularly or periodically submit data to any government-wide accounting system maintained by the Department of the Treasury.

4. For each system identified in response to Request No.1, state whether information found in that system is regularly or periodically submitted to the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) MAX Information System, and explain how and at what intervals those submissions occur, including descriptions of both automated and manual processes. Response:
a. The information found in FMS, PAID, IFCAP, VistA AR, VistA IB, FEE, CAATS, CPEM, and ETA is not regularly or periodically submitted to the OMB MAX Information System. b. Information found in the IGLS, C&P-VETSNET, E-BDN, VR-BDN, VR-CWINRS, and MinX systems are regularly or periodically electronically submitted to the OMB MAX Information System. FACTS II reports from MinX are reported quarterly to OMB MAX.

5. For each system identified in response to Request No.1, describe recent, current, and planned migration or modernization projects. Response:
a. VA is in the early planning process to replace the human resources component of PAID. The payroll portion of PAID was migrated to DFAS in FY 2009.
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b. There are no recent, current or planned migrations for FMS, IFCAP, IGLS, VistA AR, VistA IB, FEE, E-BDN, C&P-BDN, VR-BDN, VR-CWINRS, C&P VETSNET, MinX, CAATS or CPEM. c. A replacement effort for ETA is underway. ETA will be replaced with a modern, Web-based, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) timekeeping solution.

6. In addition to your agency's submissions to government-wide accounting systems maintained by the Department of the Treasury and OMB, as described in response to Request Nos. 3 and 4, does your agency publish any of the same

information online for public viewing? If so, describe how and in what format that information published. Response:
a. VA does not publish the same information that we transmit to the Department of the Treasury in any of the systems in response to Request Nos. 3 and 4 for on-line public viewing. b. IGLS submits monthly files to the USAspending.gov Web site as "Direct Payments for Veterans" and "Face Amount of New Life Insurance Policies."

7. Identify and briefly describe each system that your agency uses to manage grants, direct loans, and/or loan guarantees. If separate divisions, bureaus, or offices of your agency use separate systems, identify which divisions, bureaus, or offices use each system. Response:
VA's core financial management system has over 50 interfaces. To respond in the allotted timeframe, VA is limiting the scope of our responses to our major systems, which in total are responsible for approximately 85 percent of outlays. a. Web Based Loan Guaranty (WebLGY) is used by VBA for managing and processing entitlement, eligibility and loan guaranties. b. The Centralized Property Tracking System (CPTS) is used by VBA for managing acquired properties and processing invoices. c. Bank of America's Systems (BOA) is a system used by VBA and supports contracted services. d. Funding Fee Payment System (FFPS) is used by VBA for the Department of the Treasury's pay.gov. e. The VA Loan Electronic Reporting Interface (VALERI) is a contracted service to provide system support for loan servicing. This system is used by VBA.

f. The Specially Adapted Housing Special Home Adaptation (SAHSHA) is used by VBA and is a Loan Guaranty (LGY) system which supports processing and administration of the SAHSHA Grant program and allows on-line applications.
g. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Payment Management System (PMS) is used by VA to issue grant payments. h. The State Home Per Diem Program uses the IFCAP system to manage funds. It is used by VHA.

i. The VA Multifamily Transitional Housing Loan Guarantee Program is a pilot program to guarantee up to 15 loans or $100 million for the development of Multifamily Transitional Housing with Supportive Services for homeless and formerly homeless Veterans. It was established under 38 U.S.C. and Chapter 20, subchapter VI and is implemented by VHA. j. VA's Grant and Per Diem Program uses an internal grants management database to award, track, and monitor projects. Capital Grant awards are obligated at VA Central Office, and grantees may draw down on these funds using the HHS PMS. Per diem funding is paid by the local VA medical centers responsible for oversight and monitoring of these projects, and authorized payments are made by Treasury and reflected in VA's FMS. k. Supportive Services for Veterans Families (SSVF) uses an internal grants management database to award, track and monitor projects in conjunction with auditing support for oversight and monitoring of these projects. Grant awards are obligated at VA Central Office, and grantees may draw down on these funds using the HHS PMS.

8. For each system identified in response to Request No.7, explain how it interacts with any business or accounting system identified in response to Request No.1. Response:
a. WebLGY manually inputs to the credit subsidy model. This system has an automated daily feed of guaranteed loan data to/from VALERI to support supplemental servicing, claims and acquisitions. b. CPTS interfaces daily with FMS at the detail level for payments and receivables. FMS then creates the payment files to the Department of the Treasury and updates the general ledger. c. BOA has a daily interface with FMS at the summary level for loan establishments, collections, and termination actions. FMS updates the general ledger. d. FFPS is manually inputted into FMS to update the general ledger. e. VALERI has a daily interface with FMS at the detail level for payments and receivables. FMS then creates the payment files to the Department of the Treasury and updates the general ledger. f. SAHSHA has no interface. FMS updates are manually processed.

g. The HHS PMS and VA FMS systems do not have an automated interface. Updates to FMS are processed manually. h. The State Home Per Diem Program has a bidirectional interface with FMS to record payments and adjustments to estimated authorizations.

i. The VA Multifamily Transitional Housing Loan Guarantee Program is a single outstanding loan financed by the Federal Financing Bank (FFB).

j. The Grant and Per Diem Program and Capital Grant payment systems are integrated into FMS to track funding.
k. SSVF grants are managed through HHS's Division of Payment Management.

9. For each system identified in response to Request No.7, state whether information found in that system is regularly or periodically submitted to the Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA), and describe how and at what intervals those submissions occur, including descriptions of both automated and manual processes. Response:
a. Manual updates are submitted annually for WebLGY and the State Home Per Diem Program. b. CPTS, BOA, FFPS, VALERI, SAHSHA, and HHS PMS do not regularly or periodically submit information to the CFDA. c. The VA Multifamily Transitional Housing Loan Guarantee Program will not process loans through this program. d. The Grant and Per Diem Program is identified by CFDA 64.024. Currently, program funding is not submitted to the Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance. e. The SSVF final rule states that there is no CFDA number for this program.

10. For each system identified in response to Request No.7, state whether information found in that system is regularly or periodically submitted to any of the government-wide grants management and reporting systems, e.g., FAADS, FAADS PLUS, etc., and describe how and at what intervals those submissions occur, including descriptions of both automated and manual processes. Response:
a. Information found in WebLGY includes data from USAspending.gov and Federal Assistance Award Data (FAADS). WebLGY generates monthly reports from the VBA data warehouse, which are manually loaded into USAspending.gov by VA's Data Quality Service (DQS). b. The State Home Per Diem Program submits data manually. c. CPTS, BOA, FFPS, VALERI, SAHSHA, and HHS PMS do not submit information to the government-wide grants management and reporting systems. d. The VA Multifamily Transitional Housing Loan Guarantee Program has been suspended.

e. The Grant and Per Diem Program reports transfers of disbursing authority and the required 52 data elements to DQS, which validates and manually uploads the data to USAspending.gov.

f.
review.

The SSVF system is not yet operational. Reporting requirements are under

11. For each system identified in response to Request No.7, describe recent, current, and planned migration or modernization projects. Response:
a. WebLGY is scheduled to transition to VA Identity Management Service in FY 2012. Lender/service management/oversight functions are planned for FY 2012 and 2013. b. CPTS has an improved interface, and a contractor and automated payment process is planned. c. BOA, FFPS, VALERI, State Home Per Diem Program and HHS do not have any recent, current or planned migration or modernization projects. d. SAHSHA was replatformed to Java-based/portal technology in 2009/2010. e. The VA Multifamily Transitional Housing Loan Guarantee Program has been suspended. f. VA is exploring options to identify an internal business/IT solution to automate the reporting of per diem obligations made by local VA medical centers directly from VA's fiscal system in order to comply with USAspending monthly reporting requirements for the Grant and Per Diem Program., g. The SSVF announced Notices of Funding Availability. Grant funding will be administered through the HHS PMS online payment system.

12. In addition to your agency's submissions to government-wide grants management and reporting systems, described in response to Requests Nos. 9 and 10, does your agency publish any of the same information online for public viewing? If so, describe how and in what format that information is published. Response:
a. VA does not publish any of the same information online for public viewing for the WebLGY, CPTS, BOA, FFPS, VALERI, SAHSHA, and HHS systems. b. The VA Multifamily Transitional Housing Loan Guarantee Program has been suspended.

c. Capital grant awards, which typically occur only once a year, are published under the News Release section of VA's Web site. Per diem payments are not published on VA's Web site. d. SSVF grant awards, which are expected to occur once a year, will be published under the News Release section of VA's Web site.

13. Identify and briefly describe each system that your agency uses to manage contracts. If separate divisions, bureaus, or offices of your agency use separate systems, identify which divisions, bureaus, or offices use each system. Response:
VA' core financial management system has over 50 interfaces. To respond in the allotted timeframe, VA is limiting the scope of our responses to our major systems, which in total are responsible for approximately 85 percent of outlays. a. eCMS is an enterprise-wide system designed to house all VA procurement and contracting data. In addition, it provides VA with enterprise-level business intelligence reporting on procurement and contracting activities. This system supports a.! I of VA. eCMS interfaces support posting of announcements, solicitations, and awards via the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) site; receiving vendor information for companies registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) System; posting solicitations on the General Services Administration's (GSA) e-Buy.com system; and reporting of procurement obligations to the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS). In addition, eCMS is configured to transmit award information to FPDS in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requirements. b. IFCAP is a legacy small purchasing application and is used to initiate procurements. IFCAP is used by all of VA except VBA.

14. For each system identified in response to Request No. 13, explain how it interacts with any business or accounting system identified in response to Request No.1. Response:
a. eCMS is not currently integrated with IFCAP; however, a phased integration is planned for FY 2011. b. IFCAP is a bidirectional financial system that sends financial data to FMS to commit and obligate funds.

15. For each system identified in response to Request No. 13, state whether information found in that system is regularly or periodically submitted to any of the government-wide contract management and reporting systems, e.g., FPDS, FPDSNG, FAPIIS, etc., and describe how and at what intervals those submissions occur, including descriptions of both automated and manual processes.
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Response:
a. eCMS feeds solicitation data to FBO.gov and eBuy.com using an interface that is automatically launched. The solicitation data is then submitted by contracting staff. eBuy.com also feeds quotes and solicitation response data to eCMS using an automated process at the end of the solicitation period. eCMS feeds award data to FPDS using a combination of automated and manual processes. All of these data exchanges occur on a real-time basis. b. IFCAP is integrated with FPDS to report actions not in eCMS.

16. For each system identified in response to Request No. 13, describe recent, current, and planned migration or modernization projects. Response:
a. System upgrades are installed twice annually with regularly scheduled updates on a monthly basis or as required. The IFCAP integration project is scheduled for phased installation in FY 2011. b. VA has no recent, current, or planned migration or modernization projects for IFCAP.

17. In addition to your agency's submissions to government-wide contract management and reporting systems, described in response to Request No. 15, does your agency publish any of the same information online for public viewing? If so, describe how and in what format that information is published. Response:
a. In regard to Request No. 15, VA publishes the information on the vendor portal for public viewing. The information posted to FBO is duplicated on the VA Vendor Portal. b. When required, eCMS users publish to FBO and Federal Procurement Data System - Next Generation (FPDS-NG). eCMS can also publish to the eCMS Vendor Portal to conduct electronic procurements within the system. c. When applicable, IFCAP reports actions to FPDS.

18. Briefly describe your agency's efforts to comply with OMB's memorandum on the Open Government Directive - Federal Spending Transparency, dated April 6, 2010. In particular, describe whether and how your agency has begun to collect and report sub-award data, as required by the memorandum, and describe how your agency's reports on OMB's data quality metrics, as required by the memorandum, are generated.

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Response:
a. In June 2010, VA established the DQS as the central operational authority for data quality reporting to Office of Management and Budget (OMB). DQS is primarily responsible for collecting and submitting data to USAspending.gov. DQS provides technical support and guidance on reporting requirements to program offices to ensure timely, accurate and complete monthly data submissions. Monthly submissions must pass validation by DQS staff and the Data Submission Validation Tool (DSVT) test site before being officially reported to USAspending.gov. DQS conducts quarterly reviews of data submissions and provides a written report to the program offices. To ensure accurate subaward reporting, the Office of Acquisition, Logistics and Construction (OALC) added a FAR clause to all new contracts over $25,000 and to applicable existing contracts. OALC is developing a monitoring plan and has established guidance to provide oversight of subaward recipient and executive compensation reporting. Monthly reports from the eCMS are provided to contracting officers to identify potential subaward recipients against reports in the FFATA Subaward Reporting System. Any errors or instances of non-compliance are identifieq and co.mmunicated to recipients for immediate correction. Additionally, VA's Internal Controls Service (ICS) conducts quarterly testing of the quality of financial spending information reported outside of VA as well as an annual assessment of internal control over data quality reported to USAspending.gov. b. VA has undertaken several actions to comply with OMB's memorandum on the Open Government Directive dated April 6, 2010. VA reports award data and assistance award data to the FPDS. This system feeds data directly to USAspending.gov. c. In July 2010, VA added clause language to eCMS that addresses sub-awards and executive compensation (FAR 52.204-1 O-Reporting Executive Compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards). eCMS automatically recommends the clause for consideration by the contracting officer when the acquisition meets the criteria of the clause prescription. The actual reporting of sub-awards data and executive compensation is recorded in the new Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) Sub-award Reporting System (FSRS) directly by the contractor (prime awardee). Once the data is submitted by the contractor into FSRS, it i~ later extracted from FSRS and exported into the USAspending system. d. All contracting personnel previously enrolled in the Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (eSRS) were automatically registered as users of FSRS. New users must register directly on the FSRS Web site at www.fsrs.gov. The VA Acquisition Policy Division issued a reminder regarding the contracting officer's responsibility to perform quar:terly reviews of FSRS data entered by the contractor. e. VA works to comply with OMB's FPDS Data Accuracy and Data Completeness data quality controls.

19. If your agency interacts directly with USAspending.gov, in addition to submitting information to the systems that feed USAspending.gov, describe the nature, frequency, and purposes of that interaction. Response:
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VA systems do not directly interact with USAspending.gov. Each month as data becomes available, VA reporting program offices submit standardized files to DOS, detailing spending for the most current period. DOS validates the data, and when the file is confirmed to be 100 percent complete and accurate, DOS submits it to USAspending.gov via the DSVT. To meet OMB's "timeliness" metric, DOS ensures data files for a given month are submitted to USAspending.gov by the 20th of the following month. The files are posted to the site overnight and are available for query the next business day. Once the data is available for query and viewing, DOS reviews the posting to ensure it matches what was submitted.

20. Describe the data quality controls and procedures that your agency has implemented for information that is submitted to USAspending.gov, including information submitted directly and information submitted to one of the systems that feeds USAspending.gov. Response:
a. DOS develops, implements, and executes VA's data quality controls and procedures for information submitted directly to USAspending.gov via the DSVT. Program offices submit their USAspending.gov files monthly to DOS for validation and testing. DOS performs a series of validations on each program's file to ensure the consistency, completeness, and accuracy of the data by completing a detailed checklist of validation steps. Completion of this checklist ensures each file received is validated in exactly the same manner. In addition to the checklist validations, DOS submits the file to USAspending.gov's DSVT test environment. If the file successfully loads to the test environment, it will successfully load in the production environment. Files that do not pass all validations and do not successfully load to the test environment are returned to the applicable program office for correction and resubmission. Once a file passes, DOS submits it to USAspending.gov using DSVT. b. As mentioned in the response to Request No. 19, once data is posted to USAspending.gov, DOS reviews the posting and reconciles the total spending and record count reflected on the Web site to the original data file that was submitted. In addition to validating program office files before they are submitted to USAspending.gov, DOS maintains validation tables for VA's reporting program offices to use when compiling their files. These validation tables ensure VA's program offices use only valid combinations of data for the following USAspending.gov fields: City (Names and Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Codes); County (Names and FIPS Codes); State (Names and FIPS Codes); ISO 3166-1 Country Codes; Principal Place of Performance Codes; and Congressional Districts.

These validation tables ensure consistency of reporting across all VA programs whose data is directly submitted to USAspending.gov by DOS. 13

c. VA works to comply with OMB's FPDS Data Accuracy and Data Completeness data quality controls. The Department provides OMB with an annual report on these metrics. Since 2009, VA engaged a third-party independent validation and verification (IV&V) team to conduct quarterly audits of data entered or transmitted automatically from eCMS to FPDS. These audits measure the completeness and accuracy of the data in FPDS in comparison to the data entered into eCMS by VA contracting personnel. Based on quarterly and annual audit results, VA initiated several efforts to improve its data accuracy metrics including conducting additional training for contracting personnel.

21. State whether all of your agency's current grants, contracts, and loans are accurately reflected on USAspending.gov, and, if not, estimate the percentage of current grants, contracts, and loans that are not accurately reflected, using both the number of transactions and dollar figures. Response:
a. Currently not all VA grants, contracts, and loans are accurately reflected on USAspending.gov. VA is reviewing these programs to determine if they need to be reported on USAspending.gov. We cannot determine at this time the percentage that is not accurately reflected. b. VA's Office of Business Oversight (OBO) has begun IV&V checks to ensure the accuracy of VA data. State Home Construction Grant data validation results will be available by the end of April. Data for all other grant programs being validated by OBO will be available by the end of June.

22. State whether your agency incurs any reporting burdens or costs as a result of its obligations under the Federal Financial Assistance Transparency Act ("FFATA") that it does not incur as a result of other reporting obligations, and estimate those burdens and costs in worker-hours and dollars. Response:
The total cost incurred for Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) employee and contractor support for USAspending.gov is 12,880 man hours totaling $1.4 million.

23. Identify the individual(s) who serve(s) as Senior Accountable Official(s) ("SAO") over federal spending data quality for your agency, as defined by OMB. Response:
Mr. W. Todd Grams, Acting Assistant Secretary for Management and VA Chief Financial Officer, serves as VA's SAO.

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ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS BOA CAATS CCR CFDA CFO COTS C&PVETSNET CPEM CPTS DFAS DQS DSVT eCMS
E- BON

Bank of America's Systems Centralized Administrative Accounting Transaction System Central Contractor Registration System Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance Chief Financial Officer' Commercial Off-The-Shelf Compensation and Pension - Veterans Service Network Claims Processing and Eligibility Module Centralized Property Tracking System Defense Finance and Accounting Service Data Quality Service Data Submission and Validation Tool Electronic Contract Management System Education - Benefits Delivery System Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System Enhanced Time & Attendance Federal Assistance Award Data System Federal Agencies Centralized Trial Balance System I Federal Agencies Centralized Trial Balance System II Federal Acquisition Regulation Federal Business Opportunities VistA Fee System Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act

eSRS ETA FAADS FACTS I FACTS II FAR FBO FEE FFATA

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FFB FFPS FIPS FMS FPDS FSC FSRS FTE GFRS HHS ICS IFCAP

Federal Financing Bank Funding Fee Payment System Federal Information Processing Standard Financial Management System Federal Procurement Data System Financial Services Center FFATASubaward Reporting System Full-Time Equivalent Employee Government-wide Financial Report System Health and Human Services Internal Controls Service Integrated Funds Distribution, Control Point Activity, Accounting and Procurement Intergovernmental Fiduciary Confirmation Service Insurance General Ledger System Independent Validation and Verification Loan Guaranty Medical Care Collections Fund Management Information Exchange National Cemetery Administration Office of Acquisition, Logistics and Construction Office of Business Oversight Office of Enterprise Systems Management Office of Management and Budget Personnel and Accounting Integrated Data

IFCS IGLS IV&V LGY MCCF MinX NCA OALC OBO OESM OMB PAID

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PMS RAEM SAHSHA SHPDP SSVF VA VALERI VAROIC

Payment Management System Requirements Analysis and Engineering Management Specially Adapted Housing Special Home Adaptation State Home Per Diem Program Supportive Services for Veterans Families Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Affairs Loan Electronic Reporting Interface Veterans Benefits Administration Life Insurance Program Office at the VA Regional Office and Insurance Center Veterans Benefits Administration Veterans Health Administration Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture Accounts Receivable VistA Integrated Billing Vocational Rehabilitation-Benefits Delivery Network Vocational Rehab - CWINRS Web Based Loan Guaranty

VBA VHA VistAAR

VistA IB VR-BDN VR-CWINRS WebLGY

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