Veterans Affairs News 
Top News
- IRS to pay $70M in bonuses, Grassley says
- Small companies won't feel effect of lowered contractor pay cap
- Senators push Tangherlini for assurances GSA is improving
- As VA works to eliminate one backlog, one more might emerge
- BRAC-like commission proposed to hunt down government cost savings
- Sequestration claims another conference: DHS's GFirst cyber event
- Postal Service closing Capitol Hill post offices in 'symbolic' move
- Senators seek cost cuts for F-35 fighter jet
- Fed pens new furlough song
- Web guru Dorris brings new life to government websites
- EPA CIO Jackson returning to private sector
- Navy strikes enterprise licensing deal with Oracle
- Contractors with security clearances lack path to report problems
- NSA leak case gives vendors reason to reevaluate personnel
- 8 contract executives guilty of 8(a) contracting fraud
- Whistleblower suit leads to $12M false claims settlement by SAIC
Senate passes bill boosting payments to veterans
The Senate sent the White House a bill on Tuesday giving nearly 4 million veterans and survivors a 1.7 percent increase in their monthly benefit payments next year.
VA contract moves 600,000 email users to the cloud
The Department of Veterans Affairs awarded a five- year, $36 million contract to HP Enterprise Services to move 600,000 VA users to the cloud for email and calendar use.
Major hurdles remain to end veteran homelessness
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki made a bold promise in 2009: The administration would end homelessness among veterans by 2015. The former four-star general says now they're "on target" to meet the goal.
Vets say late pay from VA cripples their finances
Exasperated veterans who work part-time for the Veterans Administration while attending college say their paychecks are sometimes weeks late, leaving them in trouble with bill collectors or having to borrow money to avoid eviction.
Arlington Cemetery debuts new interactive map
Arlington National Cemetery on Monday made available to the public a massive electronic database detailing the gravesites of the roughly 400,000 people buried there.
TBI treatment improves after 10 years of war
Dr. Andrew Ritcheson of DRC spoke the to Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Emily Kopp about what medical professionals have learned from 10 years of war about treating traumatic brain injuries.
VA gears up to standardize ratings for exceptional employees
The Veterans Affairs Department's National Cemetery Administration is testing the new employee appraisal system, called GEAR, to better define and measure employee performance. The Coast Guard also is preparing a pilot of the approached designed by the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations.
DoD bans entertainment, swag at conferences
No more motivational speakers, musicians or promotional swag. The Defense Department is banning entertainment-related expenses at its conferences, according to a new memo from Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.
Collins wants to know why VA conference planners received bonuses
In an Oct. 9 letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinskei, Sen. Susan Collins requested the agency disclose whether employees responsible for planning the two conferences held in Orlando, Fla., last summer, also worked on other conferences. In addition, Collins said she wants to know how much conference planners earned in bonuses and other awards for their work.
Republican lawmakers call for ouster of VA official who approved conferences
Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the ranking member of the Senate committee, called on VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to fire his chief of staff, John Gingrich after an inspector general report said he failed to ask the right questions before approving two training conferences. The conferences costs $6.1 million, with as much as $762,000 in questionable spending.
Where's Fido? VA may prevent funding for PTSD service dogs
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) is calling on the Department of Veterans Affairs to not follow through on a directive that will go into effect on Friday that would prevent funding for service dogs to help veterans with mental disabilities.
Agencies ignoring billions in savings from strategic sourcing
Agencies are missing out on billions of dollars in savings by not using strategic-sourcing contracts, particularly when buying services, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. The report finds the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs and Energy spent less than 5 percent of their combined acquisition budgets through strategic sourcing and saved less than $2 billion.
Phased retirement, postal buyouts, VA problems
Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller
and Federal Times Senior Writers Stephen Losey and
Sean Reilly join host Mike Causey to talk about
phased retirements, sequestration and more.
October 3, 2012
VA awards contract for mobile device management, apps store
Procurement will start with management of 5,000 mobile devices, plus app stores for consumers inside and outside of VA. The agency awarded a three-year, $9.3 million deal to Longview International Technology Solutions to build and manage the technology in the cloud.
Healthcare IT
Greg Wappel, vice president for Business Development for Adeptus Solution, Inc., will discuss patient claims processing and other healthcare IT issues.
October 2, 2012
Failed leadership blamed for VA conference spending scandal
Two Veterans Affairs Department training conferences held last summer in Orlando, Fla., contained as much as $762,000 in wasteful spending and were plagued by poor planning and oversight, according to an inspector general report released Monday.
VA CHCO resigns one day before IG releases conference spending report
John Sepulveda, the chief human capital officer at the Veterans Affairs Department, resigned Sunday. The agency's inspector general is expected to release a final report today on two human resources conferences last year that cost the department $5 million.
U.S. to spend $100M on PTSD, brain injury research
Officials say one in six service members and vets suffer from PTSD. The research will focus on spotting symptoms, prevention and treatment.
DoD, VA's health IT efforts grow out of leadership, necessity
The agencies soon will issue solicitations that will take them one step closer to deploying integrated electronic health records for service members, veterans and their families. The departments have been working on the project for years but have only recently begun to demonstrate tangible progress.
As new vets go online, VA and others follow
Tech-savvy vets finding support online.
