I knew it was to good to be true, Senator James Webb spent almost 2 years building up a coalition of Senators from both sides of the ailse and getting enough votes to make the new GI Bill veto proof.
So to make the entire thing a farce the Bush Administration has had Secretary of the Veterans Administration James Peake make the decision to "outsource" the administration of the new GI Bill to a private company, since the VA does not have the personnel to handle such a large new entitlement program. Except VA employees in the education department are the only people who know how to administer federal veterans education benefits, and it would be easier to expland the VA workforce than to hire a private company that would be required to train all new employees on the laws that govern the VA education benefits.
Just when I didn't think there was anything else the Bush Administration could do that would screw over veterans anymore, and that this long national nightmare was finally coming to an end, they find a way to privatize Senator Webb's finest legislation for veterans in decades, and it will mainly work to the benefit of "private contractor" to financially line their pockets, maybe Blackwater will become a educational expert company. I am sure Erik Prince can hire enough cheap employees to screw up education claims.
VA TO OUTSOURCE IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW G.I. BILL
BENEFITS: THE NEXT STEP IN PRIVATIZING THE VA --
Secretary Peake: "...The decision has been made to seek
private-sector support to implement this new program...
We intend to move quickly to select a contractor..."
from Larry Scott of the VA Watchdog
When Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) was pushing legislation for his New G.I. Bill, the VA worked diligently to defeat the measure.
"The anticipated high benefit cost ... and the anticipated administrative burden associated with this bill are all problematic," said Keith M. Wilson, director of the education service for the VA. Full story here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/...
Daniel Cooper, the VA's undersecretary for benefits, in Congressional testimony, said "The complexity of eligibility rules, anticipated cost, and administrative burden associated with this bill are all problematic." Cooper also spoke of "significant administrative costs." Full story here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/...
You get the idea. The VA did not want this bill to pass and if it did (and it did), they did not want to administer the program ... even though that is what the VA does .. administer veterans' benefits programs.
Now, we have learned that the VA is going to outsource the administration of this program. This is just the next step in privatizing the VA.
VA Secretary James Peake, in a letter to the AFGE's National VA Council president Alma Lee, said, "The implementation of this new program and subsequent new work will have a profound impact on VA. The challenges of creating the procedures and systems to support a new program ... will tax VA's resources."
AFGE (American Federation of Government Employees) is the union that represents many VA employees.
Peake continues his letter, basically telling Ms. Lee that VA employees are out in the cold when it comes to handling the New G.I. Bill program. "...The decision has been made to seek private-sector support to implement this new program ... We intend to move quickly to select a contractor...," Peake wrote.
Peake goes on to say that the VA will try to "minimize any adverse impact" on VA employees and asks Ms. Lee to work with him to implement the outsourcing contract.
The letter was faxed from Secretary Peake to Ms. Lee on July 24, 2008. You can view the full letter here
This outsourcing concept makes no sense.
The VA argued that the costs of administering the program would be "problematic." So, they want to outsource it? Give it to a contractor who will charge way more than it would cost the VA to do it?
The VA said implementing the program would be an "administrative burden." How can that be when the VA already has benefits people on staff who know how to administer such programs?
This is just a giveaway ... another way to put money into a private contractor's pocket ... and move forward with privatizing the VA. More on privatizing the VA can be found here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/...
privatize+privatizing&op=or
This program must be up and running by August 1, 2009. That gives the VA less than a year to find a contractor (probably no-bid and a buddy of the Secretary) and get all the people trained. It can't be done!
VA has people in place to do this work. And, they can hire more, if needed, and have them trained by those already performing similar tasks. This will be more cost-effective and training will take much less time.
And, to add insult to injury, Secretary Peake wants Ms. Lee and the AFGE to work with the VA to help implement an outsourcing program that will take away work from VA employees and give it to a private contractor.
So, AFGE is fighting back: "AFGE last week sought help from Virginia senator Jim Webb after VA announced it will outsource the work of processing applications for education benefits under the new GI bill Webb championed. In a letter sent to Webb's office, AFGE's National Veterans Affairs Council President Alma Lee said VA has plans to transfer to other VA offices more than 400 employees working in the Education Division processing applications for benefits provided under the old GI bill. VA will then staff this office with contract workers, who will need to be trained to do the work these 400 employees already know how to do. Lee said this absurd move would waste VA's time and the taxpayer's dollar while uprooting workers, many of whom are veterans. Lee suggested that VA train the current workers to apply the new law while hiring veterans and temporary workers to help with the surge. AFGE also filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office last week, protesting outsourcing of federal work without competition." Source here...
http://www.bestsyndication.net/...
6098&sid=78bad8c5d8c250bf11d38caaaff2b000
Here is a comment from an administrator who runs the veterans' benefits program at a well-known college: "VA Education laws are complex, and it takes two years for a VA journeyman level person to learn everything involved in processing a claim and this private contractor is going to begin Aug 1, 2009. What will be the private contractor’s employees level of expertise? We get great service from the VA Education service ... We had a very bad experience with a private contract call center for VA education benefits about two years ago and I’m hoping we are not fixing to go through this again." This comment came to me via email.
The New G.I. Bill legislation directs the VA Secretary to administer the program ... not to outsource it ... but, he does have the power to do this.
We already have a great example of hiring an outside contractor who has no knowledge of a government program to try to "help" veterans. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) contracted with Lockheed Martin to straighten out the retro-pay mess. Lockheed Martin just created a larger mess. That story is here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/...
Congress should jump on this with both feet and put an end to it before a contract is awarded.
Outsourcing this program would be a waste of the taxpayers' money and cause needless delays and frustration for veterans.
This is just plain wrong on so many counts.
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ON THE WEB:
For more information about the G.I. Bill, use the VA Watchdog search engine ... click here ...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/...
AFGE web site is here ...
http://www.afge.org/
National VA Council web site is here ...
http://www.afgenvac.org/
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posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
I have Larry Scotts permission to copy his writings and have done so on numerous occasions to educate veterans and veteran supporters. We NEED to contact our elected officials and tell them how we feel about this outsourcing of this new vital veterans program.
Private contractors are what brought us the disaster at Walter Reed, Private Contractors brought us Blackwater, no bid contracts brought us Iraq courtesy of Halliburton, we need less private contractors and more qualified government employees that KNOW what they are doing when handling educational benefits for this nations veterans that have earned these college benefits.
Enough Bull Shit yell loud, and often please
Please send an e mail to Senator Webb's office a copy of your communication to your elected official, thank you
From a government employee web boardAFGE Week in Review (August 11, 2008)
AFGE Fights Outsourcing of New GI Bill Benefits Processing: AFGE last week sought help from Virginia senator Jim Webb after VA announced it will outsource the work of processing applications for education benefits under the new GI bill Webb championed. In a letter sent to Webb's office, AFGE's National Veterans Affairs Council President Alma Lee said VA has plans to transfer to other VA offices more than 400 employees working in the Education Division processing applications for benefits provided under the old GI bill. VA will then staff this office with contract workers, who will need to be trained to do the work these 400 employees already know how to do. Lee said this absurd move would waste VA's time and the taxpayer's dollar while uprooting workers, many of whom are veterans. Lee suggested that VA train the current workers to apply the new law while hiring veterans and temporary workers to help with the surge.
AFGE also filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office last week, protesting outsourcing of federal work without competition.
Time to fight the White House on this issue HELP PLEASE