Colorado
GDX reports $2.6B of VA expenditures for Colorado in FY2013, across all categories. In the 4 categories that can be compared like-for-like, GDX reports $1.7B and USAspending shows $1.6B of obligations (94.1%). Every compared category is within the tolerance band set by all states this year.
GDX expenditure, USAspending obligations, coverage ratio
| Category | GDX expenditure | USAspending obligations | Coverage ratio | Band (all states) | Status | Structural explanation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Compensation & Pension GDX source: USAspending.gov (plus FMS for certain C&P items), per the GDX data guide | $1.2B | $1.2B | 100.0% | 100.0%–100.0% | Within tolerance | VA states this GDX figure was taken from USAspending.gov, so a gap points to reporting revisions or state assignment rather than an independent difference. |
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment GDX source: USAspending.gov (plus FMS for non-beneficiary items), per the GDX data guide | $324M | $324M | 100.0% | 100.0%–100.0% | Within tolerance | VA states this GDX figure was taken from USAspending.gov, so a gap points to reporting revisions or state assignment rather than an independent difference. Education payments to schools can follow the school's location on one side and the student's residence on the other. |
Insurance & Indemnities GDX source: VA Regional Office & Insurance Center (RO&IC), Philadelphia | $32.5M | $27.4M | 84.3% | 63.3%–114.3% | Within tolerance | Insurance payees are located by linked residence records in GDX (FY2024+ partly by ZIP code), by payee address on USAspending. |
Construction GDX source: VA Financial Management System (FMS) / iFAMS | $113M | $17.9M | 15.9% | 6.0%–3404% | Within tolerance | Construction is obligated up front and spent over several years; single-year ratios swing with project phasing. |
Medical Care GDX source: VHA Allocation Resource Center (ARC) and FMS | $850M | — | — | — | Not comparable | Most of VA medical spending is the payroll and operating cost of VA hospitals and clinics, which is not an award and never appears on USAspending. VHA's cost-of-care assistance listings (64.009–64.050) are reported inconsistently from year to year, and contract place of performance follows the facility rather than the patient's home. |
General Operating Expenses GDX source: FMS / iFAMS | $62.9M | — | — | — | Not comparable | Mostly salaries and overhead with no award record; the contract share that does exist is booked to the buying office, not to a beneficiary geography. |
Loan Guaranty GDX source: FMS (through FY2023); VBA PA&I (FY2024+) | $0 | — | — | — | Not comparable | USAspending records guaranteed loans by face value with zero federal obligation per loan; the budgetary cost (subsidy and claims) is not in the award file. |
Compared categories · FY2013
Grey = GDX expenditure · teal = USAspending obligations (amber when outside tolerance)
Each pair is scaled to its own larger value.
- Compensation & Pension100.0%$1.2B$1.2B
- Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment100.0%$324M$324M
- Insurance & Indemnities84.3%$32.5M$27.4M
- Construction15.9%$113M$17.9M
Multi-year trend, compared categories
Sum of the categories compared in each year
Programs, recipients and offices
Assistance listings
Obligations mapped into compared categories
- VETERANS COMPENSATION FOR SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABILITY64.109 · Compensation & Pension · 748 rows$1.0B
- POST-9/11 VETERANS EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE64.028 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 671 rows$271M
- VETERANS DEPENDENCY AND INDEMNITY COMPENSATION FOR SERVICE-CONNECTED DEATH64.110 · Compensation & Pension · 592 rows$92.7M
- PENSION FOR NON-SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABILITY FOR VETERANS64.104 · Compensation & Pension · 648 rows$47.5M
- VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION FOR DISABLED VETERANS64.116 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 477 rows$33.7M
- LIFE INSURANCE FOR VETERANS - DIRECT PAYMENTS FOR INSURANCE64.031 · Insurance & Indemnities · 668 rows$27.4M
- PENSION TO VETERANS SURVIVING SPOUSES, AND CHILDREN64.105 · Compensation & Pension · 585 rows$17.1M
- ALL-VOLUNTEER FORCE EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE64.124 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 435 rows$16.1M
- BURIAL EXPENSES ALLOWANCE FOR VETERANS64.101 · Compensation & Pension · 304 rows$7.9M
- MONTGOMERY GI BILL SELECTED RESERVE; RESERVE EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM64.032 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 309 rows$2.1M
- GRANTS TO STATES FOR CONSTRUCTION OF STATE HOME FACILITIES64.005 · Construction · 1 rows$2.0M
- SPECIALLY ADAPTED HOUSING FOR DISABLED VETERANS64.106 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 1 rows$478K
- SURVIVORS AND DEPENDENTS EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE64.117 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 40 rows$437K
- AUTOMOBILES AND ADAPTIVE EQUIPMENT FOR CERTAIN DISABLED VETERANS AND MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES64.100 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 9 rows$230K
- POST-VIETNAM ERA VETERANS' EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE64.120 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 11 rows$9K
Construction contractors
PSC Y contracts performed in this state
- $10.2M
- RME LTD., LLC7 awards · largest action →$2.2M
- HAWK CONTRACTING GROUP LLC11 awards · largest action →$1.3M
- B&M CONSTRUCTION, INC.3 awards · largest action →$772K
- $755K
- NORTH STAR DESIGN-BUILD LLC3 awards · largest action →$227K
- $223K
- $38K
- COMPASS BUSINESS GROUP1 award · largest action →$18K
- $14K
Awarding offices (construction)
Office that recorded the obligation
- OFFICE OF CONSTRUCTION & FACILITIES MANAGEMENT1 awards$10.2M
- 259-NETWORK CONTRACT OFFICE 1936 awards$5.2M
- 554-DENVER1 awards$222K
- PCAC NATIONAL ENERGY BUSINESS CENTER2 awards$198K
Observations for Colorado, all years
- Colorado — Construction, FY2021low · strength 0.40
GDX reports $14.7M of Construction expenditures for Colorado in FY2021; USAspending shows $723K of obligations under the same category definitions (4.9% of GDX). The ratio sits below the tolerance band set by 47 compared states that year (7.9% to 3651%; median 138.9%). GDX figures are expenditures and USAspending figures are obligations; the difference is a variance to review, not a finding.
Benign explanation: Construction and other multi-year awards are obligated up front and spent over several years: a state with a large new project shows USAspending well above GDX in the award year and below it later.
- Colorado — Construction, FY2018medium · strength 0.55
GDX reports $155M of Construction expenditures for Colorado in FY2018; USAspending shows $1.1M of obligations under the same category definitions (0.7% of GDX). The ratio sits below the tolerance band set by 45 compared states that year (4.6% to 2280%; median 143.7%). GDX figures are expenditures and USAspending figures are obligations; the difference is a variance to review, not a finding.
Benign explanation: Construction and other multi-year awards are obligated up front and spent over several years: a state with a large new project shows USAspending well above GDX in the award year and below it later.
Pattern definition and thresholds: gdx-reconciliation-variance.
Categories GDX reports that are not compared
| Category | GDX expenditure | How GDX places it | Why not compared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medical Care | $850M | Patient's home residence, not the site of care (research is booked to the facility performing it). | Most of VA medical spending is the payroll and operating cost of VA hospitals and clinics, which is not an award and never appears on USAspending. VHA's cost-of-care assistance listings (64.009–64.050) are reported inconsistently from year to year, and contract place of performance follows the facility rather than the patient's home. |
| General Operating Expenses | $62.9M | Where the cost is booked in FMS/iFAMS — headquarters costs concentrate in the District of Columbia. | Mostly salaries and overhead with no award record; the contract share that does exist is booked to the buying office, not to a beneficiary geography. |
| Loan Guaranty | $0 | Through FY2023: Travis County, TX (processing location). FY2024+: county of the loan. | USAspending records guaranteed loans by face value with zero federal obligation per loan; the budgetary cost (subsidy and claims) is not in the award file. |
GDX also publishes an estimated veteran population of 390,824 and 90,822 unique VA patients for Colorado. Per-veteran figures are deliberately not shown: VA advises against dividing these categories by veteran population.
- GDX expenditure
- VA's estimate of money spent in the fiscal year, by state (an expenditure measure, closer to outlays than to obligations; VA notes it can differ from both), from VA's Geographic Distribution of VA Expenditures report.
- USAspending obligations
- Net obligations recorded on USAspending.gov in the same fiscal year (sum of every transaction's federal action obligation), for the programs mapped to the same GDX category.
- Coverage ratio
- USAspending ÷ GDX. 100% means the award record accounts for the same dollars VA reports as spent. Obligations and expenditures are different measures, so exact agreement is not expected.