Department of Veterans Affairs
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The Office of Management and Budget gives agencies a summer deadline to implement smart ID cards for network and computer access. The White House wants system administrators and other privileged users to use two-factor authentication by mid-July and all employees by the end of August.
July 02, 2015 Veterans Affairs faces a budget shortfall of more than $2.5 billion this year, mainly because of increased demand by veterans for health care. The problem is, three months still remain in the fiscal year. How do you deal with a situation like that? Simon Szykman is the chief technology officer in the Federal Services Division at Attain, and a former federal CIO. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with some advice for how senior leaders in a department can deal with a problem that affects them all.
July 01, 2015-
The Senate packed a lot into its version of the 2016 Defense authorization bill before final passage Thursday afternoon, and in a notable break from recent history, the full package passed well before the start of the new fiscal year.
June 22, 2015 -
The Department of Veterans Affairs says it has made significant gains over the past several months in paying its health care vendors on time. Providers tell a different story, and say the department routinely fails to comply with the Prompt Payment Act.
June 05, 2015 -
The Veterans Affairs secretary has picked a White House veteran to be his new chief of staff, replacing Joe Riojas. Riojas has been with VA since 2009 and is leaving government.
April 01, 2015 -
When the Government Accountability Office rules in favor of a contract protest, it doesn't automatically mean the protester wins the contract. That happened in a recent case involving the Department of Veterans Affairs. Bill Welch, a partner at McMahon, Welch and Learned, tells In Depth with Francis Rose that's one of two important lessons federal agencies and contractors need to learn from this case.
March 26, 2015 -
Veterans accounted for one of every three federal civilian new hires last year, according to the President's Council on Veterans Employment.
March 23, 2015 -
The Veterans Affairs Department says it is spending $24 million per year to maintain facility space it can't use. Some of the restrictions on closing them are political, some are local, so VA thinks it needs a BRAC of its own.
March 06, 2015 -
Jennifer Mattingley, director of government affairs with Shaw Bransford and Roth, will discuss the federal pay raise, changes to the retirees cost of living program and other issues affected feds, and Federal Times Senior Writer Andy Medici will talk about phased retirement and possible changes in defense per diem rates. March 4, 2015
March 04, 2015 -
The Veterans Affairs Department is requesting $20 million in fiscal 2016 to move its appeals processes from a mix of paper and electronic processes to only electronic. The additional funding is part of VA's $4.13 billion IT request to Congress.
February 25, 2015 -
FedBid and the Air Force came to an agreement to end the reverse auction company's stay from bidding on new contracts. FedBid must implement and maintain a code of business and ethics conduct program and have a third party report on its efforts for a year. Additionally, Ali Saadat, the founder and former CEO of FedBid, resigned on Feb. 5.
February 23, 2015 -
An independent report cites a "fee-for-service" model as a main driver in DoD's rising medical costs, and urges the department to value outcomes over volume in upcoming TRICARE procurement.
February 19, 2015 -
The Government Accountability Office added two new issues to its ever-growing list of challenges for agencies. The biennial High Risk List includes six areas that have been problematic for 25 years.
February 12, 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 -
Big changes to military health care are part of the recommendations to reshape military compensation. Last week, a blue-ribbon panel released its long-awaited report on modernizing the military compensation system. The report included those changes to health care. The recommendation to replace the current TRICARE system has gotten most of the attention, but the panel's commissioners also see a major opportunity to sync up DoD and the Department of Veterans' Affairs health care systems. Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu has the story.
February 03, 2015