Veterans Affairs News 
Top News
- Data breach puts DHS workers at risk of ID theft
- DoD to pursue commercial alternative to VA's VistA system
- Obama to nominate Tangherlini as GSA administrator
- PHOTOS: Meet the 2013 Service to America Medal Finalists
- House GOP panel moves on deep budget cuts
- OMB fuels synergy between mobile, open data
- IRS official Lerner: 'I did nothing wrong'
- OMB reworking financial system requirements to focus on outcomes, not inputs
- Retirement funds temporarily tapped to avoid debt limit default
- VanRoekel to lead OMB management team
- SBA starting new lending program for veterans
- New Apple devices cleared to join DoD IT networks
- Bonuses under fire at GSA, other agencies
- Wednesday federal headlines - May 22, 2013
Indian Health Service facing data deadline
Acting CIO Howard Hays said the agency is taking advantage of the work VA is doing to update its systems. Indian Health Services borrows heavily from VA's VistA electronic health records system.
November 17, 2011(Encore presentation December 29, 2011)
VA Acquisition Academy teaches both technical and interpersonal skills
Lisa Doyle is chancellor of VA's Acquisition Academy.
Pilot program trains vets to be execs
Kelly O'Connor, president of Efiia Cares, shares details of the program.
VA's acqusition overhaul a 'firm commitment'
VA's expert on that front is Glenn Haggstrom, the executive director of the department's Office of Acquisition, Logistics and Construction. joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Amy Morris from the 2011 Government Contract Management Conference with his perspective on acquisition.
Training new acquisition leaders
Host Roger Waldron is joined by Lisa Doyle, Chancellor of the Department of Veteran Affairs Acquisition Academy. They will talk about the academy's curriculum and its vision.
November 15, 2011
VA solves project management woes through competency models
The agency puts employees in pools based on their expertise, and then the employees move from project to project based on the needs of that program. VA now is working on 60 percent more projects than under the previous approach.
November 10, 2011(Encore presentation December 22, 2011)
Analysis: Fighting veteran homelessness takes more than money
Maj. Brian Hampton is president of the Center for American Homeless Veterans.
VA to reevaluate T4 protester's bid
The Court of Federal Claims rules in VA's favor on five of six counts. But VA must relook at Standard Communications' bid to see if it meets the solicitation's best value criteria.
Labor Department rolls out job-search website for veterans
Jane Oates, the assistant secretary for the Employment and Training Administration at the Labor Department, joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Amy Morris to discuss how a new veteran-specific job website works.
Analysis: Vets need small biz guidance
Scott Denniston, executive director of programs at the National Veteran-Owned Business Association, discusses the barriers to veterans getting small business contracts.
New federal hiring concentrated in DoD, VA, DHS
Despite considerations to cut federal workforce sizes, three agencies' staff have been growing in recent years.
Senators call for probe into veteran-owned contracting
Three senators are calling for a Government Accountability Office investigation to ensure federal contracts are actually going to businesses owned by veterans and service-disabled vets.
PTSD — there's an app for that
A smartphone application — released by the Defense and Veterans Affairs Departments in the spring — leverages the power of mobile technology to help veterans better manage post-traumatic stress disorder.
OMB wants 'single door' for vendors at each agency
Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel wants agencies to create vendor management organizations to centralize how contractors work with departments. So far, four agencies are piloting the vendor management organizations. VanRoekel, who also wants agencies to use investment review boards more for strategic goals, said the use of both tools "very much align with our priorities to do more with less."
VA's mobile strategy aims for flexibility, multiple devices
The Veterans Affairs Department wants to hedge its bets when it comes to its planned rollout of up to 100,000 tablet devices. IT leaders worry about the unpredictability of the mobile technology landscape, and don't want to spend millions to develop apps for a platform that risks being superseded by a competitor.
DoD, VA health IT records require speaking in 'same language'
Beth McGrath, the deputy chief performance officer at DoD, discussed why an interoperable electronic health record — or EHR — makes sense and how the project is coming along.
Agencies can say no to GAO recs
By law, agencies do not have to follow GAO's recommendations — but most do, says William Welch, chair of the Government Contracts Practice Group at General Counsel.
VA envisions deployment of 100,000 tablet computers
The Department of Veterans Affairs is taking another step toward the deployment of tablet computers to its workforce. VA has sent a request for information to industry in the hopes of buying a mobile device management platform that will let it secure and manage tens of thousands of tablets across the enterprise. The plans call for a deployment of 10,000 tablets running Apple's iOS, Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows Mobile to start. They plan to eventually increase that to up to 100,000 tablets.
VA begins "ruthless reductions"
The Department of Veterans Affairs thinks it can squeeze around 50 million dollars from its technology budget by using hardware and software more efficiently. VA is launching what it calls its ruthless reduction project. For example, employees will be given a choice of a laptop or a desktop computer - not both. VA will get rid of printers at individual employee desks and move to multifunction devices. And they'll implement more server virtualization, to cut down on the physical IT infrastructure they operate.
VA's Blue Button now being adopted by private sector
The Veterans Affairs Department is trying to get the wider public to adopt the "Blue Button" technology it developed to give its patients direct access to their medical information. Atlanta-based RelayHealth won a department-sponsored contest for the fastest company to develop and implement the single-click technology that allows patients to download their health records.
