Veterans Affairs
-
The acquisition workforce is issue number one for just about every person Federal News Radio has talked to as part of our special report "The Missing Pieces of Procurement Reform". Today's focus - taking stock for the future. Melissa Starinsky is chancellor of the VA Acquisition Academy. On In Depth with Francis Rose, she said they're realizing some success in training the acquisition workforce of the future.
October 16, 2014 -
Susan Taylor, the Veterans Health Administration deputy chief procurement officer, resigned and retired Oct. 14. She sent an email to staff announcing her decision as VA had started the process to fire her.
October 14, 2014 -
Sloan Gibson, VA's deputy secretary, said he's proposed the removal of Susan Taylor, the deputy chief procurement officer at the Veterans Health Administration. Gibson will use the new authorities provided by Congress and President Barack Obama in August under the Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014.
October 06, 2014 -
A new law signed by the President last month gives the Veterans Affairs secretary lots of discretion to fire or demote members of the Senior Executive Service. The law came in response to management problems resulting in long wait times for admittance to VA facilities. The law means SESers at VA work under a different set of civil service rules than those in the rest of government. It also imposes new burdens on the Merit Systems Protection Board. The board issued an interim final rule on how the agency will carry out the new mandate. Chairwoman Susan Tsui Grundmann joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss the comments the board received about the rule and what the law does require of the board.
October 06, 2014 -
The Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management planned to bring on Susan Taylor, the Veterans Health Administration's deputy chief procurement officer, but now has changed its mind. Taylor is accused by the VA inspector general of committing procurement fraud, lying to investigators and having a conflict of interest by promoting FedBid.
October 02, 2014 -
The Veterans Affairs inspector general issued a report alleging the deputy chief procurement officer at the Veterans Health Administration used her position to promote and award a contract to FedBid, a reverse auction vendor, and improperly acted as an agent of the vendor, creating a conflict of interest.
September 29, 2014 -
The Defense Department says its forthcoming purchase of a commercial-off-the-shelf electronic health record system is the best way to bring it into line with modern health IT practices and make its data more interoperable. But even after the system is deployed, DoD will be living with legacy data and paper records for years to come.
September 25, 2014 -
A big contractor goes to court to challenge the Veterans Affairs Department's plan to limit a solicitation for services to small businesses - and the big guy wins. The details of the case make it one to watch, according to our procurement expert. Attorney Joe Petrillo explained the case of Rotech v. United States on the Federal Drive.
September 25, 2014 -
The Office of Government Ethics says the Veterans Affairs Department needs to expand the legal team responsible for ensuring employees follow government ethics rules. The team has just 19 people, in a department of more than 342,000.
September 23, 2014 -
New leadership at the Veterans Affairs Department has its union, the American Federation of Government Employees, are hoping for better times ahead. VA is just one agency working to repair relations between unionized employees and their managers. Some unions within the National Council on Federal Labor Management Relations say agencies are shutting them out their meetings before making decisions. J. David Cox, president of AFGE, tells Federal News Radio's Emily Kopp why pre-decisional involvement is important to unions and employees.
September 18, 2014 -
During an ongoing Veterans Affairs inspector general investigation, more than a dozen VA officials lied to investigators. Given what officials have learned so far, the practices that raised alarms in Phoenix are pervasive throughout the Veterans Health Administration.
September 10, 2014 -
The Veterans Affairs Department has ramped up referrals to private doctors in order to get patients the care they need more quickly. But several unions that represent VA employees argue, the uptick in referrals could signal a shift toward privatizing the VA. This all comes as Secretary Robert McDonald aims to fix how the VA treats its veterans following major reform legislation passed by Congress this past summer. Irma Westmoreland is a registered nurse and chairwoman of National Nurses United for Veterans Affairs. She joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with her take on changes at the VA.
September 09, 2014 -
In this week's edition of Inside the DoD Reporter's Notebook, Jared Serbu examines news and buzz in the Defense community that you might have missed including: DoD-VA medical record sharing still too slow; VA kicks off new drive to hire docs; DISA plans follow-on to Encore II contract
August 29, 2014 -
A new report from the Merit Systems Protection Board says that it's time for Congress to simplify the overly complex veterans preference laws to make sure they're doing what Congress put them in place to do.
August 28, 2014 -
Almost 125,000 veterans die every year. The Department of Veterans Affairs is responsible for laying them to rest with honor, and for that service the VA has the highest customer satisfaction rating of any organization -- public or private -- in the country. Ronald Walters is acting undersecretary for memorial affairs at the Veterans Affairs Department. He's a Service to America medal finalist in the Management Excellence category. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he explained why the VA is so successful in this arena. View a gallery of all the Sammies finalists.
August 27, 2014