VA will not use contractor for new GI Bill

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VA will not use contractor for new GI Bill
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Oct 13, 2008 10:19:34 EDT

Ambitious and controversial plans to use a private contractor to receive and pay claims for a new GI Bill education benefits plan that takes effect Aug. 1 have been canceled because the Department of Veterans Affairs could not find a contractor.

Instead, VA officials will rely on its own employees to create and implement a complicated benefits plan that promises full tuition payments, a housing stipend and a book allowance. VA will have to determine a maximum rate for each state but calculate payments individually, based on where a person is attending school.

In congressional testimony, VA officials had defended the idea of using an outside contractor to implement the new Post-9/11 GI Bill program to skeptical lawmakers and veterans’ groups, saying that using private-sector expertise would be a faster and more efficient way to calculate the benefits and come up with a modern payment system that uses electronic claims and claim tracking.

In the end, VA officials convinced some people. For example, the veterans’ service organization AmVets, which would have preferred the program be handled within VA, ultimately supported VA’s contractor proposal.

“AMVETS feels that time is too short. In less than a year the program needs to be up and running, otherwise veterans could be locked out from their benefits,” said spokesman Ryan Gaullacci in a statement before VA announced it would not be using a contractor after all.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/10/military_gibill_contractor_VA_101308w/%2e