VA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Important Initiatives Begun, Yet Serious Vulnerabilities Persist

We appreciate the opportunity to join in today s hearing and share updated information on the Department of Veterans Affairs VA information technology IT program. As you know, IT is essential to VA s ability to effectively serve the veteran population and is the cornerstone of the departments One VA vision of providing seamless services to veterans and their families. Over the past 5 years, VA has spent about 1 billion each year in support of its IT program, and it expects its IT expenditures to continue increasing over the next 5 years from about 1.4 billion in fiscal year 2001 to more than 2.1 billion by fiscal year 2005. Yet, as we have testified and reported in the past, 1 the department has encountered numerous and consistent challenges associated with managing IT, including weaknesses in its processes for selecting, controlling, and evaluating investments the absence of a department wide enterprise architecture and ineffective computer security management.