Priorities in VA’s $137.9B FY 2024 Budget Request

The VA’s discretionary base budget authority shows a 2.2% increase over the FY 2023 enacted level. Total discretionary amounts to $142.8B with the inclusion of $4.9B for medical collections. The budget request also provides $20.3B in mandatory budget authority for the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund (TEF) to expand VA health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances as part of the PACT Act.

Deltek’s Federal Market Analysis team analyzed the budget request to identify funding and line items most likely to translate into future contracting opportunities. Top-level priorities in the VA budget that could potentially trickle down to contracting opportunities include:

• $121B in discretionary medical care investments to fully fund inpatient, outpatient, mental health, and long-term care services, and support and maintain medical facility infrastructure with $5B.
• $1.6B in discretionary funding and $1.9B in mandatory funding for the construction and expansion of critical infrastructure and facilities. 
• $3.1B for veterans’ homelessness programs to ensure veterans have permanent, sustainable housing with access to healthcare and other supportive services. 
• $559M for suicide prevention outreach to include $55.6M to continue Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Community Grant Program (SSG Fox SPGP) and $10M for a new program to further bolster suicide prevention efforts under section 303 of the Strong Veterans Act of 2022.
• $257M for women’s health and childcare programs, a 66% increase over 2023.
• $20.3B in mandatory funding in the TEF to support the PACT Act specifically with $17.1B for medical care; $1.8B for disability benefits claims processing and automation; and $1.2B for information technology support.

Additionally last week, the administration released details regarding the FY 2024 IT budget request on the IT Dashboard. VA is requesting $10.1B for IT, up 4.9% over FY 2023.

Observations and priorities from VA’s IT budget request include:

• $927M to support cybersecurity efforts, a 51.7% increase over FY 2023 levels.
• $6.4B for the Office of Information and Technology to enhance and improve the veteran experience through automating healthcare outcomes and timely access to benefits, accelerating investment in digital telecommunications, and continuing business transformation.
• $1.9B for continued deployment of the electronic health record solution (EHRM) to include training facilities, enterprise integration, operations and sustainment, and site support at VISNs 19, 21, and 22.
• Top increasing IT investment line items include Enterprise Security Services (+$316M) and Enterprise Data Services (+$294M).
• Top decreasing IT investment line items include EPMO Enterprise Support (-$381M) and IT Operations Platform (-$106M).
• VA investments containing the most Development, Modernization and Enhancement (DME) funding include IT Operations End User ($275M), Enterprise Security Services ($263M), and Other Benefits IT Systems ($265M).

For more information on the recent budget request, refer to Deltek’s new report “FY 2024 Federal Budget Request: Priorities and Opportunities.”