The main lawsuit filed by Veterans Evaluation Services was a 2017 bid protest the company brought against the federal government and lost, but the litigation record is only a small part of the story. VES, a Houston-based contractor now owned by Maximus, Inc., performs medical disability examinations for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the more serious problems documented against the company come from federal audits, a poor Better Business Bureau record, and years of congressional scrutiny over exam accuracy and oversight.
The 2017 Bid Protest VES Filed and Lost
The case carrying the VES name in federal court is Veterans Evaluation Services, Inc. v. United States, a post-award bid protest filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. VES challenged the VA’s award of indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts for medical disability examination services across seven geographic districts. Each contract carried a guaranteed minimum of $3.7 million and a ceiling of $6.8 billion.1U.S. Government Accountability Office. Veterans Evaluation Services, Inc.; QTC Medical Services, Inc.; VetFed Resources, Inc.
VES argued that the solicitation’s treatment of option-year pricing was unclear, that the VA’s price benchmarks were skewed by high-priced bidders, that the VA conducted misleading price discussions, and that the agency had failed to investigate organizational conflicts of interest among affiliated companies receiving awards in the same district.2Midpage. Veterans Evaluation Services, Inc. v. United States
The court rejected all of these claims. The judge ruled that VES had waived its right to challenge the pricing and benchmark terms by failing to raise those objections before the bidding deadline, a standard rule in government contract disputes. The court found the misleading-discussions argument unsupported by the administrative record and concluded that the VA had reasonably investigated the alleged conflicts. VES’s motion for judgment was denied, and so was its request for an injunction to halt contract performance while it appealed.2Midpage. Veterans Evaluation Services, Inc. v. United States
Other Lawsuits and Complaints Involving VES
Beyond the bid protest, reporting by The American Prospect in November 2024 cataloged several separate legal and workplace matters. In 2015, VES settled a lawsuit brought by an employee who alleged wage theft. The same year, the Tampa Bay Times reported that VES had referred dozens of veterans to a Tampa doctor who was under federal investigation. In 2018, a nurse named Margaret Rajnic who briefly worked for VES described the organization as “poorly run,” with reviewers who lacked familiarity with basic medical terminology, and said she was fired after raising concerns about business practices. In 2022, a veteran filed a lawsuit alleging VES committed multiple errors during the disability claims process.3The American Prospect. A Contracting Gold Mine That Hurts Veterans
The company holds an “F” rating from the Better Business Bureau, which opened its file in March 2021. Of 28 complaints filed over the past three years, VES failed to respond to 26. Recurring themes include appointments scheduled without veteran input, delays in transmitting exam results to the VA, examiners who appeared unqualified, and failures to pay required travel reimbursements.4Better Business Bureau. Veterans Evaluation Services Complaints
Critics have also flagged VES’s use of subcontracted staff to review and condense veterans’ medical files. Job listings for these roles, sometimes called “bookmakers,” reportedly did not require medical training or a college degree.3The American Prospect. A Contracting Gold Mine That Hurts Veterans
What Federal Audits Found About Exam Quality
For veterans going through the disability process, the audit findings matter more than any single lawsuit. A June 2022 VA Office of Inspector General report found that all three major exam vendors, including VES, failed to consistently meet the contractually required 92 percent accuracy rate. For calendar year 2020, none of the vendors hit that mark, and accuracy rates ranged from 72 to 87 percent. Of approximately 12,150 exams reviewed, the OIG estimated around 2,700 contained errors, and roughly 2,000 of those could have affected the veteran’s claim decision. About 690 flawed exams were never corrected before claims processors finalized their decisions.5VA Office of Inspector General. Contract Medical Exam Program Limitations Put Veterans at Risk for Inaccurate Claims Decisions
The same report found that the VA’s contracting officer had suspended monetary penalties for poor performance indefinitely, citing an inability to accurately track vendor timeliness. Under the contract terms, vendors would have had to fail simultaneously in quality, timeliness, and veteran satisfaction before any enforcement action could be taken.5VA Office of Inspector General. Contract Medical Exam Program Limitations Put Veterans at Risk for Inaccurate Claims Decisions
Problems at Exam Facilities
A May 2024 OIG inspection found accessibility, safety, and cleanliness violations at 114 of 135 contract exam sites visited. Problems included missing or broken wheelchair access, moldy bathrooms, and evidence of vermin. The OIG concluded that the VA’s Medical Disability Examination Office had relied on contractors to self-certify their compliance rather than conducting independent verification. All nine recommendations from the report have since been closed as implemented.6VA Office of Inspector General. Better Oversight Needed of Accessibility, Safety, and Cleanliness at Contract Facilities Offering VA Disability Exams
Congressional Scrutiny and Ongoing Oversight Gaps
The privatized exam program has grown quickly since the 2022 PACT Act opened the VA to millions of additional toxic-exposure claims. In fiscal year 2024, contractors performed approximately 3.2 million exams at a cost exceeding $5 billion, and by that year contractors handled 93 percent of all disability exams.7U.S. Government Accountability Office. VA Disability Benefits: Additional Oversight and Information Could Improve Quality of Contracted Exams for Veterans
A September 2024 GAO report found that the VA’s procedures for verifying whether contractors actually completed corrective action plans were incomplete. That recommendation was later closed as implemented after the VA updated its procedures and began sharing more detailed error-trend data with contractors.8U.S. Government Accountability Office. VA Disability Exams: Improvements Needed to Strengthen Oversight of Contractors’ Corrective Actions
An August 2025 GAO report identified further problems. The VA’s exam oversight office had overpaid contractors by more than $2 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 because of manual data-entry errors and a lack of written procedures for verifying incentive payment calculations. The VA had also fallen behind on its schedule for focused reviews of high-risk complex claims involving traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma, and Gulf War illness. And the VA had no direct channel for contracted examiners to raise quality concerns, so examiners had to go through the contractors, who rarely passed feedback along.7U.S. Government Accountability Office. VA Disability Benefits: Additional Oversight and Information Could Improve Quality of Contracted Exams for Veterans
The VA finalized new standard operating procedures for financial calculations in September 2025, launched a direct feedback form for examiners, and recalculated all incentive payments dating back to fiscal year 2022. A VA official testified in November 2025 that the identified overpayments had been recouped. The VA shifted its review cycle for complex claims from every two years to every three, citing resource constraints. As of late 2025, five GAO recommendations across the two most recent reports remained open.9U.S. Government Accountability Office. VA Disability Benefits: Additional Oversight and Information Could Improve Quality of Contracted Exams for Veterans
In October 2025 testimony before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, the American Legion said it was unaware of any instance in which the VA had canceled or substantially modified a contractor’s agreement for poor performance despite years of OIG and GAO findings. The Legion also flagged veterans who had been subjected to 60 or even 104 exams, and individual examiners signing off on seven multi-page disability questionnaires in a single day.10The American Legion. Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Testimony
VES Is Still Doing VA Disability Exams
None of these findings has cost VES its contract. In January 2025, the Veterans Benefits Administration awarded VES new contracts for domestic Regions 1 through 4, covering the continental United States. The contracts were recompeted ahead of schedule because the PACT Act claims surge caused demand to hit volume caps in the prior agreements earlier than expected. Each new regional contract includes a one-year base period with a single option year extending through 2026. VES also continues to hold separate contracts for Region 6, covering pre-discharge exams, and Region 7, covering exams outside the continental U.S.11Veterans Evaluation Services. Maximus Wins Contracts to Continue Medical Disability Exam Services for Veterans
Maximus, which acquired VES on June 1, 2021, disclosed in its fiscal year 2024 annual report that its U.S. Federal Services segment, which includes VES, generated 52 percent of total company revenue. The company acknowledged that performance failures could lead to penalties, liquidated damages, or contract termination.12Maximus Investor Relations. Maximus 2024 Form 10-K If your VA disability exam is scheduled through VES and you have concerns about the accuracy of the exam or the condition of the facility, the audit record above documents the categories of problem federal reviewers have found and provides a factual basis for raising those concerns with your VA claims contact.