Description:
H.R. 5938 would require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to expand its recruitment database, which identifies certain open positions at the department, to include the military occupational specialties that correspond to those open positions as well as contact information for qualified service members who could fill those positions. Such members would be those who are preparing to separate from the armed forces, whose occupational speciality in the military corresponds to an open position in the database, and who choose to be listed. VA reports that it is currently in the process of targeting service members who are transitioning out of the military for positions at the department by using data contained in the VA/DoD Identity Repository database. Using information from VA and the Department of Defense (DoD), CBO expects that under the bill VA would hire two additional information technology specialists (at an average compensation of $100,000) to add appropriate service-member data into the database. On that basis, CBO estimates that including applicants from DoD in VA’s recruitment database would cost $1 million over the 2019-2023 period; such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds. The bill also would require VA to train and certify veterans who served as health care technicians while serving in the armed forces to work as intermediate care technicians at the department. According to VA, the department already operates a training program for intermediate care technicians at 23 medical facilities and is in the process of expanding that training. Thus, the bill’s codification of that responsibility would not result in any additional costs. Enacting H.R. 5938 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 5938 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.
