VA Modernizing Aging Facilities With Maintenance Backlog

“FEDERAL NEWS NETWORK”

“The Department of Veterans Affairs has a growing maintenance backlog at its facilities, a problem that’s only gotten worse as the agency struggles to balance everyday upkeep with an ongoing need to completely modernize some facilities for a new era”

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“The department grades each facility’s core systems and assesses the cost of those deficiencies every three years. According to its own estimates, it would take at least $22 billion to address poor or failing conditions at VA facilities, the department told a House appropriations subcommittee at a hearing on its infrastructure challenges last week.

The same backlog was worth $10 billion 10 years ago.

“I was really struck by some of the words that continually jump off the page, things like ‘correct life safety deficiencies,’ ‘replace seismically deficient buildings,’ ‘replace unsafe conditions,’ just to name a few,” Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, said Friday during a hearing on VA’s infrastructure challenges.

VA’s buildings are, on average, 60 years old, and 69% of the department’s main hospitals are at least 50 years old.

“There are some of those that are in fairly good condition,” Brett Sims, executive director of VA’s Office of Asset Enterprise Management, told the House appropriations subcommittee. “The problem we’re running into now is it’s difficult to maintain that. So even if the maintenance has been done and we’ve made fixes in those buildings, to get to some of the modern health care delivery [needs], those buildings are just not set up to support that. The challenge is more than just the condition. Some of that we can fix, but it goes beyond that through the age of the buildings and not really being able to address some of the new and changing technology that’s necessary to deliver care.”

According to the department’s estimates, VA needs anywhere from $49-to-59 billion to tackle the major and minor construction projects it has identified to date as part of its long-range capital action plan.

“What it doesn’t necessarily address are what’s going to happen next year or the year after,” Sims said. “As these facilities age, there will be additional degradation and additional failures.”

VA owns roughly 157 million square feet of space across 6,300 individual facilities. The department has added more than 1.7 million square feet of owned space to its asset portfolio within the last five years, while it demolished or returned 50 owned-buildings to the General Services Administration, Sims said in his written testimony.

At the same time, VA is entering into more leases. The department had nearly 2,000 leases at the end of 2020, up from the 750 leases it had 10 years ago, Sims said. Leasing allows VA to respond with more flexibility to ever-changing veteran needs in a particular location.

Congress authorized $3.6 billion for VA major and minor construction projects in fiscal 2021 and made investments of a similar size in recent years.

But it hasn’t been enough to make a dent in VA’s maintenance backlog and replace or modernize facilities that are failing to meet 21st century health care needs.

“It can’t be an either or. It has to be both,” Sims said. “We have to look at it in both directions so we’re not needlessly investing in facilities that really do need to be replaced but making sure that we are investing in facilities that need that interim upgrade or interim fix before we would get to a recapitalization.”

These challenges aren’t new, and Congress has spent years discussing the department’s infrastructure problems.

Those challenges most recently inspired the authors of the VA MISSION Act to establish procedures and a commission to review and make recommendations for disposing of the agency’s under-utilized, outdated or vacant facilities — a practice that mirrors the controversial base-realignment and closure process.

The department is currently conducting a market analysis of the veterans population, VA facilities and health care needs in across several regions. Those reviews should be finished before 2022, Sims said.

VA also recently published criteria that will guide the panel, known as the Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission, in making eventual recommendations to the president.

In the meantime, the department is considering what large-scale modernization projects it could potentially include in an infrastructure legislative package, which the Biden administration is developing.

“There’s a lot of reason to look at VA as a core to the national infrastructure need, and we are moving in that direction when it comes to a large-scale infrastructure bill,” Sims said.        Sign up for our daily newsletters so you never miss a beat on all things federal

And while both Democrats and Republicans showed concern for VA’s growing maintenance backlog and the sheer scope of its asset recapitalization needs, they didn’t come close to a definitive solution.

“This is a long-overdue conversation, both at the macro and more micro level. We spend a lot of time on the direct service to our veterans and really need to make sure that we’re focused on the environment in which we serve them,” Wasserman Schultz said. “I’m more concerned than I have been about our need to focus on the above-the-line and below-the-line decision making.”

As VA plans to modernize aging facilities, it faces a daunting maintenance backlog

GAO Clears Protests – VA Will Make Further $22.3B T4NG Contract On-Ramp Awards

https://blogs.va.gov/VAntage/79385/tac-talks-2-transformation-twenty-one-total-technology-next-generation-t4ng/

“WASHINGTON TECHNOLOGY“

” GAO protest denials, coupled with a U.S. Court of Federal Claims decision involving another protest, mean the VA is now free to move forward and make awards.

The VA has been using a phased approach to making awards under the on-ramp process, so it has been eliminating companies as it moves toward final awards.“

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“The Government Accountability Office has put the hammer down on several companies who were protesting their elimination from the on-ramp to get on the Veterans Affairs Department’s $22.3 billion T4NG technology services contract vehicle.

GAO denied protests filed by eight companies, who argued they were unfairly eliminated from the competition for seats on the Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology Next Generation contract.

As expected, several of the knocked out companies filed protests in November arguing their elimination was unfair.

GAO decision’s have yet to be released but the results are part of the agency’s public docket. There generally is a lag between the ruling itself and when the written decision is released as attorneys haggle over a public version.

But these denials, coupled with a U.S. Court of Federal Claims decision involving another protest, mean the VA is now free to move forward and make awards. All of those protests were resolved in GAO’s favor. including the court case brought by Summit Technologies.

The companies whose protests have been denied by GAO are:

• MicroHealth
• Network Designs
• NXTGen Solutions Joint Venture
• Rev LLC
• Blue Water Thinking
• AcesFed
• Trilogoy Federal
• Veteran technology Partners III

Summit Technologies went to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The judge’s decision to reject Summit’s claims of unfair elimination has been released, but Summit’s original complaint is still sealed.

The company claimed the VA applied criteria in its evaluation that was not part of the solicitation. The judge rejected that argument as well as others claiming unequal treatment. Very little wiggle room in that decision.

Once available, we’ll look at the judge’s ruling and GAO decisions as well.

But for now, we’ll watch for how soon VA makes its on-ramp awards. It could be soon because VA was allowed to continue working on the awards.”

https://washingtontechnology.com/blogs/editors-notebook/2021/02/t4ng-protests-denied.aspx?s=wtdaily_260221&oly_enc_id=

VA Facility A First In Public-Private Funding Partnership Under 2016 Congressional Act

“Image: Leo Daly“

“OMAHA WORLD HERLAD“

“It stands out as the country’s first private-public funded health care facility built under the Communities Helping Invest through Property and Improvements Needed (CHIP IN) for Vets Act passed by Congress in 2016.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report recommending the VA share lessons learned from the Omaha project, as it could help guide similar ventures in the future.“

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“It’s a hallmark of Omaha’s new $86 million veterans health center: a glass atrium wall rising three stories and resembling an American flag rippling in the wind.

Guests walking through another section become awash in a kaleidoscope of colors reflected through a series of tinted windows. That’s meant to be reminiscent of ribbon racks on military uniforms.

Yet another wall in the 160,000-square-foot VA Ambulatory Care Center is limestone, a nod to layers of wars and far-away soil tracked back home. 

Those and other features helped earn Omaha-based LEO A DALY and landscape architect Vireo a prestigious national distinction by Interior Design. The addition to the VA Medical Center campus at 42nd Street and Woolworth Avenue was named one of four Best of Year honorees in the health care category (the win went to a New York City project). 

Jonathan Fliege, who led the architectural and interior design team along with Jennifer Ankerson, called the venture a highlight of his career. Behind each design element is a metaphor or symbolic message meant to honor veterans. 

“Once it’s up and built you just get this sense of fulfillment, almost like you’ve done your part to give respect to the veterans who have given their service, their lives, to our country,” Fliege said.

Open since late summer, the ambulatory care hub equipped to handle 400 patients a day was built on a former parking lot and links to the main 12-story VA hospital.

It adds eight primary care clinics (one exclusively for women), an outpatient surgery suite and other specialty services to the medical campus.

Just this month, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report recommending the VA share lessons learned from the Omaha project, as it could help guide similar ventures in the future.

Area officials say the $30 million in private investment raised by Omaha’s Heritage Services opened the door to more local influence and design enhancements than are typically found in health care facilities funded only with public dollars. McCarthy Building Cos. was general contractor.

Other featured elements include an expansive outdoor “healing garden” with a walking path, and artwork by area veterans or artists with close ties to veterans. LEO A DALY architect Jen Karls orchestrated the effort to commission the artwork displayed at the center.

Eleven area artists are showcased throughout the facility, including Matthew Placzek’s soaring eagle sculpture titled Majestic Flight. 

Other featured artists (including painters, photographers and a weaver) are Robert Allen, Daniel Boylan, Patrick Drickey, Paul Otero, Hal Holoun, Scott Charles Ross, Shannon Sargent, Meghan Stevens, Bart Vargas and Mary Zicafoose.”

https://omaha.com/business/local/more-than-meets-the-eye-at-the-86-million-va-health-care-center/article_a2dda2ce-417b-11eb-b3c7-cfb0eace706e.html

National Veterans Small Business Week

“SBA“

“Join us this week as we celebrate National Veterans Small Business Week. We will be showcasing our nation’s military and veteran-owned businesses all week long.

This year’s theme is #VetBiz Resources in Your Local Community which highlights the breadth of free to low-cost entrepreneurial resources that veteran and military entrepreneurs can access right in their neighborhood.“

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“Each day during NVSBW, we will highlight different topics related to the veteran entrepreneurship journey. We will also host various national-level events to align with each topic area. You can find a full list of events taking place across the country here. Also, check out SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza’s video kicking off the week and read the Presidential Message on National Veterans Small Business Week.

Monday, November 2:

• Topic: Transition Assistance
• Event: “Transitioning from Service to Startup” Facebook video with SBA experts. The video will be published on the Boots to Business Facebook page at 1 p.m. ET.

Tuesday, November 3:

• Topic: Entrepreneurial Training
• Event: “Resources for Entrepreneurship Training” Twitter chat with the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) at 1 p.m. ET. Join the conversation on the IVMF Twitter Page and use #IVMFTwitterChat in all responses.

Wednesday, November 4:

• Topic: Government Contracting
• Event: “Arming Vets to WIN in the Federal Market” webinar with the Veteran Institute for Procurement at 1 p.m. ET. Register here.

Thursday, November 5:

• Topic: Disaster Assistance
• Event: “Leveraging Your Network and Resources” webinar with the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at 1 p.m. ET. Register here .

Friday, November 6:

• Topic: Access to Capital
• Event: “Financial Strategies for Women Veteran Entrepreneurs” webinar with LiftFund at 1 p.m. ET. Register here.

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Honoring Our Nation’s Heroes During National Veterans Small Business WeekBy SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza Resilience, poise, adaptability – not only do these traits define our Nation’s service members, veterans, and military spouses, but they are also critical ingredients for successful entrepreneurs. At the U.S. Small Business Administration, we recognize the value the military community brings to our great country through their service in the armed forces and as small business owners who contribute more than $1 trillion in sales to the U.S. economy on an annual basis.Our duty as an agency is to ensure these entrepreneurs are empowered and celebrated at every stage of business ownership. The SBA uses National Veterans Small Business Week—Nov. 2 through Nov. 6—to do just that. Learn more“

Most Popular GI Bill Schools

Image: (Alyssa Akers/Air Force)

“MILITARY TIMES“

 “A rundown of the top 20 schools ranked by the total number of GI Bill students attending each school.“

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“More than half of all students receiving GI Bill benefits last year attended public colleges and universities, which were among the largest recipients of the roughly $5 billion that the Department of Veterans Affairs doled out in annual education benefits, according to VA data.

Specifically, about 59 percent of GI Bill students attended public schools; about 21 percent attended private schools and 19 percent attended for-profit schools, according to VA data for 2019, the most recent year for which it is available.

Among the Department of Veterans Affairs’ list of schools with the most GI Bill recipients, American Military University, a for-profit school owned by the American Public University System, topped the list with more than 17,000 students enrolled.

The next up was the University of Maryland Global Campus, a state school that offers online coursers available to students anywhere in the world.

Also included in the top five was Liberty University, a private evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, that includes many students who take courses online.”

https://www.militarytimes.com/education-transition/2020/09/25/most-popular-gi-bill-schools/

New Frontier In “Challenge Procurement” At Veterans Administration

Image: Shutterstock

“FCW“ By Steve Kelman

“The basic idea behind a procurement challenge is that the government announces a problem it seeks to have solved. Anyone may then submit their solution, and the government chooses a winner or winners. 

You don’t need to be an expert on government procurement to submit an entry. There is no proposal — it is a great example of the idea of “show, don’t tell” that should be more important in government procurement in general.“

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“Many blog readers will be aware that I have over the years been a big fan of challenges (also known as prizes) as a procurement technique. 

When it announces a challenge, the government also specifies a monetary prize (hence the moniker “contest”) and further steps the government might take to support the winner or winners.

I first wrote enthusiastically about these way back in 2009, based on a DARPA contest for developing an all-terrain vehicle. Most recently I wrote about the Army using a challenge to develop a better and cheaper ventilator in the context of COVID-19. I have written, and continue to believe, that the use of challenges in procurement is the most significant procurement innovation of the last decade.

Challenges have varied from very elementary and not very consequential (e.g. a contest to develop an agency logo) to much more mission-critical. For example, a few years ago the IRS conducted a challenge to design an online experience that more clearly and easily organizes and presents a person’s tax information, including ways to more easily use tax data to help people with other financial decisions, such as applying for a loan.

However, even more difficult and complex challenges have up to now been one-off efforts: the government publishes the challenge, bidders respond, and the government chooses winners. Now, though, the Department of Veterans Affairs has published an RFI for a challenge that will take this procurement tool where it has never been before. VA officials are seeking to develop approaches to reduce suicide among veterans. 

The agency is envisioning creation of a user-friendly platform where veterans (and possibly others in at-risk groups) can gain enhanced access to a range of suicide-prevention services, such as scheduling, assessments and mental health resources, while preserving their identities and privacy. The VA also hopes to personalize and customize services to directly meet veterans’ needs and recognize certain risks in users’ personal lives, information about care paths and more.

The VA’s vision is that the platform would involve automated learning to update information provided the user. Data analytics and AI would learn from the “user journey” through the VA ecosystem, adapting and responding to the individual user’s needs, fears and concerns. Over time, the information presented to that user would be increasingly curated for their specific needs. 

Not only is the topic of the challenge difficult and high-visibility — about as far from designing an agency logo as you can get — but the way the challenge will be organized will be far more ambitious than any the government has attempted in the past. The VA will be doing a procurement not for the challenge itself but to manage challenges that then would be put out for submissions.

As the VA puts it in their RFI, “the chosen partner would need to provide management support services necessary to help build the program from the ground up—and seamlessly execute the competition from beginning to end. The dedicated collaborator would support the delivery of everything from the timeline, scope and design of the complex challenge, to technical support, Though VA would provide some of those funds, said. in raising money for the prizes winners will receive. “the hope is the vendor would be able to facilitate outreach and increase fundraising for the prize purse, so that it’s not just taxpayer-funded money that goes to support this effort, but actually potentially private funds from companies and others who are interested in solving this problem,” the VA states.

This will be a complex and large enough activity that the VA doesn’t have the bandwidth to do it with in-house resources. So, to allow development of challenges at scale, it is actually seeking to let a contractor organize that effort.

This is a first, and an amazing innovation by the VA. The idea has been shepherded by the VA’s Chief Innovation Officer Michael Akinyele. It was in the works before COVID-19, but the explosion of unemployment will make the suicide problem worse and hence has prompted the VA to move the effort faster.

If this works, it will add an important new tool to the government’s contracting toolkit, available to others across government. VA, congratulations on a great idea, and good luck making it work.”

https://fcw.com/blogs/lectern/2020/05/kelman-va-challenge-at-scale.aspx

Increased Veteran Banking Options Under VA/AMBA Partnership

Image: https://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/70643/announcing-veterans-benefits-banking-program/

“MILITARY TIMES‘

“Some veterans may have better access to banking now, through a partnership between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Association of Military Banks of America.

It’s especially beneficial for those who haven’t been able to open bank accounts in the past, which hampers their ability to get their VA benefit funds by direct deposit.“

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“The VA delivers about $118 billion each year in benefits and services for veterans and their families. About 250,000 veterans and beneficiaries receive their benefits through a pre-paid debit card or paper check, and may not have a bank account.

An added plus is that these banks are already familiar with the financial needs and challenges of service members, and can also support veterans with financial education and resources tailored to their needs, said Paul Lawrence, under secretary for benefits for the VA. Some of the participating banks have branches on bases, but they also have a large number of branches outside the gate, which will be accessible to veterans, said Andia Dinesen, vice president of communications and operations for AMBA.

There are currently seven banks participating in the Veterans Benefits Banking Program: Armed Forces Bank; Bank of America; First Arkansas Bank and Trust; Fort Hood National Bank; FSNB; Regions; and Wells Fargo. Dinesen said other banks and credit unions are welcome to join the effort, too.”

For more information, visit https://www.benefits.va.gov/benefits/banking.asp.

https://www.militarytimes.com/pay-benefits/2020/02/17/veterans-get-more-banking-options-under-new-va-partnership/

VA Developing Cyber Careers Program Filling Gaps In Workforce

Image: Purdue University Global

“FEDSCOOP”

“The Cyber Workforce Management (CWM) plans to identify work roles across every single position within VA and its IT office and establish qualification requirements for each role that all of government can use..”

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“The Department of Veterans Affairs is developing a cybersecurity career program to fill gaps in the NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework.

VA’s Office of Information Security stood up a Cyber Workforce Management (CWM) program across the broader Office of Information and Technology (OIT), which determined existing NICE Framework roles didn’t meet all of VA’s mission needs. The NICE framework, developed by the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, prescribes knowledge, skills, abilities and tasks (KSATs) to work roles like a cyber defense analyst.

“There are gaps in the framework. Medical is not in there, med cyber — jack of all trades, master of medical devices,” Stephanie Keith, CWM program manager, said during a panel discussion at the 2020 Health IT Summit. “But where are the cybersecurity aspects of that? At VA we’re looking at how we develop what that work role looks like.”

“I’m not about unique requirements for an agency,” Keith said. “I’m about federal national standards.”

CWM is also standing up a cyber training academy pilot to teach employees baseline skills associated with the work roles. Baseline skills for, say, a cyber defense analyst should be the same at every agency so they’re portable, Keith said.

Training for new work roles covering positions like healthcare technology managers and informaticists should happen at the device level, not the network level, she added.

VA employees further removed from technical positions still require cyber training as well in areas like early detection and zero trust, said Paul Cunningham, chief information security officer at VA.

“We’re never going to get medical teams to be primarily cybersecurity. It’s not their mission; we shouldn’t expect it,” Cunningham said. “But we should make it very easy for them to help us as first-line defenders recognize when things are not operating correctly.”

VA developing cyber careers program to fill gaps in workforce framework

“VHA Innovators Network” Connects Inventions To 172 Medical Centers

Photo: “Getty Images“

“FEDSCOOP“

“The Veterans Health Administration’s second annual Innovation Experience later this month will include interactive exhibits for the first time, as part of the agency’s overall plan to put emerging technologies in the hands of its medical centers, other agencies and the public.“

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“The iEx, as the event is known, is one of several ways the agency tries to promote the innovations that spring from its 172 medical centers. VHA is responsible for a number of medical-technology advancements, including the nicotine patch, barcoded medication administration and implantable cardiac defibrillators.

The agency launched the Innovators Network in 2015 to connect the medical centers and scale successful projects and human-centered design, Ryan Vega, executive director of the VHA Innovation Ecosystem, told FedScoop. The annual exhibition is designed to bring more energy to that process.

“Evidence-based solutions or practices sometimes take a decade,” Vega said. “That’s just far too long.”

The event technically started four years ago as Demo Day, where organizations across the country pitched their products and services — but it was a logistical nightmare, Vega said. VHA reorganized it as iEx last year and hosted it at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. This year’s version returns there Oct. 22-23.

Hands-on experience

All of the interactive exhibits are tied to nascent VHA technologies and projects from either the Innovators Network or the Diffusion of Excellence, a program that disseminates employees’ clinical and administrative best practices throughout the system. The exhibitions will include displays on 3D printing as well as virtual and augmented reality.

VHA medical center personnel will be able to see what other technologies are out there and how they might apply to their own use cases. Industry attendees will be encouraged to consider how they can further such projects and services.

Lesser-known areas of study like proteomics — analysis of proteins in the body that might indicate risk of cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, or diabetes — also will be represented. A pad will be demoed that patients can step on and have biometric sensors detect skin breakdown or ulcers associated with various ailments, Vega said.

The biggest announcements will also be live-streamed on VHA’s YouTube channel.

“We can do the necessary [research and development] to get these technologies to the point where we can operationalize them,” Vega said.

3D solutions

Vega said this year’s 3D printing booth shows how far medical modeling has come. VHA’s work with the technology actually began with incremental funding from the Innovators Networks’ Spark-Seed-Spread program for off-the-wall ideas.

The Puget Sound Health Care System first experimented with 3D printing. Beth Ripley, a radiologist there, now chairs VHA’s 3D Printing Advisory Committee.

A CT scan or MRI creates layers of anatomy to form an image, which can be 3D printed layer by layer into a medical model for surgeons to examine and show to patients. What’s more, layered printing increases the tensile strength of objects — making the process great for developing more affordable, synthetic prosthetics tailored to patients’ anatomies.

Now 25 VHA medical centers use 3D printing, though the excitement lies with bioprinting of tissue and even bone grafts converted from fat cells, Vega said. He believes the printing of fully functional organs will happen within his lifetime.

But VHA doesn’t just want to roll 3D printing out in every medical center because that’s inefficient, Vega said. Instead the agency will only scale the technology where facilities have the right infrastructure, equipment and training.

Medical centers can decide for themselves whether they’re ready after being exposed to 3D printing at iEx. One VHA center can always ship a medical model or prosthetic to another, ensuring technologies reside only in places where quality can be assured, Vega said.”

VHA takes a 3D approach to showing off its medical innovations

Millions More Vets And Caregivers Are About To Get Commissary, Exchange Access

Image: Julie Mitchell/AAFES

“MILITARY.COM“

“Starting Jan. 1, Purple Heart recipients, former prisoners of war and all service-connected disabled veterans, regardless of rating, as well as caregivers enrolled in the VA’s Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers program, will be able to shop at Defense Commissary Agency stores and military exchanges. “

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“The Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs are gearing up for what will be the largest expansion of patrons to the military commissary system and exchanges in 65 years, making sure that shoppers will be able to get on base and find the shelves fully stocked.

They also will have access to revenue-generating Morale, Recreation and Welfare amenities, such as golf courses, recreation areas, theaters, bowling alleys, campgrounds and lodging facilities that are operated by MWR.

Facilities such as fitness centers that receive funding from the Defense Department budget are not included.

At commissaries, however, there will be an added cost for new patrons who use a credit or debit card to pay for their groceries, in addition to the 5% surcharge commissary patrons already pay.

DoD officials told Military.com on Wednesday that an estimated 3.5 million new patrons will be eligible to shop. However, after analyzing store locations and their proximity to where veterans live, they expect that slightly more than a quarter of those patrons, or 800,000 people, will take advantage of the benefit.

According to Barry Patrick, associate director of MWR and Resale Policy in the Office of the Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness, the DoD expects veterans in high-cost areas like Guam, Alaska, Hawaii and parts of California to take advantage of the benefit. Stores in states or cities with large populations of service-connected disabled veterans, including Florida, California, parts of Texas and Washington, D.C., may also see an increase in customers.

“Through this data analytics tool that we’ve developed, we’ve been able to provide the services and the resale organizations information … to ensure that [they] can adjust,” Patrick said. “We are working with distributors to ensure that the supply chain is adjusted accordingly, based on high-impact projections, and that the supply chain is also prepared for rapid, agile reaction to any unexpected situation.”

In addition to ironing out the supply chain concerns, Pentagon officials also have been working to guarantee that the new patrons can get to the stores, which often are located on secure military installations, and will be able to make purchases.

The details have required a joint effort for much of the past year between the DoD and the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security and Treasury. Homeland Security is involved because Coast Guard Exchanges are part of the deal, and Treasury plays a role, because it is responsible for ensuring that new patrons pay a fee for credit and debit card purchases at the commissaries.

Since most new patrons lack the credentials needed to get on military bases, installations will accept the Veteran Health Identification card, or VHID, from disabled and other eligible veterans. For caregivers, the VA plans to issue a memo to eligible shoppers in the coming months, which will be used in conjunction with any picture identification that meets REAL ID Act security requirements, such as a compliant state driver’s license or passport.

Justin Hall, director of the MWR and Resale Policy in the Office of the Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness, said that, after Jan. 1, newly eligible patrons should go to the visitors’ center at the base where they plan to do most of their shopping to register their credentials. Thereafter, they will be able to access the base in the same way as CAC and DoD ID card patrons.

According to Hall and Patrick, store computers and registers are being tweaked to scan VHID cards, and employees are being trained on identifying the new patrons.

The most significant difference mandated in the law that created the benefit, the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, is that the new customers must pay a fee if they use a credit or debit card at the commissaries. By law, the stores, which receive funding from the Defense Department budget, are not allowed to cover the extra cost of the new users’ card convenience fees.

The initial fee for commercial credit cards will be 1.9%; for debit cards, it will be 0.5%. Patrons can avoid the card fees by paying by cash or check, or by using the Military Star card, a credit card offered by the military resale system, which they will be eligible to apply for beginning Jan. 1.

The card fees will apply only to the new patrons.

The Defense Department is preparing a fact sheet that will contain information on how veterans can get a VHID card if they don’t already have one and how caregivers can obtain the memo they need to access the benefit.

MWR and Resale Policy officials said they also will launch an information campaign to alert service-connected disabled veterans of this new benefit.

“Everybody I’ve talked to is excited,” Hall said. “We’re really hoping to get the word out so veterans will learn about the opportunities.”

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/09/20/millions-more-vets-and-caregivers-are-about-get-commissary-exchange-access.html