The Other Failed System: A $2.98 Billion Finance Platform Now Costs $7.7 Billion

Beyond the health record: VA’s financial-system rebuild slipped from 2027 to 2030 while its cost estimate grew 158%. GAO’s ledger for VA IT overall: 20 recommendations agreed to, zero implemented.

The health record gets the headlines, but GAO’s 2025 IT testimony reads the whole ledger. The VA obligated about $21 billion on IT products and services across fiscal years 2022–2024 — while its flagship modernization programs repeated a single pattern: agree with every recommendation, implement none.

The Financial Management Business Transformation program — the VA’s third attempt at an integrated financial and acquisition system — saw full implementation slip from 2027 to 2030 while its estimated life-cycle cost ballooned from $2.98 billion to $7.7 billion. The financial system of the agency that loses track of billions is itself billions over budget and years late.

On the health record, GAO restated the user verdict: about 79 percent of surveyed users (1,640 of 2,066) disagreed the new system enabled quality care, and deployments were halted in 2023 to fix the five live sites. GAO’s summary line for the whole portfolio: across its recent reports it made 20 recommendations on VA IT acquisitions and management. VA agreed with all 20. It has implemented none of them.

"about 79 percent (1,640 of 2,066) of users disagreed that the system enabled quality care"
— GAO-25-107963

Source: GAO — Veterans Affairs: Action Needed to Address Continuing IT Management Challenges (GAO-25-107963). Part of the VA Fraud library — see also the case files for the prosecutions these systems produced.