But there is no happy ending here. Since most of these ideas come from ‘In The Beltway,’ visions of empires, power, and promotions began to appear. For some time IT offices at facilities had managed their own systems, created customized additions to standard software, and provided direct support to their local customer base. There was some software that was not deemed worthy of national level support that was run and managed from individual facilities and distributed on a subscription basis.
The geniuses at VA HQ though came up with a cure for all of this messy disorganization. They moved to not only solidify the stove pipe control of local IT, but to bring all of IT in the VA, across the lines of the Cemetery, Benefits, and Health Administration under centralized control at the regional level. In a business plan that would make sense.
But to the bureaucrats that also meant money. By pulling much of the IT staff to the regional level that would enable promotions all around because now they were doing the same job, but at a regional level… Because IT staff was working at the Regional level, not merely the local facility level, they had to be promoted. When you massage the Office Of Personnel Management rules just right, it becomes mandatory. For a lot of the IT staff that meant a full civil service grade promotion. If the worker was in a career ladder position, one that had developmental grades leading to fully effectiveness; that could enable promotions to higher grades on a yearly basis.
This wholesale move of IT staff from local facilities to the greener pastures also removed much of the support staff positions. Now if there were software or hardware issues at a facility, the remaining IT support staff (think of those left behind after the Rapture) would deal with it. That also meant telling local management why they could no longer resolve the issue that it had to be done at regional.
In the past few months the VA has completely done away with being able to contact local IT directly for a problem. Now VA employees (except those that enjoy executive support) have to call a central number and weave through a phone tree to talk to a support tech. Usually that call will also a 15 to 40 minutes wait. While it is not as bad as ‘this is Peggy, jah?’ because those that answer the phone are in the US and can speak American English, they can actually do very little. They usually cannot even directly resolve an issue with a single phone call.
Those answering the phones can only create a trouble ticket that is passed to the local IT support folks or to those worthy’s higher in the support chain. A computer problem that once took minutes and a single phone call, can now take hours or days to resolve. Just picture a medical faculty member from a large university, who only comes to the VA once or twice a year to perform surgery having to call to get his password reset, so that he can enter information that only he, as the principal physician can enter into the VA electronic health files.
What all of the above shows is that despite Rand studies, despite the illusion of change, and despite the genuine efforts of well-meaning individuals, the VA is still a mess. So while the reorganization of the VA can provide some the appearance of reform, the same folks that have been able to run silent, run deep for decades making their rice bowls bigger and deeper will still be making the rules, while looking for their next promotion. The ‘hired help’, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs will move on to his next Fortune 500 Company knowing he has done his best.
The permanent underclass of senior level civil service managers in the VA is what cost Secretary Shinseki his job. By all accounts and from everyone I have spoken to he is an honorable man who took the job wanting to do good. Yeah; the whole beret thing was screwed up as Hogan’s Goat. But we have all survived that. We should not act carry the hate to another generation. When the people upon whom you rely to feed you information are not as honorable as yourself or have been at such a high level of power for too long, the lack of oxygen at those lofty heights can and has been proven that brain damage will result. Then the boss will get fed a routine litany of crap that may be close to the truth, but doesn’t really get down to the nitty gritty.
Beware of the VA Bearing Change; for the change may not actually be for the benefit of the Veterans it is supposed to serve.
© 2023 The Havok Journal
The Havok Journal welcomes re-posting of our original content as long as it is done in compliance with our Terms of Use.
