Glassbox VA · geography · FY2024
Iowa
GDX reports $2.4B of VA expenditures for Iowa in FY2024, across all categories. In the 3 categories that can be compared like-for-like, GDX reports $1.2B and USAspending shows $1.2B of obligations (100.2%). 1 category sits outside that band and is listed as a variance to review.
Category comparison · FY2024
GDX expenditure, USAspending obligations, coverage ratio
| Category | GDX expenditure | USAspending obligations | Coverage ratio | Band (all states) | Status | Structural explanation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Compensation & Pension GDX source: VBA Office of Performance Analysis & Integrity (PA&I), county-level payment data | $1.1B | $1.1B | 100.0% | 100.0%–100.0% | Within tolerance | Within the band set by all states this year. |
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment GDX source: VBA PA&I, county-level payment data | $62.6M | $62.6M | 100.0% | 100.0%–100.0% | Within tolerance | 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: Insurance Service Office of Budget and Oversight (payment records with SSN/address) | $7.4M | $10.2M | 138.0% | 93.5%–126.8% | Variance to review | Insurance payees are located by linked residence records in GDX (FY2024+ partly by ZIP code), by payee address on USAspending. USAspending obligations above GDX expenditures can reflect obligations recorded this year and paid next year, or prior-year adjustments. |
Construction GDX source: VA Office of Construction & Facilities Management (CFM), by station | $501K | $22.3M | — | 5.6%–5801% | Too small to compare | GDX reports less than $1M here; ratios on small amounts reflect rounding, not coverage. |
Medical Care GDX source: VHA Allocation Resource Center (ARC) and FMS | $1.3B | — | — | — | 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. |
Loan Guaranty GDX source: FMS (through FY2023); VBA PA&I (FY2024+) | $187K | — | — | — | 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. |
Memorial Benefits GDX source: NCA Office of Finance Service; VBA PA&I | $8.6M | — | — | — | Not comparable | Mostly National Cemetery Administration operating cost with no award record; only the burial-allowance and grant pieces appear on USAspending. |
Compared categories · FY2024
Grey = GDX expenditure · teal = USAspending obligations (amber when outside tolerance)
Each pair is scaled to its own larger value.
- Compensation & Pension100.0%$1.1B$1.1B
- Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment100.0%$62.6M$62.6M
- Insurance & Indemnities138.0%$7.4M$10.2M
Multi-year trend, compared categories
Sum of the categories compared in each year
GDX expenditureUSAspending obligationsBreaks mark years not compared.
What makes up the USAspending side · FY2024
Programs, recipients and offices
Benefit programs are reported to USAspending as county-level aggregate rows, not as named recipients, so they are listed by Assistance Listing. Construction is listed by contractor and awarding office (place of performance in Iowa).
Assistance listings
Obligations mapped into compared categories
- VETERANS COMPENSATION FOR SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABILITY64.109 · Compensation & Pension · 1,176 rows$992M
- VETERANS DEPENDENCY AND INDEMNITY COMPENSATION FOR SERVICE-CONNECTED DEATH64.110 · Compensation & Pension · 883 rows$83.1M
- POST-9/11 VETERANS EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE64.028 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 1,113 rows$41.7M
- PENSION FOR NON-SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABILITY FOR VETERANS64.104 · Compensation & Pension · 824 rows$15.7M
- LIFE INSURANCE FOR VETERANS - DIRECT PAYMENTS FOR INSURANCE64.031 · Insurance & Indemnities · 777 rows$10.2M
- SURVIVORS AND DEPENDENTS EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE64.117 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 996 rows$9.7M
- PENSION TO VETERANS SURVIVING SPOUSES, AND CHILDREN64.105 · Compensation & Pension · 747 rows$5.3M
- VETERAN READINESS AND EMPLOYMENT64.116 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 747 rows$5.1M
- MONTGOMERY GI BILL SELECTED RESERVE64.032 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 914 rows$3.8M
- ALL-VOLUNTEER FORCE EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE64.124 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 236 rows$1.0M
- AUTOMOBILES AND ADAPTIVE EQUIPMENT FOR CERTAIN DISABLED VETERANS AND MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES64.100 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 24 rows$716K
- SPECIALLY ADAPTED HOUSING FOR DISABLED VETERANS64.106 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 14 rows$681K
- MONTHLY ALLOWANCE FOR CHILDREN OF VIETNAM VETERANS BORN WITH SPINA BIFIDA64.127 · Compensation & Pension · 72 rows$145K
- VETERAN RAPID RETRAINING ASSISTANCE PROGRAM64.130 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 11 rows$28K
- POST-VIETNAM ERA VETERANS' EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE64.120 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 44 rows$23K
Construction contractors
PSC Y contracts performed in this state
- $16.9M
- BKM CONSTRUCTION LLC1 award · largest action →$2.2M
- HURLEY JV, LLP1 award · largest action →$1.7M
- THE POVOLNY GROUP INC1 award · largest action →$705K
- $677K
- $50K
Awarding offices (construction)
Office that recorded the obligation
- PCAC (36C776)6 awards$18.6M
- NETWORK CONTRACT OFFICE 23 (36C263)2 awards$2.9M
- OFFICE OF CONSTRUCTION & FACILITIES MGMT (36C10F)1 awards$627K
- NATIONAL CEMETERY ADMIN (36C786)1 awards$50K
- PCAC NATIONAL ENERGY BUSINESS CENTER (36E776)1 awards$13K
Pattern · geographic reconciliation variance
Observations for Iowa, all years
Every year in which a compared category for Iowa sat outside the tolerance band. Evidence strength follows the site-wide formula; the note is the most applicable benign explanation.
- Iowa — Insurance & Indemnities, FY2024low · strength 0.84
GDX reports $7.4M of Insurance & Indemnities expenditures for Iowa in FY2024; USAspending shows $10.2M of obligations under the same category definitions (138.0% of GDX). The ratio sits above the tolerance band set by 43 compared states that year (93.5% to 126.8%; median 106.1%). GDX figures are expenditures and USAspending figures are obligations; the difference is a variance to review, not a finding.
Benign explanation: The sources place dollars differently: GDX follows the beneficiary's residence or the project site; USAspending follows the reported place of performance or the recipient's address.
Pattern definition and thresholds: gdx-reconciliation-variance.
Context only
Categories GDX reports that are not compared
Shown so the state total is complete. These have no like-for-like USAspending counterpart; comparing them would report most of VA's own operating cost as a gap.
| Category | GDX expenditure | How GDX places it | Why not compared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medical Care | $1.3B | 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. |
| Loan Guaranty | $187K | 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. |
| Memorial Benefits | $8.6M | Place of performance (NCA) and county of the beneficiary (VBA burial). | Mostly National Cemetery Administration operating cost with no award record; only the burial-allowance and grant pieces appear on USAspending. |
- 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.
← All states
Source: VA NCVAS GDX FY2024 · USAspending.gov (VA, agency 036)