Puerto Rico
GDX reports $1.6B of VA expenditures for Puerto Rico in FY2017, across all categories. In the 4 categories that can be compared like-for-like, GDX reports $926M and USAspending shows $1.0B of obligations (110.5%). 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 | $840M | $955M | 113.7% | 114.0%–114.9% | 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 | $58.4M | $60.2M | 103.1% | 103.1%–103.1% | 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 | $3.6M | $2.4M | 65.1% | 56.0%–98.7% | 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 | $23.9M | $5.3M | 22.2% | 2.8%–1756% | 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 | $663M | — | — | — | 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 | $24.2M | — | — | — | 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 · FY2017
Grey = GDX expenditure · teal = USAspending obligations (amber when outside tolerance)
Each pair is scaled to its own larger value.
- Compensation & Pension113.7%$840M$955M
- Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment103.1%$58.4M$60.2M
- Insurance & Indemnities65.1%$3.6M$2.4M
- Construction22.2%$23.9M$5.3M
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 · 933 rows$711M
- PENSION FOR NON-SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABILITY FOR VETERANS64.104 · Compensation & Pension · 924 rows$97.7M
- VETERANS DEPENDENCY AND INDEMNITY COMPENSATION FOR SERVICE-CONNECTED DEATH64.110 · Compensation & Pension · 824 rows$66.3M
- PENSION TO VETERANS SURVIVING SPOUSES, AND CHILDREN64.105 · Compensation & Pension · 908 rows$55.7M
- POST-9/11 VETERANS EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE64.028 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 908 rows$36.3M
- BURIAL EXPENSES ALLOWANCE FOR VETERANS64.101 · Compensation & Pension · 866 rows$24.9M
- SURVIVORS AND DEPENDENTS EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE64.117 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 868 rows$13.9M
- VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION FOR DISABLED VETERANS64.116 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 784 rows$5.5M
- MONTGOMERY GI BILL SELECTED RESERVE; RESERVE EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM64.032 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 868 rows$3.9M
- LIFE INSURANCE FOR VETERANS - DIRECT PAYMENTS FOR INSURANCE64.031 · Insurance & Indemnities · 602 rows$2.4M
- ALL-VOLUNTEER FORCE EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE64.124 · Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment · 304 rows$547K
- STATE CEMETERY GRANTS64.203 · Construction · 1 rows-$817K
Construction contractors
PSC Y contracts performed in this state
- WALSH PUERTO RICO, LLC1 award · largest action →$4.2M
- WEST CONSTRUCTION, INC.1 award · largest action →$959K
- $375K
- $217K
- $165K
- $126K
- PRESCO-BETA ELECTRIC1 award · largest action →$65K
Awarding offices (construction)
Office that recorded the obligation
- OFFICE OF CONSTRUCTION & FACILITIES MGMT (36C10F)2 awards$5.2M
- 248-NETWORK CONTRACT OFFICE 8 (36C248)12 awards$822K
- 672-SAN JUAN (00672)(36C672)1 awards$126K
Observations for Puerto Rico, all years
- Puerto Rico — Insurance & Indemnities, FY2019low · strength 0.65
GDX reports $3.1M of Insurance & Indemnities expenditures for Puerto Rico in FY2019; USAspending shows $1.8M of obligations under the same category definitions (57.6% of GDX). The ratio sits below the tolerance band set by 52 compared states that year (60.6% to 109.0%; median 82.1%). 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.
- Puerto Rico — Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment, FY2018low · strength 0.77
GDX reports $45.1M of Education & Vocational Rehabilitation/Employment expenditures for Puerto Rico in FY2018; USAspending shows $54.8M of obligations under the same category definitions (121.7% of GDX). The ratio sits above the tolerance band set by 53 compared states that year (92.8% to 116.5%; median 103.4%). GDX figures are expenditures and USAspending figures are obligations; the difference is a variance to review, not a finding.
Benign explanation: For FY2012–FY2023 VA states that GDX Compensation & Pension and E&VRE (and FY2023 Insurance) were taken from USAspending.gov, so agreement is expected; a variance points to a later revision or a state-assignment difference.
- Puerto Rico — Insurance & Indemnities, FY2016low · strength 0.94
GDX reports $4.3M of Insurance & Indemnities expenditures for Puerto Rico in FY2016; USAspending shows $1.9M of obligations under the same category definitions (45.4% of GDX). The ratio sits below the tolerance band set by 52 compared states that year (61.4% to 106.3%; median 82.6%). 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.
- Puerto Rico — Insurance & Indemnities, FY2015low · strength 0.82
GDX reports $5.2M of Insurance & Indemnities expenditures for Puerto Rico in FY2015; USAspending shows $2.6M of obligations under the same category definitions (49.1% of GDX). The ratio sits below the tolerance band set by 52 compared states that year (58.1% to 111.7%; median 83.0%). 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.
Categories GDX reports that are not compared
| Category | GDX expenditure | How GDX places it | Why not compared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medical Care | $663M | 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 | $24.2M | 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 79,322 and 54,248 unique VA patients for Puerto Rico. 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.