VA updates stats on veteran suicide

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on  Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

• Veterans Affairs revises a vital statistic, and it’s still a terrible number. VA Statisticians analyzed 55 million records covering 35 years. Their goal: An accurate count of suicides among veterans. They found 20 vets committed suicide per day by 2014. The old estimate was 22. VA says two-thirds of the suicides were by vets who were at least 50 years old. The veteran suicide rate has climbed faster for those who don’t use VA services. (Department of Veterans Affairs)

• The Transportation Security Administration is reorganizing its chief human capital office. Deputy Administrator Hudan Gowadia says it will help the agency better respond to its workforce and allegations of employee misconduct. Allegations between fiscal 2013 and 2015 went up by nearly 29%. That’s according to a new report from the House Homeland Security Committee. The committee says TSA also investigated fewer allegations during that same time. House lawmakers say TSA has five different entities that could investigate these cases. (Federal News Radio)

• A panel of Defense experts say they agree with most of the proposed reforms to the the Defense Department contained in the Senate’s 2017 Defense Authorization bill. They tell the House Armed Services Committee they agree with the idea of breaking down the office of acquisition, technology, and logistics. However, they advised against the 25% across the board cut it calls for. (Federal News Radio)

• The U.S. military is paying more for less in Afghanistan. The Defense Department is spending $100 million this year to keep troops out of Afghanistan in order to stay under the troop caps. Lt. General Kevin Mangum tells Congress instead of sending extra troops to do the job, the Army used private contractors to service military aircraft overseas. Military maintenance crews can usually take care of aircraft for a fraction of the price of companies. The news comes as President Obama announces he will keep more troops in Afghanistan than expected. Obama says he’ll keep 8,400 troops in Afghanistan in 2017. (Federal News Radio)

• The Navy awards a major contract to United Technologies and Pratt & Whitney Military Engines worth over $1.5 billion. It’s a modification of a previous contract for parts and materials needed for the production of F135-PW-100 engines that power the F-35 aircraft. Purchasers include the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, plus allies who also buy the F-35. (Department of Defense)

• Video showing a State Department employee in Russia getting tackled by a Russian cop has rattled nerves in Foggy Bottom. Spokesman John Kirby says officials are extremely troubled by this and other incidents of Russian harassment. He says it came up in conversations between Secretary John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. (State Department)

• An app to help with natural-disaster relief from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency goes public. Mobile Awareness GEOINT Environment or MAGE app allows users to create field reports and record observations using photos, videos, and voice recordings. They can then instantly share them to help first responders. (National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency)

• The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office wants to help in managing and understanding its data. USPTO issued a request for information seeking feedback from industry on Business Intelligence Analytics and Data Discovery tools. PTO says the tools would specifically be for the trademark organization. It’s currently using technologies based on obsolete COBOL programming, Crystal reports, SQL with limited to nonexistent technical and business documentation. Instead, PTO wants a cloud-based system to access data, compose routine and ad-hoc reports and perform standard and advanced analyses. (FedBizOpps)

• More oversight is needed on the testing process for guardrails and other roadside safety hardware. The Government Accountability Office says the Transportation Department needs to develop a process for third party verification of crash test results. Currently six out of the nine labs used for tests are ran by companies that manufacture the hardware. (Government Accountability Office)

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