Action Needed to Ensure VA Meets Staffing and Vacancy Reporting Requirements under the MISSION Act of 2018

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) assessed VA’s compliance with mandated reporting of staffing and vacancy data on its public website and its clarity in related explanations. The MISSION Act of 2018 requires VA to publicly release this information each quarter to promote transparency in personnel management. VA must also report yearly on the steps taken to achieve full staffing capacity and improve the onboarding timeline for certain facilities. The MISSION Act further requires the OIG to review VA’s data-reporting website and make recommendations for improvement.

The OIG found VA complied with staffing and vacancy reporting requirements by publishing data on onboard personnel, gains and losses, vacancies, and time-to-hire. However, in its 2023 annual report, VA did not address the steps it took to improve the onboarding process at medical facilities that exceeded time-to-hire metrics, as required by the Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020; VA agreed to ensure this is addressed in future reports. Furthermore, the OIG identified opportunities for VA to improve the staffing and vacancy information reported on its public website. The review team found that VA could clarify the reason for reporting vacancies as funded and unfunded, define the scope for data in its annual reports, and ensure that data sources are described consistently across written procedures and published reports.

The OIG made one recommendation to the assistant secretary for human resources and administration/operations, security, and preparedness to ensure the annual reports to Congress include the steps VA is taking to improve the onboard timeline for facilities where the duration of the onboarding process exceeds the metrics laid out in the VHA time-to-hire model, or successor model, in accordance with the Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020.