S. 4400 — Optimizing the VA Workforce for Veterans Act of 2026

This section establishes a requirement for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to develop and submit to the appropriate congressional committees a five-year strategic human capital plan for the Department by September 30, 2027, disaggregated by the Veterans Health Administration, Veterans Benefits Administration, National Cemetery Administration, and other components. The Secretary must update the plan each September 30 thereafter to cover the next five fiscal years, taking into account projected demand for benefits and services by facility, region, program, and benefit type, and consulting with veterans service organizations. The plan must include a workforce gap analysis of staffing levels, core competencies, and alignment with industry best practices, as well as an implementation plan with specific recruitment and retention goals (including for veterans, spouses, and caregivers), productivity improvement strategies, and targets to reduce time to hire while maintaining background checks and safety measures. The section further requires annual implementation updates beginning September 30, 2028, assessing progress, outcomes for veterans, changes in demand and staffing, and differences from budget materials and the Quadrennial Veterans Health Administration review, along with biennial reviews of the plan by the Comptroller General of the United States.

This section establishes a 60-day advance notice requirement for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs before carrying out any reduction in force affecting Department employees. The notice must be submitted to the Senate and House Committees on Veterans’ Affairs and Appropriations and to all affected employees, and must include the total number of employees affected, details on each impacted office (including location, program, pre- and post-reduction staffing levels, and services provided), a justification showing alignment with projected demand for benefits and services and with the Department’s strategic human capital plan, budgetary effects, and an explanation of how the reduction will improve benefits or services. The notice provided to employees must be identical to the notice submitted to Congress. The Secretary may not proceed with a reduction in force affecting any employee who has not received the required notice, and noncompliance is treated as a prohibited personnel action under title 5, allowing the Merit Systems Protection Board to stay or set aside the action until the Secretary complies.

This section modifies requirements for detailed plans and justifications that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs must submit to Congress for administrative reorganizations of Department offices. It expands the required content to include how the reorganization will improve outcomes for veterans and their spouses, dependents, and caregivers through high-quality, accessible, and timely health care and benefits; analysis of success using results-based performance metrics derived from the reorganization justification; and a risk mitigation plan addressing every identified risk. The section also establishes new post-reorganization reporting by requiring the Secretary to submit assessments of the reorganization using those metrics to the House and Senate Committees on Veterans’ Affairs not later than 180 days after completion and every 180 days thereafter until two years after completion.