Review of Alleged Claim Processing Delays to Receive Monetary Performance Awards at VA Regional Office Pittsburgh, PA

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed an October 21, 2008, anonymous allegation that Veterans Service Center (VSC) managers at VA Regional Office (VARO) Pittsburgh instructed Veterans Service Representatives (VSR) to delay the processing of Global War On Terror (GWOT) claims that were ready for a rating decision to meet incentive goals and receive performance award money. We did not substantiate the allegation but found that VSC managers and VSRs differed in their understanding about how to meet an April/May 2008 incremental incentive offered by the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) Office of Field Operations (OFO) to have zero GWOT claims pending that were awaiting a rating decision for more than 7 days by May 31, 2008. The misunderstanding between VSC managers and VSRs caused confusion among staff, resulting in VSRs delaying the processing of some GWOT claims. We identified 10 GWOT claims that were not rated when they were ready to rate. For five of these claims, the delay resulted in veterans receiving compensation benefit payments a month late, ranging from $226 to $1,375. The confusion among VARO Pittsburgh staff occurred because VARO policies and procedures lacked continuous feedback mechanisms to ensure VSR’s aggressive pursuit of performance goals do not violate VBA policies or delay claim processing. The misunderstanding and confusion caused the VARO to unnecessarily delay rating decisions and benefit payments. OIG made two recommendations to require OFO to incorporate independent monitoring of VARO reported achievement of future incentive-based performance award goals to ensure unintended outcomes do not occur and ensure the VARO Pittsburgh Director establishes policies and procedures that include feedback mechanisms to ensure VSRs pursue performance goals without violating VBA policies or delaying claim processing. The Under Secretary for Benefits agreed with our findings and recommendations and reported completion of improvement actions. We considered these actions acceptable and the recommendations closed.