District of Columbia
GDX reports $3.0B of VA expenditures for District of Columbia in FY2015, across all categories. In the 4 categories that can be compared like-for-like, GDX reports $284M and USAspending shows $123M of obligations (43.2%). 1 category sits outside that band and is listed as a variance to review.
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 | $88.5M | $88.5M | 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 | $29.2M | $29.2M | 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 | $3.5M | $3.0M | 86.3% | 58.1%–111.7% | 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 | $163M | $2.1M | 1.3% | 5.0%–2370% | Variance to review | Construction is obligated up front and spent over several years; single-year ratios swing with project phasing. National and headquarters contracts are often performed or booked in the Washington, D.C. area. USAspending below GDX can reflect items GDX draws from VA's financial systems that have no award row, or rows without a usable state. |
Medical Care GDX source: VHA Allocation Resource Center (ARC) and FMS | $240M | — | — | — | 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 | $2.4B | — | — | — | 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 · FY2015
Grey = GDX expenditure · teal = USAspending obligations (amber when outside tolerance)
Each pair is scaled to its own larger value.
- Compensation & Pension100.0%$88.5M$88.5M
- Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment100.0%$29.2M$29.2M
- Insurance & Indemnities86.3%$3.5M$3.0M
- Construction1.3%$163M$2.1M
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 · 13 rows$71.6M
- POST-9/11 VETERANS EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE64.028 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 12 rows$23.4M
- VETERANS DEPENDENCY AND INDEMNITY COMPENSATION FOR SERVICE-CONNECTED DEATH64.110 · Compensation & Pension · 13 rows$8.0M
- PENSION FOR NON-SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABILITY FOR VETERANS64.104 · Compensation & Pension · 12 rows$6.2M
- VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION FOR DISABLED VETERANS64.116 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 12 rows$4.6M
- LIFE INSURANCE FOR VETERANS - DIRECT PAYMENTS FOR INSURANCE64.031 · Insurance & Indemnities · 59 rows$3.0M
- PENSION TO VETERANS SURVIVING SPOUSES, AND CHILDREN64.105 · Compensation & Pension · 13 rows$1.7M
- BURIAL EXPENSES ALLOWANCE FOR VETERANS64.101 · Compensation & Pension · 13 rows$1.0M
- SURVIVORS AND DEPENDENTS EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE64.117 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 12 rows$728K
- ALL-VOLUNTEER FORCE EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE64.124 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 12 rows$292K
- MONTGOMERY GI BILL SELECTED RESERVE; RESERVE EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM64.032 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 12 rows$113K
Construction contractors
PSC Y contracts performed in this state
- $1.6M
- $1.1M
- EOC SOLUTIONS LLC1 award · largest action →$303K
- SIEMENS INDUSTRY INC1 award · largest action →$113K
- PATRIOT CONSTRUCTION, LLC3 awards · largest action →$14K
- $0
- US BUILDERS GROUP INC.1 award · largest action →-$1.1M
Awarding offices (construction)
Office that recorded the obligation
- 688-WASHINGTON DC9 awards$2.1M
Observations for District of Columbia, all years
- District of Columbia — Construction, FY2025medium · strength 0.34
GDX reports $222M of Construction expenditures for District of Columbia in FY2025; USAspending shows $6.0M of obligations under the same category definitions (2.7% of GDX). The ratio sits below the tolerance band set by 50 compared states that year (3.0% to 5675%; median 147.6%). GDX figures are expenditures and USAspending figures are obligations; the difference is a variance to review, not a finding.
Benign explanation: National and headquarters contracts are often performed or booked in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and GDX through FY2023 attributed all Loan Guaranty to Travis County, Texas.
- District of Columbia — Construction, FY2024low · strength 0.64
GDX reports $34.0M of Construction expenditures for District of Columbia in FY2024; USAspending shows -$7.2M of obligations under the same category definitions (-21.2% of GDX). The ratio sits below the tolerance band set by 47 compared states that year (5.6% to 5801%; median 185.0%). GDX figures are expenditures and USAspending figures are obligations; the difference is a variance to review, not a finding.
Benign explanation: National and headquarters contracts are often performed or booked in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and GDX through FY2023 attributed all Loan Guaranty to Travis County, Texas.
- District of Columbia — Construction, FY2023medium · strength 0.64
GDX reports $753M of Construction expenditures for District of Columbia in FY2023; USAspending shows $6.0M of obligations under the same category definitions (0.8% of GDX). The ratio sits below the tolerance band set by 31 compared states that year (92.9% to 7424%; median 752.7%). GDX figures are expenditures and USAspending figures are obligations; the difference is a variance to review, not a finding.
Benign explanation: National and headquarters contracts are often performed or booked in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and GDX through FY2023 attributed all Loan Guaranty to Travis County, Texas.
- District of Columbia — Construction, FY2022medium · strength 0.53
GDX reports $375M of Construction expenditures for District of Columbia in FY2022; USAspending shows $1.9M of obligations under the same category definitions (0.5% of GDX). The ratio sits below the tolerance band set by 44 compared states that year (3.0% to 3163%; median 107.3%). GDX figures are expenditures and USAspending figures are obligations; the difference is a variance to review, not a finding.
Benign explanation: National and headquarters contracts are often performed or booked in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and GDX through FY2023 attributed all Loan Guaranty to Travis County, Texas.
- District of Columbia — Construction, FY2021medium · strength 0.61
GDX reports $518M of Construction expenditures for District of Columbia in FY2021; USAspending shows $1.1M of obligations under the same category definitions (0.2% 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: National and headquarters contracts are often performed or booked in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and GDX through FY2023 attributed all Loan Guaranty to Travis County, Texas.
- District of Columbia — Construction, FY2019medium · strength 0.44
GDX reports $283M of Construction expenditures for District of Columbia in FY2019; USAspending shows $10.2M of obligations under the same category definitions (3.6% of GDX). The ratio sits below the tolerance band set by 41 compared states that year (8.2% to 6711%; median 217.5%). GDX figures are expenditures and USAspending figures are obligations; the difference is a variance to review, not a finding.
Benign explanation: National and headquarters contracts are often performed or booked in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and GDX through FY2023 attributed all Loan Guaranty to Travis County, Texas.
- District of Columbia — Construction, FY2016medium · strength 0.47
GDX reports $205M of Construction expenditures for District of Columbia in FY2016; USAspending shows $4.3M of obligations under the same category definitions (2.1% of GDX). The ratio sits below the tolerance band set by 47 compared states that year (2.9% to 2607%; median 111.4%). GDX figures are expenditures and USAspending figures are obligations; the difference is a variance to review, not a finding.
Benign explanation: National and headquarters contracts are often performed or booked in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and GDX through FY2023 attributed all Loan Guaranty to Travis County, Texas.
- District of Columbia — Construction, FY2015medium · strength 0.51
GDX reports $163M of Construction expenditures for District of Columbia in FY2015; USAspending shows $2.1M of obligations under the same category definitions (1.3% of GDX). The ratio sits below the tolerance band set by 46 compared states that year (5.0% to 2370%; median 128.0%). GDX figures are expenditures and USAspending figures are obligations; the difference is a variance to review, not a finding.
Benign explanation: National and headquarters contracts are often performed or booked in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and GDX through FY2023 attributed all Loan Guaranty to Travis County, Texas.
- District of Columbia — Construction, FY2014medium · strength 0.64
GDX reports $258M of Construction expenditures for District of Columbia in FY2014; USAspending shows -$4.7M of obligations under the same category definitions (-1.8% of GDX). The ratio sits below the tolerance band set by 41 compared states that year (3.4% to 4473%; median 134.8%). GDX figures are expenditures and USAspending figures are obligations; the difference is a variance to review, not a finding.
Benign explanation: National and headquarters contracts are often performed or booked in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and GDX through FY2023 attributed all Loan Guaranty to Travis County, Texas.
- District of Columbia — Construction, FY2013medium · strength 0.36
GDX reports $153M of Construction expenditures for District of Columbia in FY2013; USAspending shows $7.5M of obligations under the same category definitions (4.9% of GDX). The ratio sits below the tolerance band set by 46 compared states that year (6.0% to 3404%; median 156.8%). GDX figures are expenditures and USAspending figures are obligations; the difference is a variance to review, not a finding.
Benign explanation: National and headquarters contracts are often performed or booked in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and GDX through FY2023 attributed all Loan Guaranty to Travis County, Texas.
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 | $240M | 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 | $2.4B | 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 29,470 and 8,580 unique VA patients for District of Columbia. 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.