Glassbox VA · geography · FY2025

Iowa

GDX reports $2.8B of VA expenditures for Iowa in FY2025, across all categories. In the 4 categories that can be compared like-for-like, GDX reports $1.4B and USAspending shows $1.5B of obligations (101.6%). Every compared category is within the tolerance band set by all states this year.

← All states, FY2025

Category comparison · FY2025

GDX expenditure, USAspending obligations, coverage ratio

Category comparison for Iowa, FY2025
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	$1.3B	$1.3B	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	$68.2M	$68.2M	100.0%	99.8%–100.6%	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)	$7.3M	$7.7M	105.6%	98.9%–108.6%	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 Office of Construction & Facilities Management (CFM), by station	$9.4M	$31.3M	332.0%	3.0%–5675%	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	$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+)	$3.4M	—	—	—	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	$9.1M	—	—	—	Not comparable	Mostly National Cemetery Administration operating cost with no award record; only the burial-allowance and grant pieces appear on USAspending.

Compared categories · FY2025

Grey = GDX expenditure · teal = USAspending obligations (amber when outside tolerance)

Each pair is scaled to its own larger value.

Compensation & Pension100.0%
$1.3B
$1.3B
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment100.0%
$68.2M
$68.2M
Insurance & Indemnities105.6%
$7.3M
$7.7M
Construction332.0%
$9.4M
$31.3M

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 · FY2025

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 DISABILITY
64.109 · Compensation & Pension · 1,185 rows
$1.2B
VETERANS DEPENDENCY AND INDEMNITY COMPENSATION FOR SERVICE-CONNECTED DEATH
64.110 · Compensation & Pension · 977 rows
$97.3M
POST-9/11 VETERANS EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE
64.028 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 1,116 rows
$43.8M
PENSION FOR NON-SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABILITY FOR VETERANS
64.104 · Compensation & Pension · 910 rows
$15.2M
SURVIVORS AND DEPENDENTS EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE
64.117 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 991 rows
$11.6M
LIFE INSURANCE FOR VETERANS - DIRECT PAYMENTS FOR INSURANCE
64.031 · Insurance & Indemnities · 718 rows
$7.7M
VETERAN READINESS AND EMPLOYMENT
64.116 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 829 rows
$6.0M
PENSION TO VETERANS SURVIVING SPOUSES, AND CHILDREN
64.105 · Compensation & Pension · 862 rows
$5.4M
MONTGOMERY GI BILL SELECTED RESERVE
64.032 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 852 rows
$3.5M
SPECIALLY ADAPTED HOUSING FOR DISABLED VETERANS
64.106 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 33 rows
$1.5M
ALL-VOLUNTEER FORCE EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE
64.124 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 233 rows
$1.0M
AUTOMOBILES AND ADAPTIVE EQUIPMENT FOR CERTAIN DISABLED VETERANS AND MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES
64.100 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 30 rows
$735K
MONTHLY ALLOWANCE FOR CHILDREN OF VIETNAM VETERANS BORN WITH SPINA BIFIDA
64.127 · Compensation & Pension · 72 rows
$149K
POST-VIETNAM ERA VETERANS' EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE
64.120 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 7 rows
$5K

Construction contractors

PSC Y contracts performed in this state

COVENANT CONSTRUCTION SERVICES LLC
6 awards · largest action →
$29.7M
F&E CONSTRUCTION, LLC
1 award · largest action →
$1.3M
HURLEY JV, LLP
1 award · largest action →
$1.0M
BKM CONSTRUCTION LLC
1 award · largest action →
$582K
US DIVERSIFIED CONTRACTING SERVICES INC.
1 award · largest action →
$186K
AWG SERVICES, L.L.C.
1 award · largest action →
$134K
BRISTON CONSTRUCTION, LLC
1 award · largest action →
-$1.6M

Awarding offices (construction)

Office that recorded the obligation

PCAC (36C776)
8 awards
$30.2M
NETWORK CONTRACT OFFICE 23 (36C263)
2 awards
$716K
NATIONAL CEMETERY ADMIN (36C786)
1 awards
$186K
OFFICE OF CONSTRUCTION & FACILITIES MGMT (36C10F)
1 awards
$185K

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	$3.4M	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	$9.1M	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.

How this comparison is built

Like-for-like only: same state, same federal fiscal year (October–September), same category. USAspending programs are mapped to GDX categories by a published crosswalk.
Compared: Compensation & Pension, Education & VR&E, Insurance, and Construction (partly comparable). Not compared: Medical Care, General Operating Expenses, Loan Guaranty and Memorial Benefits — they are mostly VA payroll and operating cost, or are booked in ways that have no award counterpart.
GDX reports expenditures (money spent); USAspending reports obligations (commitments). A difference is listed as a variance to review only when the ratio sits outside the tolerance band derived from all states that year and exceeds 5 points and $1M.
For FY2012–FY2023 VA states that GDX Compensation & Pension and E&VRE were taken from USAspending.gov, so agreement in those years is expected rather than independent confirmation.

Full methodology, crosswalk and sources →

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.

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Source: VA NCVAS GDX FY2025 · USAspending.gov (VA, agency 036)