Pursuit's Take
VBA controls ensured that the majority of automated burial payments were made to living spouses for deceased veterans in accordance with the CFR. However, controls did not consistently ensure proper automated burial payments. We found VBA improperly authorized 4,525 of 16,406 automated burial payments (about $2.8 million) from August 2014 through January 2015, including payments to spouses who weren’t on veterans’ records at the date of death or who were deceased, multiple payments, and payments to veterans who were still living. This occurred because VBA lacked controls, policies, procedures, and sufficient quality assurance reviews. If VBA does not implement adequate controls, we estimated VBA will continue authorizing improper automated burial payments of about $5.6 million annually and approximately $28 million over the next five years.
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