Veterans Affairs News 
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- Senators push Tangherlini for assurances GSA is improving
- Contractors with security clearances lack path to report problems
- Senator: IRS to pay $70M in employee bonuses
- Furlough song: Laugh or you'll cry
- Navy strikes enterprise licensing deal with Oracle
- 8 contract executives guilty of 8(a) contracting fraud
- Whistleblower suit leads to $12M false claims settlement by SAIC
- 29-year-old NASA engineer going where no one has gone before
- USPS reaches energy reduction goal ahead of schedule
- NOAA meteorologist helps save lives one storm at a time
- NASA picks 8 new astronauts, 4 of them women
- House passes sweeping $638 billion defense bill
- NIH tops list of best companies for baby boomers
- Latest postal reform proposal OKs 5-day delivery
VA needs to tighten oversight of G.I. Bill
Three senators say the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill needs tougher oversight after new figures show a quarter of the program's funds went to just eight companies that run for-profit colleges.
Agencies' health IT success becomes model for nation
The Department of Health and Human Services wants more people to access their own medical records online. The Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services already have successful programs in place. They use a "blue button" feature that lets patients download their data.
Analysis: VisTA move to open source could start government trend
Ed Meagher, a former Interior Department CIO and deputy CIO and Chief Technology Officer at VA, explains why he supports VisTA's move to open source.
Agency financial systems still deficient
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee found agencies manually input data into grants, contracts and loan systems. The committee also said at least 10 agencies don't have good oversight of the data quality.
Tuesday morning federal headlines Sept. 6
On today's Federal Drive: Veterans Affairs announced it will release its open-source EHR code, SSA announces new rules on banned visitors and the USPS prepares to testify about its dire financial straits.
VA opening up its e-health record
The Department of Veterans Affairs celebrated the opening of the online portal where development on its electronic health record system will proceed using an open source model. The effort could fundamentally change the way the government tackles large IT projects, VA's chief information officer said.
VA: $2B paid in Agent Orange claims
More than $2 billion as been paid — so far — to Vietnam veterans and their survivors who filed claims related to Agent Orange, after the VA last summer added to the list of diseases thought to be related to exposure.
SAMMIES finalist streamlined access to VA health care
Todd Grams, acting Assistant Secretary for Management and Chief Financial Officer at the VA, is the leader behind work to cut costs and make access easier for beneficiaries.
Cool Jobs: The Veteran's Healer
Diane Phillips is the patient-centered care coordinator at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Bring-your-own-smartphone becoming a reality
The Veterans Affairs Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are testing how employees' personal mobile devices would work on their networks. VA plans to start letting its workers use their smartphones on its network in October. CDC is focusing letting employees access only non-sensitive data.
VA seeks secure cloud-based collaboration tools
The VA has issued a request for information for secure cloud-based collaboration tools to head off the use of less secure web-based applications, such as Google Docs.
Wednesday morning federal headlines - August 17
On today's Federal Drive: VA's new social media policy, the Army restarts its cloud email migration and more buyouts at federal agencies.
VA encourages employees to use social media
The Department of Veterans Affairs' social media policy encourages VA employees to adopt Web-based collaboration tools.
VA employees pitch ways to help veterans find work
The Department of Veterans Affairs named 12 finalists in an employee contest to find ways to improve the agency's career training and counseling services.
Friday morning federal headlines - August 12
On today's Federal Drive: USPS announced it's considering massive job cuts, Veterans Affairs large-scale IT contract under siege from bid protests and expanded benefits to the post-9/11 GI Bill.
Two more protest VA's T4 contract
The Veterans Affairs Department's multibillion dollar IT contract is facing complaints by General Dynamics and Standard Communications. A third protestor, D&S Consultants, filed a different protest with the Court of Federal Claims. Meanwhile, VA has awarded SAIC the 15th and final spot on T4.
HUD finds program success in review sessions
The agency is using HUDStat sessions to set, oversee and accomplish performance goals. HUD and VA are using these meetings to ensure they are meeting their joint goal to reduce homelessness among veterans. HUD's Peter Grace said getting program managers to talk honestly about their challenges has been among the biggest changes.
VA employee helped bring online health access to vets
Kim Nazi is an analyst with the VA's Veterans and Consumers Health Informatics Office and a 2011 Service to America Medal finalist in the Citizen Services category.
DoD disability evaluations 'falling behind'
The Defense Department is not keeping up with the Department of Veterans Affairs in evaluating the disabilities of injured servicemembers, the Army's second highest ranking officer said Monday. The two agencies are working toward a joint system to reduce the evaluation time from 540 days to 295 days.
IBM protests $12B VA IT contract
IBM has protested the Veterans Affairs Department's multi-billion dollar information technology contract, under the Transformation 21 Total Technology (T4) program.
