July 31, 2014
Audit of the Transfer of DoD Service Treatment Records to the Department of Veterans Affairs
DoD did not consistently transfer timely and complete STRs to the VA. Our results, by Military Department, were as follows:
Army – of 96,224 STRs transferred to the VA from January to December 2013, 74,470 (77 percent) were not timely (transferred within 45 business days) and 26,901 (28 percent) were not complete.
Air Force – of 45,912 STRs transferred to the VA from January to December 2013, 16,187 (35 percent) were not timely and 5,144 (11 percent) were not complete.
Navy – the Navy and Marine Corps did not maintain sufficient data to determine results from January to December 2013. However, data provided for July and August 2013 indicated that of the 3,217 STRs transferred to the VA, 1,479 (46 percent) were not timely. In addition, the Navy did not maintain the data necessary to determine whether the STRs were complete. This occurred because DoD did not provide the Military Departments with clear or comprehensive guidance concerning the STR transfer process, to include the DoD-VA agreed upon procedure for certifying STR completeness. In addition, the Army Reserve and National Guard and the Navy had inefficient procedures in place for transferring STRs. DoD’s failure to consistently make timely and complete STRs available to the VA likely contributed to delays in processing veterans’ benefit claims.