washingtonscene
Retro Payment
DFAS Director Zack Gaddy assured
Chair Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) that re-
Program
tirees who received the “no pay due” let-
ters would have their cases reviewed.
Probed
At press time, there still were several
hundred cases categorized as ongoing
8,700 veterans died waiting
that were expected to be completed in
for payment.
August 2008.
ON THE WEB
I
n late July, the House Oversight and
a73 For the most up-to-date information visit
www.dfas.mil/retiredpay/retroactivepayment.html.
Government Reform Subcommittee
on Domestic Policy grilled Defense
Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS)
offi cials and their contractors about prob- More Wounded
lems highlighted in a committee report
titled “Die or Give Up Trying: How Poor Warrior Woes
Contractor Performance, Government
Caseworkers can’t keep pace.
Mismanagement, and the Erosion of
Quality Controls Denied Thousands of
Disabled Veterans Timely and Accurate
Retroactive Retired Pay Awards.”
The 14-page report severely criticized T
he House Armed Services
Committee’s Military Personnel
Subcommittee held a hearing July
the center’s processing of retroactive pay 22 as a follow-up to its investigation of how
awards for combat-related special com- the Army is addressing the problems iden-
pensation and concurrent retirement and tifi ed in the Walter Reed Army Medical
disability payments. Center, Washington, D.C., scandal last year.
In July 2006, DFAS awarded a no-bid Unfortunately, the subcommittee found
contract for the VA Retro Program to some continuing shortfalls in the Army’s
Lockheed Martin Corp., which pledged ability to manage the recent growth of the
to determine eligibility for retroactive wounded warrior population.
payments to more than 133,000 potential Specifi cally, the number of caseworkers
retirees (a number that ultimately grew wasn’t rising to keep pace with the increas-
to more than 217,000) by November 2007. ing number of wounded, so their workloads
Lockheed Martin Corp. was unable to were double what was intended, and assis-
meet the self-imposed deadline because tance accordingly was degraded.
of the complexity of the cases and lack Legislators found this understaffi ng
of a viable solution to automate the and under-resourcing particularly wor-
computation process. risome, because the number of soldiers
The subcommittee initiated an inves- in the Army’s warrior-transition units is
tigation into the causes behind the delays expected to keep rising, from the current
in the VA Retro Program in May 2008. 12,000 to 20,000 next year.
They found, among other things, that “no Army medical offi cials have described
retroactive pay due” letters were sent to diffi culties fi lling medical and case-
28,000 retirees without being checked worker positions with qualifi ed profes-
for accuracy, and that 8,700 disabled sionals who are knowledgeable about
veterans died before having their case medical and physical evaluation boards
reviews completed. and processes.
3 2 M I L I T A R Y O F F I C E R S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 8
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