Veterans Affairs

  • Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald on Wednesday asked a Republican lawmaker who served in both Iraq wars, "What have you done?" as the two men sparred over huge cost overruns at a troubled Denver VA hospital.

    February 12, 2015
  • The Veterans Health Administration wants to reinvent how it pays its doctors. To do that, it's modernizing its health care system in a data-driven way. Mark Byers is CEO of DSS Inc. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he explained ways data can reinvent and improve health care for the federal government.

    February 05, 2015
  • In their first round of congressional testimony, members of the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission cited glaring gaps between the policies and services provided by DoD and VA. Their report found that existing systems to bridge the gap are mostly a paperwork exercise.

    February 04, 2015
  • Bonuses went to some employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs who later got caught up in the wait time scandal, and other incidents at the agency. The congressman who sponsored the bill that makes it easier to fire SESers at VA wants to go after those bonuses now. Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) is chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he said seeing results from the VA Management Accountability Act of 2014 (the firing bill that President Barack Obama signed late last year) won't happen overnight.

    January 28, 2015
  • Blowing the whistle on wrongdoing at the Department of Veterans Affairs can mean risking everything from losing a job to losing the respect of co-workers. But in fighting whistleblower retaliation today, the Office of Special Counsel hopes future whistleblowers will come forward without fear of punishment.

    January 28, 2015
  • The massive reorganization the Veterans Affairs Department has unveiled begins with a simple premise: everyone should work from the same starting point. VA said it has now created a single map made up of five regions that the Veterans Health Administration, the Veterans Benefits Administration, the National Cemetery Administration and several other offices will work from instead of the nine separate regional maps that existed previously.

    January 26, 2015
  • The Department of Veterans Affairs began the biggest transformation in its history with a simple premise: everyone working from the same starting point. VA announced today the first of what likely will be many reorganizations, starting with its regional map. Federal News Radio executive editor Jason Miller joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss where VA's transformation is heading.

    January 26, 2015
  • Mandiant issued a report finding the Veterans Affairs Department network domain controllers had no evidence of data theft, such as the loss of credentials, personal information or personal health information or VA sensitive information. But some congressional sources are skeptical of Mandiant's findings, calling it too narrow to be sure the network and veterans data is safe.

    January 26, 2015
  • House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller wants new ways to punish SES members accused of misconduct, including possible pension reductions, limits on paid leave. He also wants to curtail VA's bonus award system.

    January 23, 2015
  • VA will seek at least $1.1 billion from Congress to rescue a Denver hospital project that was supposed to cost $600 million. The final price tag won't be known for several more months. VA also asked the Army Corps to conduct a complete examination of its major construction programs across the country.

    January 23, 2015
  • Veterans Affairs whistleblowers reclaimed their jobs and reputations after supervisors tried to downplay claims of falsified performance reports, a delayed response to rape allegations against a VA employee and low staffing levels at VA medical centers.

    January 20, 2015
  • The reverse auction vendor says its decision to split up its federal and commercial businesses has nothing to do with the critical Veterans Affairs inspector general report from September. Joe Jordan said FedBid has taken several steps to ensure any problems highlighted by the IG are resolved.

    January 20, 2015
  • With the challenges that chief information officers face today, it is worth asking whether becoming a CIO is worth the work and jeopardy it seems to entail, says former FAA IT leader Bob Woods in a new commentary.

    January 15, 2015
  • We've gone through the first 400 bills in the new Congress to pull out those you'll want to watch, from a measure to kick political appointees out of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan to three that embrace across-the-board spending cuts.

    January 08, 2015