January 16, 2012
Pg. 8
DoD Slashes Staff In Wounded Warrior Care Office
Contractors also helped oversee transition assistance program
By Karen Jowers
... Defense officials have cut 44 contractor positions -- about 40 percent of the staff -- in the Pentagon's Office of Wounded Warrior Care and Transition Policy in recent months, which sources say will affect programs for wounded warriors as well as all troops and spouses leaving the military for civilian life.
The cuts have reduced by half the contract staff that developed curriculum and provided initial training for wounded warrior recovery care coordinators, said Defense Department sources and others familiar with the programs who spoke to Military Times on condition of anonymity.
Those coordinators are hired by the services to advocate for wounded warriors and their families and help them develop plans for their recovery in conjunction with their health care providers.
All 15 contract staff members involved in transition assistance policy also were cut, sources said, leaving two federal employees.
Several programs that had been under development also have been axed, including a new interactive Virtual Transition Assistance Program website.
Defense officials insist the cuts will not affect current programs or those who are served by them.
"The impact of these adjustments has been carefully scrutinized... and risk mitigation has been applied to ensure that the wounded warrior community and others will not be adversely impacted," said Cynthia Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman.
Smith said that after the cuts, the WWCTP office's remaining staff includes 47 contractors, 16 full-time government employees and one Defense Fellow working on wounded warrior programs. DoD plans to hire two more full-time government employees.
Some of the cuts were necessary because the Health and Human Services Department terminated a contract, said Philip Burdette, principal director of the WWCTP office. That contract, which expired Nov. 30, was the vehicle DoD used to provide a number of services, he said.
"We triaged the critical efforts, and found efficiencies where we could," he said. "We made sure we bridged the critical services."
That includes money for Marine Corps recovery care coordinators. "We made sure they stayed in the community," he said. "We couldn't allow [the end of the HHS contract] to affect wounded warrior care for Marines."
For other programs that are deemed necessary, he said, officials are starting the process of securing long-term contracts.
He said his office has continued training recovery care coordinators, citing a December effort to train 21 coordinators.
However, a source familiar with the office's work said funds for that training had been in the pipeline before the HHS contract ended, and it is unclear where money to train future recovery care coordinators will come from.
"For each recovery care coordinator who won't be trained, 30 service members and their family members will not have the services they need," another source said.
The 15 contract staffers involved in transition assistance policy were cut Nov. 29, one day after President Obama signed the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, which, among other things, requires DoD to substantially improve its transition assistance and make it mandatory for most troops.
Burdette said the contract workers were let go because their work was finished. That work involved researching and making recommendations for the future of DoD's transition assistance efforts as part of a presidential initiative.
But sources said some of those workers also were involved in an effort to transform the program to "a life-cycle model," to start preparing troops for civilian life well before they separate, rather than just as they are getting out.
Burdette said cuts were made in areas that he determined were no longer needed, such as a budget tool developed several years ago "that was not as useful" as officials had hoped. Other examples he cited were studies and administrative support.
But sources said Burdette also c anceled the planned September forcewide launch of a new Virtual Transition Assistance Program website, which was to replace the TurboTAP website. VTAP was envisioned as a tool to let troops download personalized information about schools and job openings, among other things. Veterans would be able to apply for jobs directly through the site.
Defense officials had spent nearly $4 million to develop VTAP. It had been endorsed by John Campbell, deputy assistant secretary in the WWCTP office, who had approved another $1 million for the program early last year, sources said.
Burdette said his office has made arrangements to continue DoD's current TurboTAP website for transitioning troops, as well as the National Resource Directory website, designed to connect wounded warriors, their families and caregivers to resources that support their recovery and rehabilitation.
He also said some of the major elements of the proposed VTAP site are available through other venues. For example, he noted that connecting veterans with jobs is a capability of the current Veterans Job Bank in the National Resource Directory.
"That was a cornerstone of what Virtual TAP was intended to be," he said. "The aspirational elements [of the VTAP project] are there." But sources said the Veterans Job Bank falls short of what separating service members need.
One source said that initiative is still in beta testing, and officials have identified at least 50 issues which must be addressed. Even if it is fixed, the source said, it will not have the capability to do what the VTAP website was expected to do.
Sources said Burdette set the cuts in motion in response to direction from Cliff Stanley, former undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, who resigned in late October amid multiple complaints to the DoD inspector general, some filed by staffers in the WWCTP office.
In an Aug. 17 email to staff members, a copy of which was obtained by Military Times, Burdette wrote: "We did what [Stanley] wanted, took a hard look, shelved important projects and saved real money. I want full credit for that." Burdette declined to comment on the email.
Pg. 8
DoD Slashes Staff In Wounded Warrior Care Office
Contractors also helped oversee transition assistance program
By Karen Jowers
... Defense officials have cut 44 contractor positions -- about 40 percent of the staff -- in the Pentagon's Office of Wounded Warrior Care and Transition Policy in recent months, which sources say will affect programs for wounded warriors as well as all troops and spouses leaving the military for civilian life.
The cuts have reduced by half the contract staff that developed curriculum and provided initial training for wounded warrior recovery care coordinators, said Defense Department sources and others familiar with the programs who spoke to Military Times on condition of anonymity.
Those coordinators are hired by the services to advocate for wounded warriors and their families and help them develop plans for their recovery in conjunction with their health care providers.
All 15 contract staff members involved in transition assistance policy also were cut, sources said, leaving two federal employees.
Several programs that had been under development also have been axed, including a new interactive Virtual Transition Assistance Program website.
Defense officials insist the cuts will not affect current programs or those who are served by them.
"The impact of these adjustments has been carefully scrutinized... and risk mitigation has been applied to ensure that the wounded warrior community and others will not be adversely impacted," said Cynthia Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman.
Smith said that after the cuts, the WWCTP office's remaining staff includes 47 contractors, 16 full-time government employees and one Defense Fellow working on wounded warrior programs. DoD plans to hire two more full-time government employees.
Some of the cuts were necessary because the Health and Human Services Department terminated a contract, said Philip Burdette, principal director of the WWCTP office. That contract, which expired Nov. 30, was the vehicle DoD used to provide a number of services, he said.
"We triaged the critical efforts, and found efficiencies where we could," he said. "We made sure we bridged the critical services."
That includes money for Marine Corps recovery care coordinators. "We made sure they stayed in the community," he said. "We couldn't allow [the end of the HHS contract] to affect wounded warrior care for Marines."
For other programs that are deemed necessary, he said, officials are starting the process of securing long-term contracts.
He said his office has continued training recovery care coordinators, citing a December effort to train 21 coordinators.
However, a source familiar with the office's work said funds for that training had been in the pipeline before the HHS contract ended, and it is unclear where money to train future recovery care coordinators will come from.
"For each recovery care coordinator who won't be trained, 30 service members and their family members will not have the services they need," another source said.
The 15 contract staffers involved in transition assistance policy were cut Nov. 29, one day after President Obama signed the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, which, among other things, requires DoD to substantially improve its transition assistance and make it mandatory for most troops.
Burdette said the contract workers were let go because their work was finished. That work involved researching and making recommendations for the future of DoD's transition assistance efforts as part of a presidential initiative.
But sources said some of those workers also were involved in an effort to transform the program to "a life-cycle model," to start preparing troops for civilian life well before they separate, rather than just as they are getting out.
Burdette said cuts were made in areas that he determined were no longer needed, such as a budget tool developed several years ago "that was not as useful" as officials had hoped. Other examples he cited were studies and administrative support.
But sources said Burdette also c anceled the planned September forcewide launch of a new Virtual Transition Assistance Program website, which was to replace the TurboTAP website. VTAP was envisioned as a tool to let troops download personalized information about schools and job openings, among other things. Veterans would be able to apply for jobs directly through the site.
Defense officials had spent nearly $4 million to develop VTAP. It had been endorsed by John Campbell, deputy assistant secretary in the WWCTP office, who had approved another $1 million for the program early last year, sources said.
Burdette said his office has made arrangements to continue DoD's current TurboTAP website for transitioning troops, as well as the National Resource Directory website, designed to connect wounded warriors, their families and caregivers to resources that support their recovery and rehabilitation.
He also said some of the major elements of the proposed VTAP site are available through other venues. For example, he noted that connecting veterans with jobs is a capability of the current Veterans Job Bank in the National Resource Directory.
"That was a cornerstone of what Virtual TAP was intended to be," he said. "The aspirational elements [of the VTAP project] are there." But sources said the Veterans Job Bank falls short of what separating service members need.
One source said that initiative is still in beta testing, and officials have identified at least 50 issues which must be addressed. Even if it is fixed, the source said, it will not have the capability to do what the VTAP website was expected to do.
Sources said Burdette set the cuts in motion in response to direction from Cliff Stanley, former undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, who resigned in late October amid multiple complaints to the DoD inspector general, some filed by staffers in the WWCTP office.
In an Aug. 17 email to staff members, a copy of which was obtained by Military Times, Burdette wrote: "We did what [Stanley] wanted, took a hard look, shelved important projects and saved real money. I want full credit for that." Burdette declined to comment on the email.