Duty First Consulting (DFC) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a contract with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment Service to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the Independent Living program. VR&E provides Independent Living (IL) services to Veterans with a disability rating of 20 percent or more who cannot reasonably achieve a vocational goal. The IL mission is to aid these Veterans in living as independently as possible and, where feasible, return to employment upon program completion. The IL program achieves these goals through the provision of individually tailored assistive technologies, specialized medical and rehabilitation services, assistance adjusting to their disability, training to increase independence, and connections to resources within the Veteran’s own community.

The DFC team will develop an As-Is model to map data flows and business processes within the program to measure the effectiveness of the steps used to determine IL eligibility and develop an IL plan, barriers and incentives for field staff when considering the provision of IL services, relationships with other VA offices and external providers, and the effectiveness of dedicated IL specialists. In addition, the team will assess the program from an external perspective by determining Veteran perceptions of VR&E IL services, existing patterns and future trends for IL usage and their implications, how IL service delivery in the private sector compares with IL service delivery in VR&E and transferable best practices, and the ways in which infeasibility for employment is determined in non-VA programs as compared to VA in the impact on IL benefit delivery. The DFC team will leverage these findings to develop  a detailed transformation plan and To-Be model, which will comprise of a strategic communications plan, a quality assurance plan, and service delivery improvement plans.