Military Minute

3.1.13 Over the next year, some thousand VA Central Office staff will be affected by a major initiative aimed at reducing the amount of money the Department spends to rent space in office buildings in downtown Washington, D.C. The VA is working to control the growth in administrative costs, which they say have increased at a rate that is not sustainable. Rent costs increase every year. The amount of space occupied by staff offices increased over the last several years, resulting in a shortfall in the General Administration activity rent budget in FY 2013 and FY 2014. The move will affect about 1,000 employees and result in a rent savings of $60 million over 10 years.

3.1.13 The Directors of Department of Veterans Affairs’ programs that provide disability compensation and pension benefits have told members of The American Legion that the automated Fully Developed Claim process stands to significantly reduce the amount of time veterans and their families wait for decisions and put a dent in the backlog of unresolved cases nationwide. The VA has stated that of almost 6,000 claims handled using the process since June 2010, the average wait time between application and decision was just over 108 days. The national average now is nearly 280 days. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki has set 125 days as the goal, with 98-percent accuracy.