The Department of Veterans Affairs needs to do a better job of analyzing the effectiveness of its “promising” technology education pilot program to determine how well it is helping veterans find employment, according to a report released by the Government Accountability Office on Thursday.

GAO’s report analyzed the VA’s Veterans Employment Through Technology Education Courses—or VET TEC—pilot program, which is open to veterans who qualify for education assistance under the GI Bill. The report said the pilot is designed “to help veterans quickly acquire high-technology skills in the fields of computer programming, computer software, media applications, data processing or information sciences.”

VET TEC was created after passage of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act—also known as the Forever GI Bill—in 2017, which directed the department to establish a pilot program to “provide eligible veterans with the opportunity to enroll in high technology programs of education.” The five-year pilot, which officially launched in 2019 with $15 million in annual funding, has since received additional financial support from Congress, with the Consolidated Appropriations Act—which was signed into law in March 2022—authorizing an additional $80 million for the program.

GAO found that over 6,700 veterans enrolled in VET TEC from May 2019 through May 2022, with approximately 66% of enrollees completing the program. But the report noted that VA was unable to effectively...

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