VA Halts All Software Development

The Veterans Affairs Department halted all software development Tuesday, including work on its $491 million paperless Veterans Benefits Management System. The news came a day after the department furloughed 2,754 information technology employees due to the lapse in appropriations.

VA has also furloughed 7,000 employees from the Veterans Benefits Administration who process disability and education claims, and the department closed all public access to the 56 VBA regional offices.

The furloughs were forecast in the VA government shutdown contingency plan released last week and updated Monday.

Victoria Dillon, acting VA press secretary, said the IT employees were furloughed Monday because carryover funding balances from 2013 were “exhausted.” She said VA had to furlough the 7,000 VBA employees and shutdown public access to the 56 regional offices “due to a lack of funds.”