Federal 100: Bill Mallison
Name: Bill Mallison
Title: Republican Staff Director, Subcommittee on Technology Modernization, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
Organization: U.S. House of Representatives
Focused oversight. The 10-year, $16 billion replacement for the electronic health record system at the Department of Veterans Affairs is one of the biggest IT projects in the history of government. Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), then-chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, decided that a focused approach to oversight was required. Mallison was charged with creating a new subcommittee devoted to the project. The effort is “more involved and deeper than Congress tends to go,” he said, adding that he reads contracts, consults stakeholders, meets with VA officials and briefs lawmakers on new developments. “The oversight occurs before we get into the committee room” for hearings.