Audit Hits VA Rebranding Effort

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A multimillion dollar U.S. Veterans Affairs rebranding effort included improperly awarded contracts and failure to produce any evidence of its effectiveness in increasing the use of services by veterans, an audit report has concluded.
The report issued Thursday by the VA's Inspector General concludes that anonymous allegations of mismanagement were "substantiated" along with charges that the contract was doubled without soliciting new bids.
Overall, according to the audit, the VA paid $10.2 million to a Vienna, Va. firm, Woodbridge Studios, without any evidence that the six market advertising campaign brought in any more veterans, the ostensible goal.
The value of the contract jumped from $5.2 million to $10.2 million through a contract modification that the report called "questionable."
The television ad campaign in late 2010 and early 2013 included spots on the Super Bowl and the Country Music Awards.
"In general we found the Woodbridge time and materials contract to be open-ended with no direct link between resource input and tangible program outcomes," the audit concludes.
The report criticizes the original Woodbridge contract for "the lack of specific deliverables" and for the questionable use of a payment system based on the hours worked.
The VA "also lacked performance metrics to fully assess and monitor outreach campaigns to ensure increases in access."
The report also criticizes the VA for awarding a second $4 million contract to the Ad Council. A Woodbridge executive was involved in overseeing that contract. The report states that the second contract was awarded without evaluating the effectiveness of the first.
In response to the audit, VA officials blamed significant employee turnover and two key unfilled positions for the lack of oversight of the rebranding efforts. They agreed to a series of steps to avoid a recurrence.
Woodbridge officials did not respond to a request for comment.
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