While various levels and types of oversight are currently being provided for the HealtheVet initiative by business owners, developers, and departmental IT governance boards, the business owners have not yet implemented a complete governance structure, several key leadership positions within the developers’ organization are either vacant or filled with acting personnel, and the governance boards have not yet scheduled critical reviews of HealtheVet projects, the report said.
It said that until all elements of governance and oversight are in place, the risk to the success of the HealtheVet initiative is increased.
GAO called on the VA to develop a project management plan that encompasses all six "blocks," or modernization phases, of HealtheVet:
* Validate cost estimates for all six blocks of HealtheVet;
* Expedite efforts to permanently staff the position of the director of the program management office and fill other critical leadership positions in the office of enterprise development; and,
* Develop a schedule for and conduct milestone reviews of the HealtheVet projects.
GAO also called on the VHA to finalize and implement the plan to establish the HealtheVet governance structure.
VA agreed for the most part with the report and GAO’s recommendations and said its IT office was developing a comprehensive, integrated HealtheVet project management plan to be completed within six months that is to reflect dependencies between resources and establish a single schedule for all VA medical IT projects.
The department also said it has hired a contractor to conduct an independent financial validation of the HealtheVet preliminary cost estimate to be completed by February 2009, that it has posted a vacancy announcement to fill the leadership position for the Program Management Office, and that it expects final review and approval of the HealtheVet governance plan soon.
