VHA’s $8.5M Emergency Comms System Largely Inoperable, OIG Finds – By Edward Graham (Nextgov) / Apr 10 2023
An audit conducted by VA’s Office of Inspector General found that an estimated 80% of the emergency communications systems deployed at 184 VA medical facilities are “not fully operational.”
The Veterans Health Administration lacks a functional, ready-to-operate resilient high-frequency radio network—or RHFRN—for its medical facilities to use in the event of crippling emergencies or disasters, according to a report released by the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Inspector General on Thursday.
The audit was conducted after OIG received a hotline compliant in March 2020 that “alleged waste, fraud and abuse had occurred in the approval and implementation of the RHFRN system,” and included “specific complaints about the lack of required maintenance for the RHFRN radio at the VA Butler Healthcare System in Pennsylvania.”
VA awarded a five-year contract to an outside vendor in January 2015 “to provide high-frequency voice and data communication and linkage to telephone networks enabling radio-to-telephone communication.” The department ultimately paid the contractor more than $8.5 million to provide the service. OIG’s report did not name the contractor, and a press representative for the office said they could not confirm the company’s identity.
