Department of Veterans Affairs
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Tomas Okeefe and Chris Wiedemann, market research consultants at immixGroup, join host Mark Amtower on this week's Amtower Off Center to federal tech spending during the rest of fiscal year 2017. May 8, 2017
May 07, 2017 -
The Trump administration’s first 100 days concludes with several policy initiatives and agreeing to a budget plan to avoid a government shutdown.
April 27, 2017 -
In the aftermath of the federal hiring freeze, the Veterans Affairs Department says hiring managers are free to fill most positions. But there are still thousands of exceptions requiring approval from senior VA officials.
April 27, 2017 -
The executive order establishes the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protections as a new entity within VA. The new office will identify barriers and duplicative processes and resources to quickly disciplining and firing VA employees for poor performance or misconduct.
April 27, 2017 -
President Trump issued an executive order for federal agencies to review their policies and procedures for buying American. He suspect loopholes in buy-American laws are too often used when the government buys. Agencies are to forward their legal and procedural reviews to Commerce Secretary Wilber Ross, who will in turn deliver a draft set of recommendations by the end of the year.
April 20, 2017 -
The Veterans Affairs Department soft-launched a new online tool that lets veterans search for VA medical facilities and their average wait times within a specific mile radius. VA said it's a significant step in showing accountability and transparency efforts three years after wait time scandals in Phoenix shook up the agency's leadership and organization.
April 13, 2017 -
In one case, medical staff had to borrow bone cement from a vendor to finish two knee replacements.
April 13, 2017 -
DJ Kachman, the Veterans Affairs’ director of mobile and security technology transformation lead in the Office of Information and Technology, said the agency will pilot derived credentials later this year.
April 07, 2017 -
The federal cloud policy makes it easier for agencies to begin replacing legacy systems with commercial applications.
April 06, 2017 -
Veterans Affairs Department employees are now answering 99.8 percent of veterans' calls to the VA crisis hotline, and fewer than 1 percent of those calls are rolling over to backup centers. But the VA Inspector General and lawmakers still see some troubling challenges.
April 05, 2017 -
Modernization can mean a lot of things, even if you keep your COBOL systems.
April 04, 2017 -
The Office of Personnel Management recently released a long-awaited report on official time for fiscal 2014. It found agencies used slightly more official time that year than fiscal 2012, the last time OPM completed a governmentwide report on the topic. The report's release comes as Congress looks to limit federal employees' official time use.
March 27, 2017 -
The Defense Department also weighed in with some Medal of Honor stories, including that of the only female recipient, a doctor in the Civil War.
March 27, 2017 -
Nation Analytics founder Brian Friel and Larry Allen, president of Allen Federal business Partners, join host Mark Amtower on this week's Amtower Off Center to discuss the state of the contracting landscape. March 27, 2017
March 26, 2017 -
Veterans groups want a 10 percent overall budget increase for VA, more staffing and updated facilities to meet today's healthcare needs.
March 24, 2017