Veterans denied benefits under PACT Act due to incorrectly processed claims

Federal Newscast

The PACT Act passed in 20-22 expanded eligibility for veterans exposed to toxic substances during their military service.

Michele Sandiford

December 4, 2024 4:00 pm

< a min read

A watchdog report finds Veterans Affairs incorrectly processed disability claims from veterans and underpaid benefits that some veterans were eligible for. The PACT Act passed in 2022 expanded eligibility for veterans exposed to toxic substances during their military service. But the VA inspector general’s office found claims processors sometimes requested unnecessary medical exams which delayed processing and burdened veterans. The IG report found nearly 900 potential processing errors that could affect veterans’ benefits.
(Staff incorrectly processed claims when denying veterans’ benefits for presumptive disabilities under the PACT Act - VA OIG)

The Office of Personnel Management's decades long effort to modernize its retirement systems is getting a big funding boost. The Technology Modernization Fund Board awarded OPM $18.3 million to accelerate OPM's migration off mainframe and legacy systems. OPM will also use the money to improve the program's cybersecurity and data management. In addition to OPM, the board awarded $1.34 million dollars to the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review to modernize its case management system. DoJ said the upgrade also will allow them to automatically accept documents. This is OPM's third TMF award and the Justice Department's second.
(TMF announces investments to modernize federal retirement and immigration systems - GSA )

President-elect Donald Trump has taken another key step in the transition planning process. The Department of Justice can now start conducting background checks on Trump’s nominees and appointees. That’s after Trump transition officials signed a memorandum of understanding with DOJ on Tuesday. Last week, Trump’s team also reached an agreement with the White House, allowing for coordination between transition staff and current federal employees. Both agreements come after weeks of delay. The president-elect, however, has declined to sign a third contract to access secure office space and email accounts, in part because it would require an ethics agreement and set contribution limits.
(Trump team signs agreement to allow Justice to conduct background checks on nominees, staff - Federal News Network )

Many agencies are still struggling to meet accessibility requirements for their digital assets. A year after the General Service Administration’s inaugural Section 508 assessment, most agencies are stagnating in their efforts to improve accessibility online. During an interagency forum last month, accessibility officials shared preliminary results of GSA’s 2024 report, which is expected to be published in late December. GSA said a key part of the problem is limited resources and a lack of staffing dedicated to accessibility improvements. Some experts are also recommending improving Section 508 training for employees to try to address the issue.
(Agencies still struggling to meet digital accessibility standards - Federal News Network )

The top Republican on the House VA Committee is leading a bill to expand veterans’ access to health care outside the VA medical system. The Complete the Mission Act would require the VA to publish wait times for all its medical centers and make it easier for veterans to get treatment for substance abuse in non-VA community care. The bill builds on the MISSION Act Congress passed in 2018 which already expanded veterans access to community care. The Department of Veterans Affairs is providing more health and benefits to more veterans than ever before. It’s also asking Congress for billions of dollars by the end of this fiscal year to hire more health care employees and expand capacity at VA medical centers.
(Chairman Bost leads bill to protect veterans’ community care access - House Veterans Affairs)

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency is taking new steps to adopt agile acquisition practices. DCSA last month established an Enterprise Lean-Agile Center of Excellence. The goal is to apply agile development to software and other types of acquisition. More than 260 DCSA employees have gone through Scaled Agile Framework training so far. The agency is applying agile software development to its marquee software program, the National Background Investigative Services system.
(Insights from DCSA’s second annual Acquisition Workforce Symposium - DCSA)

The Senate confirms Army Lt. Gen. Chris Donahue as the next commander of U.S. Army Europe. Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Okhlahoma had placed a hold on Donahue’s nomination in November after the Armed Services Committee advanced hundreds of other military promotions. Donahue currently serves as the commander of the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty in North Carolina. He oversaw the final withdrawal from Afghanistan and was the last U.S. service member to board a military plane out of the country, officially ending the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan. Donahue was approved by a unanimous voice vote on Monday.
(Senate confirms Donahue’s nomination after weeks of being blocked - Congress.gov)

Several agencies are urging organizations to take specific actions to protect against a major China-linked hacking campaign. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI are out with new hardening guidance to defend against the Salt Typhoon hacking group. Officials said the group has infiltrated communication networks across the world. They have reportedly targeted systems used for court-authorized wiretaps as well as the communications of government and political leaders. CISA and FBI officials said they are still trying to identify victims and evict the Salt Typhoon group from networks.
(CISA, NSA, FBI and international partners publish guide for protecting communications infrastructure - CISA)

The U.S. Special Operations Command is looking for innovative software solutions to support the program executive office for Special Operations Forces digital applications. The command wants to partner with both traditional and non-traditional defense contractors and seeks to award FAR and non-FAR contracts and agreements. Technology areas of interest include software lifecycle management tools, automation and machine learning operations. SOCOM will be periodically updating areas of interest based on the command's emerging challenges and operational needs. This commercial solutions opening will award funding for innovative commercial technologies through a multi-phase competitive process throughout 2024 and 2025. Successful prototype projects may lead to follow-on production contracts or agreements with no further competition.
(SOCOM launches commercial solutions opening to support PEO SDA - SAM.gov)