Glassbox VA · geography · FY2024

Massachusetts

GDX reports $4.1B of VA expenditures for Massachusetts in FY2024, across all categories. In the 3 categories that can be compared like-for-like, GDX reports $1.9B and USAspending shows $1.9B of obligations (100.4%). Every compared category is within the tolerance band set by all states this year.

← All states, FY2024

Category comparison · FY2024

GDX expenditure, USAspending obligations, coverage ratio

Category comparison for Massachusetts, FY2024
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	$1.7B	$1.7B	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	$206M	$206M	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)	$0	$17.0M	—	93.5%–126.8%	Too small to compare	GDX reports less than $1M here; ratios on small amounts reflect rounding, not coverage.
Construction GDX source: VA Office of Construction & Facilities Management (CFM), by station	$5.8M	$14.2M	243.1%	5.6%–5801%	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	$2.1B	—	—	—	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+)	$294K	—	—	—	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	$17.2M	—	—	—	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%
$1.7B
$1.7B
Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment100.0%
$206M
$206M
Construction243.1%
$5.8M
$14.2M

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 Massachusetts).

Assistance listings

Obligations mapped into compared categories

VETERANS COMPENSATION FOR SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABILITY
64.109 · Compensation & Pension · 164 rows
$1.6B
POST-9/11 VETERANS EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE
64.028 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 165 rows
$147M
VETERANS DEPENDENCY AND INDEMNITY COMPENSATION FOR SERVICE-CONNECTED DEATH
64.110 · Compensation & Pension · 152 rows
$117M
VETERAN READINESS AND EMPLOYMENT
64.116 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 150 rows
$40.0M
PENSION FOR NON-SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABILITY FOR VETERANS
64.104 · Compensation & Pension · 149 rows
$21.2M
LIFE INSURANCE FOR VETERANS - DIRECT PAYMENTS FOR INSURANCE
64.031 · Insurance & Indemnities · 537 rows
$17.0M
SURVIVORS AND DEPENDENTS EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE
64.117 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 160 rows
$12.9M
PENSION TO VETERANS SURVIVING SPOUSES, AND CHILDREN
64.105 · Compensation & Pension · 140 rows
$7.9M
AUTOMOBILES AND ADAPTIVE EQUIPMENT FOR CERTAIN DISABLED VETERANS AND MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES
64.100 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 45 rows
$2.0M
SPECIALLY ADAPTED HOUSING FOR DISABLED VETERANS
64.106 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 59 rows
$1.9M
MONTGOMERY GI BILL SELECTED RESERVE
64.032 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 139 rows
$1.8M
MONTHLY ALLOWANCE FOR CHILDREN OF VIETNAM VETERANS BORN WITH SPINA BIFIDA
64.127 · Compensation & Pension · 108 rows
$589K
ALL-VOLUNTEER FORCE EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE
64.124 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 111 rows
$467K
VETERAN RAPID RETRAINING ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
64.130 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 20 rows
$66K
POST-VIETNAM ERA VETERANS' EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE
64.120 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 26 rows
$24K

Construction contractors

PSC Y contracts performed in this state

BILLY W. JARRETT CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INC.
1 award · largest action →
$11.5M
WILLIAMS BUILDING COMPANY, INC.
2 awards · largest action →
$894K
AMERITECH CONTRACTING LLC
2 awards · largest action →
$823K
IRONCLAD SERVICES INC
1 award · largest action →
$634K
VETERANS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, INC.
1 award · largest action →
$322K
CARRIGG COMMERCIAL BUILDERS LLC
2 awards · largest action →
$309K
VETERANS FIRE AND LIFE SAFETY CORPORATION
1 award · largest action →
$120K
PDT ARCHITECTS PA
1 award · largest action →
-$4K
RICHARD GROUP LLC
1 award · largest action →
-$431K

Awarding offices (construction)

Office that recorded the obligation

PCAC (36C776)
3 awards
$11.7M
241-NETWORK CONTRACT OFFICE 01 (36C241)
9 awards
$2.4M

Pattern · geographic reconciliation variance

Observations for Massachusetts, all years

Every year in which a compared category for Massachusetts sat outside the tolerance band. Evidence strength follows the site-wide formula; the note is the most applicable benign explanation.

Massachusetts — Construction, FY2023medium · strength 0.51
GDX reports $1.2M of Construction expenditures for Massachusetts in FY2023; USAspending shows $230M of obligations under the same category definitions (19548% of GDX). The ratio sits above 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: 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.

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	$2.1B	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	$294K	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	$17.2M	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.

← All states

Source: VA NCVAS GDX FY2024 · USAspending.gov (VA, agency 036)