Acquisition

VA exceeds contracting goals for veteran-owned businesses, GAO says

The Veterans Affairs Department surpassed its goals for contracting with companies owned by veterans during the last three years, GAO reports.

People

VA weeds out poorly performing programs

Veterans Affairs CIO Roger Baker drew widespread attention when he suspended 45 underperforming IT projects under the Program Management Accountability System. Baker recently spoke with FCW about PMAS and other issues.

Modernization

VA fiduciary management system is inadequate, GAO says

The Veterans Affairs Department's case management system for overseeing fiduciaries for 103,000 disabled veterans is not up to the job, the GAO says.

People

VA suspends spending on 188 IT projects

The Veterans Affairs Department has extended its program management system to all 280 IT projects and suspended spending on two-thirds of them.

Digital Government

VA health IT study comes with caveat, researcher says

A researcher of a recent study said the Veterans Affairs Department may have saved billions of dollars from using health IT, but the actual savings are not known.

People

VA highlights IT innovation, crowdsourcing in open government plan

Among other initiatives, the VA plans to set up ongoing competition to come up with new ideas for improving the agency's services and operations.

People

VA, DOD to expand virtual EHR program

The Veterans Affairs and Defense departments are expanding demonstration projects of VLER electronic records program, officials said today.

Modernization

Social media likely coming to Vets health portal

Veterans Affairs officials plan to add social-media style tools to the portal veterans use to access health records, a VA officials said today at the 2010 FOSE conference.

People

Federal 100: Roger W. Baker

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People

Federal 100: Craig Newmark

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Cybersecurity

VA faces major hurdles to comply with FISMA, audit finds

The Veterans Affairs Department has "significant" obstacles to overcome to meet its FISMA compliance goals, a new audit reports.

Digital Government

VA has prototype of Aviva EHR system

The Veterans Affairs Department has taken delivery of a prototype next-generation digital health record system known as Aviva.

Acquisition

VA seeks vendor to automate Agent Orange claims processing

The Veterans Affairs Department wants to hire a contractor by the end of April that can automate processing Agent Orange claims by September.

People

VA to save $37M through cutbacks in replacement scheduling program

The Veterans Affairs Department expects to generate $37 million in savings by cancelling portions of its Replacement Schedulinig Application Development program.

Digital Government

VA and DOD expand health data exchange pilot

The Veterans Affairs and Defense departments are beginning a health data exchange pilot project in Virginia as the next phase of their virtual lifetime electronic record development.

Digital Government

VA may restore access to DOD medical record systems soon

The Veterans Affairs Department is working to fix remaining computer glitches that caused it to restrict electronic access to Defense Department patient medical record systems.

Modernization

VA may revive canceled scheduling program

The Veterans Affairs Department has canceled its Replacement Scheduling Application Development program, for which it has spent at least $167 million, but it is likely to come back to life in a different form, according to a senior official.

People

VA pulls plug on failing IT projects, saves $54M

Veterans Affairs Department terminates its Enrollment System Redesign, Pharmacy Reengineering and 10 other failing information technology projects

People

VA's CIO is 'comfortable' with flat IT budget

Roger Baker, the Veterans Affairs Department's CIO, told a House panel today that although the fiscal 2011 budget is flat for information technology, it is enough to fulfill the department's needs.

People

VA has shortage of IT program managers, CIO says

The Veterans Affairs Department's CIO, Roger Baker, said today he's having trouble getting enough experienced federal IT program managers.