VA bonus winners sat on review boards
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer
Tue May 15, 7:53 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070515/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/veterans_care_bonuses
WASHINGTON - Nearly two dozen officials who received hefty performance bonuses
last year at the Veterans Affairs Department also sat on the boards charged with
recommending the payments.
Documents obtained by The Associated Press raise questions of conflicts of
interest or appearances of conflicts in connection with the bonuses, some of
which went to senior officials involved in crafting a budget that came up $1.3
billion short and jeopardized veterans' health care.
The documents show that 21 of 32 officials who were members of VA performance
review boards received more than half a million dollars in payments themselves.
Among them: nearly a dozen senior officials who devised the flawed 2005 budget.
Also rewarded was the deputy undersecretary for benefits, who manages a system
with severe backlogs of veterans waiting for disability benefits.
Deputy undersecretaries who sit on the review boards, which are appointed by VA
Secretary Jim Nicholson, also had input on bonus recommendations involving
themselves, fellow members and spouses that made questionable performance claims
and neglected agency problems.
The VA, which has defended the bonuses as necessary to retain hardworking senior
employees, says board members do not participate in bonus decisions that involve
themselves or fellow board members. In those cases, recommendations are made by
agency heads in consultation with deputy undersecretaries, who usually serve as
supervisors to their fellow board members, the agency says.
But government watchdogs were harshly critical, saying the process does little
to instill public confidence in the fairness of awards. In its last known report
on the issue — one involving NASA — the Government Accountability Office in 1980
urged that performance boards add credibility and objectivity to their decisions
by including "one or more impartial members from outside the agency," although
agencies are not required to do so.
With the exception of a panel tasked with reviewing the VA inspector general's
office, all the VA's performance board members come from within the agency.
In one case, Michael Walcoff, associate deputy undersecretary for field
operations who sits on two of the review boards, and his wife, Kimberly, a VA
director, received a package of bonuses totaling $42,000.
"This is a scandal in the making," said Paul C. Light, professor of public
service at New York University who specializes in government reform. He said the
VA bonuses pointed to possible "featherbedding" and other favoritism.
Light said given the current problems in veterans care, the department would be
best served if Nicholson restricted most performance bonuses for at least a year
except in cases of clear improvement.
"This is not the time for largesse for the Department of Veterans Affairs,"
Light said. "They must not make a link between retention and employees, but
employees and performance as an incentive to solve these very serious problems."
Following reports this month by the AP of the $3.8 million in bonuses, groups
such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of
America have called on Nicholson to explain why officials involved in budget
foul-ups would be rewarded.
Annual bonuses to senior VA officials last year averaged more than $16,000, the
highest average in government.
Rep. John Hall (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y., has introduced legislation
that would freeze 2007 VA bonuses for "senior politically appointed officers" —
such as assistant secretaries or deputy undersecretaries — until the agency
pares its disability claims backlog to under 100,000 cases. The VA says deputy
undersecretaries are career employees, and a committee spokeswoman acknowledged
that was the case.
"It is simply unacceptable that veterans are waiting longer and longer for
benefits they desperately need while senior staff members in charge of bad
policy are rewarded so-called performance bonuses," Hall said.
The legislation, originally scheduled for a vote Tuesday, was expected to be
considered along with other veterans health care bills later this month, a
spokeswoman for Hall said.
Under a federal law passed in 1978 to increase government accountability by
tying bonuses more closely to performance, agencies are required to appoint
performance review boards yearly to guarantee bonus awards are "fair and
credible."
According to guidance by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, performance
boards must ensure that bonuses are given based not only on individual
accomplishments cited by supervisors, but also the department's overall success.
However, 2006 bonus proposals obtained by the AP show that senior officials who
received top payments of $33,000 were sometimes credited for achievements that
were questionable, if not inaccurate. Also, no mention was made of agency-wide
problems.
For example:
_Rita Reed, deputy assistant secretary for budget: "Demonstrated the ability to
design and implement strategies that maximize employee potential and foster high
ethical standards in meeting the organization's mission and goals."
While touting her role in launching programs to "leverage the VA's buying power"
as well as collecting $5.1 million in erroneous payments, the proposal does not
mention Reed's lead role in crafting the VA's flawed 2005 budget.
Months prior to her bonus award, GAO investigators determined the VA had used
misleading accounting to justify health cuts, claiming false savings in part by
double-counting savings from volume purchasing in government contracts from year
to year.
_William Feeley, deputy undersecretary for health for operations and management:
"Made numerous contributions to veterans and the Veterans Health Administration
in his role as deputy undersecretary." It said he also led systemwide
improvements that resulted in a 2.2 percent decrease in wait times for primary
care.
Feeley received a top bonus and is credited for yearlong achievements even
though he did not take the job until February 2006, nearly halfway into the
fiscal year. Previously, he was a VA regional director who played a role in the
flawed 2005 budget.
Regarding veterans' wait times to see doctors, a 2005 report from the VA
inspector general found that VA schedulers routinely put the wrong requested
appointment dates into the system, which made reported wait times appear shorter
than they really were. The IG has said problems lingered in 2006 despite VA
promises.
_Ronald Aument, deputy undersecretary for benefits: "His knowledge of VBA
programs and operations and his breadth of experiences across VA have
contributed greatly to VBA's progress in improving services to veterans."
Aument helps manage a disability claims system that has backlogs of 400,000 to
600,000 veterans. The waits average 177 days, two months short of the VA's
strategic goal of 125 days to process claims. Nicholson has called the delays
unacceptable.