H.R. 10418

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish, build, and operate a technology platform to modernize the disability claims process in accordance with the plan submitted by the Secretary under the Honoring our PACT Act of 2022 for the modernization of information technology systems of the Veterans Benefits Administration, and for other purposes.

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I

119th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. R. 10418

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

September 16, 2026

Mr. Barrett introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

A BILL

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish, build, and operate a technology platform to modernize the disability claims process in accordance with the plan submitted by the Secretary under the Honoring our PACT Act of 2022 for the modernization of information technology systems of the Veterans Benefits Administration, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the VA Claims AI Accountability Act.

2.

Modernization of information technology systems of the Veterans Benefits Administration

(a)

Program required

To fulfill the modernization objectives of section 701(b) of the Honoring our PACT Act of 2022 (Public Law 117–168; 38 U.S.C. 324 note), and subject to the requirements and limitations of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, acting through the responsible official described in subsection (b), shall establish a program to design, build, implement, and operate a technology platform, leveraging existing agreements where practicable, to modernize the disability claims process of the Department of Veterans Affairs in a manner that reduces operational waste and strengthens internal accountability.

(b)

Responsible official

The responsible official described in this subsection is the Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology (serving as the Chief Information Officer of the Department as described in section 5723(b) of title 38, United States Code), in consultation with the Under Secretary for Benefits and the Chief Acquisition Officer of the Department.

(c)

Objectives

The program established under subsection (a) shall focus on the following objectives:

(1)

Improving the overall veteran experience.

(2)

Increasing efficiency and accuracy in the claims processing workflow.

(3)

Improving system architecture and resiliency.

(4)

Improving data infrastructure and interoperability.

(5)

Improving employee efficiency and user experience.

(d)

Requirements relating to automation and human decision making

The Secretary shall ensure that the program established under subsection (a) is carried out, and the technology platform is designed and built, in a manner that ensures that—

(1)

automation of any claims analysis or determination process includes human review of individual conditions claimed for benefits; and

(2)

employees of the Department continue to make all final decisions with respect to the approval of claims and the granting of benefits.

(e)

Data rights

The Secretary shall ensure that the Department retains unlimited rights in technical data, as described in section 2302 of title 41, United States Code, in connection with the program and technology platform, including information, source datasets, application programming interfaces, and derivative technological outputs generated under the technology platform.

(f)

Data interoperability

The Secretary shall ensure that the technology platform establishes and maintains direct, automated data interoperability between and among the Veterans Health Administration, the Veterans Benefits Administration, and the Department of Defense.

(g)

FedRAMP categorization

The Secretary shall ensure that the technology platform is categorized under the Federal Risk and Authorization Program at the high impact categorization level (or an equivalent categorization level, if the categorization levels are revised).

3.

Artificial intelligence governance

(a)

Framework required

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall establish a comprehensive framework governing the use of artificial intelligence by the program and technology platform required by section 2(a).

(b)

Framework requirements

The framework established under subsection (a) shall—

(1)

advance the objectives set forth in section 2(c);

(2)

ensure that the use of artificial intelligence in disability claims processing does not reduce or infringe upon the due process rights of any applicant for benefits; and

(3)

clearly define and establish the technical and operational boundaries between standard automation (such as robotic process automation) and artificial intelligence (as such term is defined in section 5002 of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9401)).

(c)

Responsible official

The Secretary shall designate the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer of the Department, in consultation with the Chief Information Officer of the Department, as the primary official responsible for approving and strictly enforcing compliance with the framework.

4.

Congressional oversight

(a)

Report

Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the program established under section 2(a). The report shall include—

(1)

a comprehensive, independent life-cycle cost estimate for the program, in accordance with the publication of the Government Accountability Office titled Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Developing and Managing Program Costs and dated March 2020 (GAO–20–195G);

(2)

a summary of the activities conducted pursuant to this Act;

(3)

an assessment of the performance and effectiveness of the program in meeting its operational goals; and

(4)

for each artificial intelligence agent that provides responses used in disability claims processing, the average degree of confidence that the agent has in the correctness of the responses it provides, as determined by—

(A)

identifying, for each such response, the degree of confidence (commonly referred to as the confidence score) associated with such response; and

(B)

calculating the arithmetic mean of all such confidence scores.

(b)

Briefings

The Secretary shall provide quarterly briefings to the appropriate congressional committees on the program. The briefings shall include—

(1)

the cost savings achieved by automation under the program;

(2)

updates made to the policies established under the program; and

(3)

measurable progress on the customization of the technology platform.

(c)

Appropriate congressional committees defined

In this section, the term appropriate congressional committees means the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate.

5.

Independent evaluation by the Comptroller General

(a)

Independent evaluation required

The Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct an independent evaluation of the program and submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the results of the evaluation. The report shall include—

(1)

the performance metrics established by the Secretary to evaluate the program established under section 2; and

(2)

the effectiveness of the program established under section 2 in meeting the objectives described in section 2(c).

(b)

Appropriate congressional committees defined

In this section, the term appropriate congressional committees means the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate.

6.

Termination

The program established under section 2, including the authority to operate the technology platform, shall terminate on October 1, 2028.