Can VA Spend $500M on New Contracts in Five Months? '

Overall, the VA’s IT budget for the current fiscal year includes $800 million for the 16 priority projects, and $300 million has been obligated to date, Roger Baker, assistant secretary for information and technology, told an INPUT industry forum on VA's IT programs on May 4.

The secretary’s 16 priorities, which aim for fulfillment within five years, include eliminating veteran homelessness, eliminating the backlog in the Veterans Benefits Management System and establishing a Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record for veterans.

“The secretary is very serious about this,” Baker said. “You do not tell a four-star general [Shinseki] that you did not execute his major initiatives.”