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CalVet IT System 'Flawed,' State Auditor Finds

A $28 million enterprise IT system developed for the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) has suffered from functionality issues and project management and oversight deficiencies, according to a report from the State Auditor released Thursday morning.

A $28 million enterprise IT system developed for the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) has suffered from functionality issues and project management and oversight deficiencies, according to a report from the State Auditor released Thursday morning.The Enterprise-Wide Veterans Home Information System was implemented beginning in mid-2012.

The State Auditor summarized the findings in its review:

  • The IT project experienced setbacks from the onset — CalVet did not hire a contractor to implement the system until nearly three years after the project was approved.
  • Due to poor planning and inadequate project oversight, CalVet spent nearly $28 million and has not achieved a key project objective — a fully integrated system of care that improved efficiency, quality and consistency of care to veterans.
       — It fully prepared six of the 12 required management oversight plans needed for effective project management, and of the six completed plans, it only fully followed four.
       — It could not demonstrate that it received some key system implementation deliverables yet it approved payments totaling $733,000 for those deliverables.
  • Because it did not follow or did not complete its oversight plans, CalVet failed to promptly recognize the severity of the problems with the system and did not begin to take steps to address the reported problems until late 2013 — nearly 18 months after staff began reporting them — when it reported critical concerns to the Technology Department, paused the project and ultimately initiated a dispute resolution process with the contractor.
  • Although CalVet hired one oversight contractor to provide both independent project oversight (IPO) and independent verification and validation (IV&V) services, the services were inadequate. The IPO reports should have identified deficiencies in the IV&V work but did not.
  • Although the Technology Department facilitated the contract dispute discussions between CalVet and the system contractor that ultimately led to a settlement agreement with the contractor, the Technology Department could not provide sufficient documentation to demonstrate that the agreement reached was in the best interest of the state.
The auditor recommended that CalVet define IT project management responsibilities for staff and establish a policy to use separate contractors for independent oversight functions on future IT projects. The auditor also recommended the Department of Technology make changes to project oversight processes.