The Department of Veterans Affairs raised the ceiling on its Oracle electronic health record contract from $10 billion to roughly $27 billion, a $17 billion jump that lawmakers pressed VA officials to justify during a House hearing Wednesday.
VA Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence told the committee the new ceiling reflects a time-and-materials contract covering software, hosting, training, and deployment support through 2031, not a $17 billion payment. He acknowledged hitting the original $10 billion ceiling as planned but could not explain why Oracle’s proposal reached $27 billion or how much VA negotiated down from the company’s request.
Lawmakers also pressed for clarity on a broader $48 billion estimate—$37 billion for deployment and $11 billion for sustainment—that VA later said was not independently verified. The Government Accountability Office noted VA has fully implemented only four of 18 recommendations tied to the modernization program.
VA officials defended recent deployments as improvements over earlier phases, citing reduced trouble tickets and recovery metrics at 11 sites. But bipartisan skepticism remained after reports of canceled dermatology referrals and training concerns surfaced during the hearing.
