"We have made tremendous progress to ensure veterans' benefits programs
are ready for the millennium change," said Under Secretary for Benefits
Joseph Thompson. "We are committed to renovation plans that continue
VA's mission of the timely delivery of benefits to our nation's veterans in the
year 2000 and beyond."
The Montgomery GI Bill (Active Duty) Program was created to help
servicemembers readjust to civilian life after military service and to aid in the
recruitment and retention of highly qualified personnel in the active and
reserve components of the armed forces. VA generated more than two
million payments totaling more than $809 million in fiscal year 1997 for
Montgomery GI Bill (Active Duty) education benefits.
The program is one of several benefit programs that VA has made Year
2000 compliant. Others include the Restored Entitlement Program for
Survivors for more than 48,500 widows and children of veterans and the
Vocational Rehabilitation and Counseling program, which in fiscal year 1997
provided more than $417 million for training, vocational and educational
counseling and other services for veterans with a compensable
service-connected disability.
VA also is well on the way to making other benefit programs Year 2000
compliant. These include the Compensation and Pension Program that paid
more than $19.5 billion to more than three million disabled veterans in fiscal
year 1997, and three other education programs -- Montgomery GI Bill,
Selected Reserve; Veterans Educational Assistance Program; and
Dependents' Education Assistance Program.
The benefits software programs are among the more than 300 applications
supporting 11 mission-critical system areas reflecting VA business functions,
including loan guaranty, insurance, and medical as well as corporate
administration systems. VA has renovated 94 percent of those applications.
The department also has validated 84 percent and has implemented 61
percent of the applications.
The renovation phase concerns the modification, replacement or elimination
of an application to make it Year 2000 compliant. The validation phase
involves the testing of new or changed codes for date handling and
functionality. Implementation of renovated and validated applications into
production is scheduled for completion by March 1999.
Further information on VA efforts to make veterans benefits year 2000
compliant is available on the Internet at
http://www.vba.va.gov/projects/y2k/y2k.htm on the department's overall
compliance efforts at http://www.va.gov. Government-wide efforts are
available at http://y2k.gov. For information on veteran's benefits, please
contact the veterans benefits counselors at the local VA Regional Office at
1-800-827-1000.
