Veterans Affairs poised for new GI Bill

In a little over a month, the Department of Veterans Affairs is expected to begin dispensing benefits from the latest version of the GI Bill for veterans who have served in the military in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Last week, the House Veterans Affairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee held its latest oversight hearing on the VA's preparation for the August 1st deadline.

Last January, FederalNewsRadio reported that the VA was taking to steps to simultaneously upgrade an old, legacy system for managing benefits and ramp up an entirely new system designed to be quicker and more efficient.

The VA's Keith Wilson told the subcommittee that the department continues to work with the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR) in San Diego on the new, longer term system.

In addition, the new project is being developed in accordance with the recently announced change in IT software development policy at VA, which calls for incremental development on a modular basis of all software applications and implementing them for mission-critical tasks as soon as they are ready.

Stephen Warren, the VA's Acting Chief Information officer, says that they have 16 modules from the new system prepared and are in the final stages of integrating them into the new system.

Additional modules with specific functions are expected to be introduced and implemented as they become operational.

Warren also says they are in the process of purchasing a "rules engine" for the new system along with other hardware such as the servers themselves.

Warren and Wilson were also queried on whether their agency has sufficiently informed colleges and universities which will coordinate educational benefits under the new GI Bill. Officials say the VA has held numerous briefings all across the country to help schools get up to speed with the new veterans benefit.

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