IT Modernization Prepares VA for Blue Water Navy Act

An agile and highly responsive information technology (IT) platform is what allows the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide exemplary service to U.S. military veterans and their families within an ever-evolving regulatory environment. The passage of the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019 and the VA’s successful response to this important piece of legislation are a perfect example. Blue Water Navy, which went into effect on January 1, 2020, significantly expands the number of Vietnam veterans and dependents eligible to file claims due to Agent Orange exposure. The number of affected individuals is estimated to be as high as 90,000.

Processing this new class of claims in a seamless and timely manner would have proven difficult had the VA not previously invested in a substantial modernization of its Benefits Integration Platform (BIP). In partnership with Booz Allen, the VA has spent the last few years augmenting BIP’s technical capabilities with cloud technologies and an Agile framework. This investment has empowered the agency to respond faster and with a high degree of customer service to the Blue Water Navy claims, while simultaneously reducing overhead costs.

Each time a congressional or regulatory mandate related to veterans goes into effect, the VA must be able to adapt within a compressed timeframe. To meet this constantly changing set of demands without reducing the quality of the customer experience, the agency uses cutting-edge software applications and tools to automate the intake of veterans’ information and deliver a streamlined approach to claims processing.

Integrating new applications into the agency’s already complex IT platform was proving to be a challenge. It required the VA to undergo the slow, standard acquisitions process to obtain the applications and then spend additional time activating them and the teams needed to help run them. Because BIP acts as the nerve center of the agency’s claims processing infrastructure, and therefore plays an essential role in ensuring the continued delivery of high-quality service to veterans, the VA invested in improvements to allow the swifter development and roll-out of new software applications. 

Our firm helped the VA develop the Veterans Benefit Management System (VBMS), a custom-web application supported by BIP to process compensation and pension claims. VBMS continues to evolve and enabled the agency to reduce the overall number of backlogged claims by 89 percent to 64,783 in November 2019, its lowest number in history. We also implemented a machine learning capability to mitigate the growing threat of identity theft and fraud. Our understanding and appreciation of the VA’s mission allowed us to provide the necessary support for the BIP modernization project.

Our consultants helped the VA leverage cloud computing technologies and an Agile framework to drastically improve BIP’s built-in technical capabilities. They also established a specialized talent pool of software architects, cloud engineers, and business subject matter experts to allow the system to thrive in a highly responsive environment. 

As a result, support teams can be spun up rapidly and with the ability to shift and prioritize new requests. New software applications can be developed and immediately put to work addressing issues as they arise, and the standard data required to handle claims is readily available through shared application programming interfaces. 

BIP was leveraged in several ways to prepare the VA for the Blue Water Navy claims. Its efficient IT processes and stable infrastructure augment the capabilities of existing applications, like VBMS, and gave the VA the flexibility to put additional measures in place before Blue Water Navy went into effect. These measures included specialized training for employees on the law and benefits and a campaign launch to raise veteran awareness, all executed within the required timeline. Without issue or delay, the first claim was awarded on January 1, 2020, in Manila, Philippines.

The BIP modernization effort provided the VA with the necessary agility to meet the technological challenges presented by the Blue Water Navy claims, all while maintaining its commitment to deliver superior service to veterans on time and on target. As congressional and regulatory mandates change, so will the solutions BIP provides. Booz Allen has designed a sophisticated IT platform with the ability to handle the current and future needs of the VA as it continues to honorably serve 20 million veterans and their dependents for life.