Significant Deficiencies Found in VA’s Denver Logistics Center Inventory Management Operations and Systems

VA’s Denver Logistics Center (DLC) manages millions of dollars of supplies intended for Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities and patients. According to VA policy, VA staff who use, supervise, or control VA-owned goods are accountable for those goods from acquisition to disposition. The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) audited to determine whether the DLC maintained accurate inventories of VA-owned goods and identified significant deficiencies in inventory management operations and systems. Specifically, the DLC’s inventory records did not align with on-hand supplies or include all goods, and the DLC lacked an effective internal control system. Inaccurate inventories, weak internal controls, and lack of reporting outside of the DLC created the risk of misleading financial reporting and increased costs to VHA. Further, supplies and veteran information kept at DLC warehouses were not physically secured. The audit also revealed the DLC did not have appropriate system controls to protect inventory data. The DLC’s inventory management system software has access and security vulnerabilities and lacked transparency. Like the VA-owned supplies on hand, the DLC system hardware was also vulnerable to physical access and security risks. Overall, the DLC’s inventory ordering system is becoming unsustainable. The DLC has largely operated under minimal oversight of its inventory operations, and the OIG found that oversight to be ineffective at ensuring VA policies were followed and VA-owned goods protected. The independent nature of DLC operations, along with the deficiencies identified in this audit, impedes the DLC from effectively fulfilling its mission and creates a heightened risk of fraud, waste, and abuse. VA concurred with the OIG’s 11 recommendations to improve the inventory management operations and oversight of the DLC and with another eight recommendations that address information system deficiencies.