The new CIO at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Roger Baker, is wasting no time in putting troubled VA IT systems on notice. Baker announced today that it will “temporarily halt 45 information technology projects which are either behind schedule or over budget.”

I should note that Baker will be on Federal News Radio 1500 AM’s In Depth with Francis Rose this afternoon. In Depth airs from 1-3p ET.

Here is the release — and the list of systems:

Initial 45 Projects Targeted for New Department-Wide Management System

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today that it will temporarily halt 45 information technology projects which are either behind schedule or over budget. These projects will be reviewed, and it will be determined whether these projects should be continued.

“Leveraging the power of Information Technology to accelerate and modernize the delivery of benefits and services to our nations Veterans is essential to transforming VA to a 21st century organization that is people-centric, results-driven and forward thinking,” Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki said.

Secretary Shinseki ordered a review of the department’s 300 IT projects and implementation of the PMAS, designed to increase the department’s accountability for IT projects.

Each of the 45 projects will be temporarily halted. No further development will occur and expenditures will be minimized. A new project plan that meets the requirements of Program Management Accountability System (PMAS) must be created by the project manager and approved by VA’s Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology before resuming.

“VA has a responsibility to the American people, who are investing millions of dollars in technology projects, to deliver quality results that adhere to a budget and are delivered on time.” Shinseki said. “They need to have confidence that the dollars they are spending are being effectively used to improve the lives of our Veterans.”

PMAS is a management protocol that requires projects to establish milestones to deliver new functionality to its customers. Failure to meet set deadlines indicates a problem within the project. Under PMAS, a third missed customer delivery milestone is cause for the project to be halted and re-planned.

“Our goal is to increase our success rate for our systems development projects,” Roger W. Baker, VA’s Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology, said. “We will use every tool at our disposal to bring about greater accountability and ensure that taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely. PMAS and the IT Dashboard will be critical indicators of whether our IT projects are on schedule and on budget, and if they are not, we will take swift action to cut down on waste and redundancy.”

PMAS, in conjunction with the analytical tools available through the IT Dashboard, will ensure early identification and correction of problematic IT projects. The IT Dashboard, launched last month, is a one-stop clearinghouse of information, allowing the American people to track federal information technology initiatives and hold the government accountable for progress and results.

Over the next year, all IT projects at VA will be required to move to PMAS.

        Read more: Budget

The Obama Administration has made management reform a key government-wide priority. From IT accountability to personnel and contracting reforms, the administration is committed to providing better value, efficiency, and effectiveness for taxpayers’ dollars.

Below is a complete list of all projects temporarily halted under PMAS at this time:

• Scheduling Replacement
• Laboratory System Reeingeering Project (LSRP)
• Pharmacy Re-Engineering Pre .5
• Health Data Repository (HDR) II
• Pharmacy Re-Engineering Pre1.0
• HeVet Middleware Services
• Person Service Identity Management
• Administrative Data Repository (ADR)
• Document & Ancillary Imaging
• Clinical Data Service
• VA Learning Management
• Home Telehealth (HT) Development
• Occupational Health Record Keeping System (OHRS)
• Enrollment System Redesign (ESR) v4
• CHDR – Chemistry & Hematology: ADC Automation
• Clinical Flow Sheet – CLIO
• E-Gov: E-Training
• Barcode Expansion
• Delivery Service
• Organization Service
• Enrollment System Redesign (ESR) v3.1
• Health Data Repository (HDR) Data Warehouse
• Home Telehealth (HT) Infrastructure Enhancements
• Radiology Outside Reporting
• BCMA Inpatient Medication Request for SFG IRA
• Blood Bank – VBECS v1.0
• Prosthetics Enhancements
• VIC (Veterans Identification Card) Development
• Spinal Cord Injury & Disorders Outcomes v3.0
• Radiology HL7 Interface Update
• Ward Drug Dispensing Equipment (WDDE) Interface
• Lab Data Sharing & Interoperability (LDSI) – Anatomic Pathology/Microbiology
• HBPC Medical Foster Home (MFH)
• eClaims Plus
• ASISTS Modification – Case Management
• National Teleradiology Program
• CAPRI Enhancements
• Master Patient Index
• RMS – Rights Management Server
• National Teleradiology Program
• Problem List Standardization
• Radiology Standardization
• LDSI Terminology Support
• Clinical/Health Data Repositories (CHDR) Phase II
• Fee Data and HERO

Meanwhile, federal CIO Vivek Kundra is using the Federal IT Dashboard blog to say this is exactly what is supposed to happen…

Evidence-based decisions

Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), under the leadership of Secretary Shinseki and VA CIO Roger Baker, announced that it will temporarily halt 45 IT projects which are either behind schedule or over budget and work to determine whether these programs should be continued. We’re not talking about a trivial sum here—the Fiscal Year 2009 combined budget for the 45 projects is approximately $200 million. The worst offender of the bunch was 110% over budget and 17 months behind schedule.

We were able to catch these contracts, in part, thanks to our new tool, the “IT Dashboard” which helped shed light on the performance of projects across the federal government.

During the next few weeks, the VA will audit these 45 projects to determine whether additional resources or new management teams can get them back on schedule. If they can’t be fixed, the projects will be canceled.

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If you are just hearing about the IT Dashboard for the first time, it allows you to see which IT projects are working and on-schedule (and which are not), offer alternative approaches, and provide direct feedback to the chief information officers at federal agencies.

Given the size and complexity of the federal IT portfolio, the challenges we face are substantial and persistent. The dashboard is not a substitute for good management. Its value comes from leaders who use the information to make tough, evidence-based decisions on the future of IT investments.

The VA’s announcement is part of a broader effort by the Administration to make the federal government more transparent and to boost accountability and drive better performance. From IT accountability to personnel and contracting reforms, the administration is committed to providing better value, efficiency, and effectiveness for taxpayers’ dollars.

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