Another senior VA official leaving next month
April 29th, 2013 | Veterans Affairs | Posted by Sean Reilly
Scott Gould, the number two official at the Veterans Affairs Department for the last four years, is stepping down May 17, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said in a news release today.
As the department’s deputy secretary, Gould has served as chief operating officer since winning Senate confirmation to the job in April 2009. In that role, he “has been vital to the progress we’ve made on our top three priorities: increasing access to VA care and services, eliminating the compensation claims backlog and ending veterans’ homelessness,” Shinseki said in the release. “While we have more work to do, Scott’s contributions have been immense.”
The release is mum on why is leaving now or where he might be heading next, but in an email to FedLine, VA spokesman Josh Taylor said Gould “made this decision with his family, on his own terms.” While Gould has not made a final decision on next step, Taylor said, he is “ready for the next stage in his private-sector career.” Gould did not reply to phone and email messages seeking direct comment.
Gould is at least the third senior VA official to announce his departure in recent months; since February, both Chief Information Officer Roger Baker and Chief Technology Officer Peter Levin have stepped down.
Gould came to VA from IBM Global Business Services, where he was vice president for public sector strategy, according to his official bio. He has also been CEO of an investment services firm and worked at the Treasury Department, Commerce Department and Export-Import Bank.
[This post has been updated]
Tags: Eric Shinseki, Peter Levin, Roger Baker, Scott Gould
Veterans Affairs CIO Roger Baker to resign
February 15th, 2013 | Information Technology Veterans Affairs | Posted by Nicole Johnson
The Veterans Affairs Department’s chief information officer told employees Friday he will resign, the department confirmed.
In a message to IT staff, Baker did not say when his last day will be and offered no explanation about his resignation. The DorobekINSIDER hinted that Baker may leave as soon as March 1.
Here’s some of what Baker told employees:
I would like to thank each of you for your hard work and dedication in serving our VA customers and our Nation’s Veterans. Over the last four years, VA IT has come to be recognized as a leader in federal IT. We have improved our relationships with our IT customers; established one of the highest performing product delivery organizations in the world; achieved visibility to our networks and medical devices; focused our decision-making based on metrics and not by anecdotes; and become an IT organization that is seen as an investment for the VA rather than an expense.
Most critically, VA IT has become the backbone for the transformation of the VA into a 21stCentury organization that the Secretary has envisioned. Your ability to deliver the technology necessary to support that transformation and to reliably meet our commitments to our customers is fundamental to that transformation.
Under Baker’s watch, VA instituted a program that drastically improved the number of IT projects delivered on schedule.
Baker also has a senior role in VA’s partnership with the Defense Department to integrate their electronic health record systems. That project recently came under fire from lawmakers, who criticized the departments’ decision to revise plans to create a single electronic health record system.
Tags: Roger Baker
Updated: VA to move 600,000 email accounts to Microsoft cloud
November 13th, 2012 | Information Technology Veterans Affairs | Posted by Nicole Johnson
The Veterans Affairs Department has awarded HP Enterprise Services a $36 million contract to move 600,000 email accounts to the cloud.
Under the five-year contract, VA users will have access to email and shared calendars using Microsoft Office 365 for Government. Users, however, will not have access to additional features such as instant messaging and web and video conferencing.
“VA is moving to cloud-based email and collaboration as part of a broader effort to leverage emerging technologies to reduce costs, increase efficiencies and, most importantly, improve service delivery to our nation’s veterans,” Charles De Sanno, executive director for enterprise systems engineering at the VA, said in a news release.
The HP contract was awarded under VA’s Veterans Administration Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology, or T4 program.
The administration’s cloud first mandate requires agencies to first consider a cloud solution when procuring information technology. In addition to VA, Agriculture Department, Federal Aviation Administration, Defense Information Systems Agency and the Environmental Protection Agency are using Microsoft’s cloud-based email.
Watch VA’s ‘Beat It’ video from controversial conferences
August 24th, 2012 | Veterans Affairs | Posted by Stephen Losey
The Veterans Affairs Department today delivered to Congress dozens of DVDs documenting its controversial 2011 human resources conferences (now being investigated by the agency’s Office of Inspector General for possible wasteful spending).
The vast majority of them are typical HR conference fare: addresses by Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry and VA Chief Human Capital Officer John Sepulveda, and discussions about recruitment challenges, labor-management relations and disability programs. (Which supports the IG’s conclusion that the conference was held for legitimate reasons, despite its concerns about hundreds of thousands of dollars in alleged wasteful spending on promotional items and scouting trips, and possible illegal or improper gifts to conference organizers.)
But the DVDs also included a video, shown the last day of the July conference, that collected some of its sillier moments. That clip shows VA employees singing Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” at the conference’s karaoke night and dancing, and has a short clip of the in-person appearance of the actor who portrayed Gen. George Patton in the highly-criticized $52,000 video.
What do you think — harmless shenanigans no different from any other conference? Or an example of government waste? Watch the video and sound off below.
Tags: conference, spending, waste
$52K on a conference video? It’s a trap!
August 22nd, 2012 | Veterans Affairs | Posted by Stephen Losey
Our shields can't repel government waste of that magnitude!
The $52,000 “Patton” parody video commissioned by the Veterans Affairs Department and released this morning is — let’s be honest — kind of a snooze. The actor sorta sounds like George C. Scott’s Gen. Patton towards the end — I’ll give him that — but doesn’t look like him at all, it’s too long, and what few jokes there are are pretty lame. (And I’m not really sure how one actor, his costume, a big flag, and a smattering of B-roll and interviews with VA employees requires a budget of $52,000.)
It doesn’t have the catchy tune or wit of the General Services Administration’s infamous “When I’m Commissioner” clip (which remains the “Thriller” of conference scandal videos). But one line from the ersatz Ol’ Blood-and-Guts did catch my ear — and make me wonder if the actor’s real inspiration was a certain space opera that took place a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…
Tags: conference, waste
VA career tool may be example for other agencies
July 23rd, 2012 | Agency Management Career Information Office of Personnel Management OPM Veterans Affairs Workplace | Posted by Oriana Pawlyk
Veterans Affairs Department employees have had access to one of the government’s best career-development tools since October.
Soon, you may see something like it coming to your agency.
Last week, top VA officials demonstrated the tool — called MyCareer@VA — at a meeting of administration and union leaders.
“When you think about your own career, there are times that you want to figure out how to get ahead, but there are also times that you may feel like you’re stuck and want to do something else,” said VA Deputy Secretary Scott Gould as he presented the website July 18 to a meeting of the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations, led by Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry.
Gould and Alice Muellerweiss, dean of the VA Learning University, said the website helps employees hurdle common career setbacks.
“We know that the number one reason people leave their organizations is because they cannot see their path, they cannot chart their path, they can’t set their goals, and they don’t set up their development plan,” Muellerweiss said.
The website, MyCareerAtVA.va.gov, prompts employees to plug in their skills and experience and then provides them a variety of jobs throughout the department that — with some additional training and education — could be a fit for them down the road.
Among the website’s key features:
- MyCareer Mapping Tool. This searches for jobs across multiple occupational families and outlines what competencies, knowledge areas and skills are needed to reach an employee’s career goal.
- MyCareer Fit Tool. This helps match specific jobs to an employee’s self-identified career interests and work environment preferences.
- VA Career Guides. This offers employees detailed profiles of suggested jobs and offices they might consider as future steps on their career paths. For each job, it outlines what education, licensing, recommended training, and developmental experiences are recommended, based on the user’s profile.
The website is still growing and developing. Its searchable jobs inventory is about 75 percent complete and VA managers aim to get that figure to 100 percent of mission-critical jobs by next April.
OPM’s Berry said some agencies are looking at adopting similar career-development tools and looking specifically at the VA tool as a possible role model.
To learn more about MyCareer@VA, view the video below:
Update: House subcommittee passes veterans data breach notification bill
June 27th, 2012 | Congress Cybersecurity Veterans Affairs | Posted by Nicole Johnson
A House subcommittee on Wednesday passed a bill to ensure vets are quickly notified when their personal information is breached.
The Veterans Data Breach Timely Notification Act, , H.R. 3730, requires the Veterans Affairs Department to notify Congress and vets within 10 business days of their personal information being breached. VA could request a five-day extension if more time is needed to identify affected individuals or mitigate a breach.
VA contractors that handle vets’ personal information would be held to the same standards under the bill.
“In the unfortunate event of a breach of sensitive information, veterans and their families should be notified as soon as practically possible,” Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, said in a statement.
“Current law, however, gives the VA a full thirty days to notify veterans that their personal information may have been compromised. That is too long.”
Tags: data breach, veterans
VA to award health record contract to next qualified bidder
March 15th, 2012 | Defense Information Technology Veterans Affairs | Posted by Nicole Johnson
The Veterans Affairs Department will not openly recompete a $102.6 million contract to manage a critical portion of its future integrated electronic health record (iEHR) system with the Defense Department.
Instead, VA will award the contract to the second most qualified bidder, said VA Spokeswoman Jo Schuda. The firm has not been named.
Last month, VA canceled the contract it had awarded to Fairfax, Va.-based ASM Research Inc. to manage a portion of the iEHR, called the enterprise service bus, which will allow various components of the future system to communicate with each other and with VA and DoD health information stored in data centers. The contract was awarded under VA’s $12 billion Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology, or T4, program.
“This decision was based on the findings of an investigation by the government into an alleged organizational conflict of interest focused on the involvement of individuals from a subcontractor company on the ASM Research team,” the company said in a statement.
Schuda said the enterprise service bus is only part of the iEHR development, which includes more than 20 other projects that are underway.
“While we’re still assessing the exact impact on iEHR development, we believe it will be minimal,” she said.
VA/DoD joint office gets new director
March 6th, 2012 | Defense Information Technology Veterans Affairs | Posted by Nicole Johnson
Former Harris Corp. executive Barclay Butler has been appointed director of the DoD/VA Interagency Program Office (IPO), which oversees the agencies’ integrated electronic health record project and other joint initiatives.
Barclay, who served as vice president of healthcare operations for Harris’ Falls Church, Va., office, started work at the joint office on Feb. 27, DoD announced Tuesday. David Wennergren, DoD’s assistant deputy chief management officer, had been serving as interim director since July. The director position required approval from VA and DoD secretaries.
As director, Barclay is also the program executive for the iEHR and the health portion of the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) initiative, according to a charter signed by VA Deputy Secretary Scott Gould and then-Deputy Defense Secretary Bill Lynn in October. Barclay must also acquire, develop and integrate “major joint DoD/VA health (information technology) capabilities for the iEHR and VLER health,” the charter said.
Barclay was appointed one day before VA canceled a $102.6 million contract to manage a critical portion of the iEHR.
The contract was awarded on Jan. 13 to Fairfax, Va.-based ASM Research Inc. to manage a portion of the iEHR, called the enterprise service bus, which will allow various components of the future system to communicate with each other and with VA and DoD health information stored in data centers. The contract was awarded under VA’s $12 billion Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology, or T4, program.
DoD and VA share a $700 million combined budget for the iEHR this fiscal year, and the joint program office is responsible for the program’s success, said VA’s Chief Information Office Roger Baker said in an interview last month.
The charter also tasks the office director with reporting staff shortages “for any areas that may impact the ability to deliver capabilities on schedule.” By 2014, the departments hope to provide a single virtual access point for health and benefits services. The program office will determine how many employees are needed to staff the office, and personnel working on office programs or initiatives will be evaluated by the director or deputy director.
DoD would not say if a deputy director has been named.
“If they want to completely insulate themselves from any change issues relative to politics,” the joint office must meet every program milestone, Baker said.
Tags: Barclay Butler, health IT, iEHR, Interagency Program Office, VLER
VA cancels critical contract for electronic health record
February 29th, 2012 | Defense Information Technology Veterans Affairs | Posted by Nicole Johnson
The Veterans Affairs Department has canceled a $102.6 million contract to manage a critical portion of its future integrated electronic health record (iEHR) system with the Defense Department.
The contract was awarded on Jan. 13 to Fairfax, Va.-based ASM Research Inc. to manage a portion of the iEHR, called the enterprise service bus, which will allow various components of the future system to communicate with each other and with VA and DoD health information stored in data centers. The contract was awarded under VA’s $12 billion Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology, or T4, program.
VA Spokeswoman Jo Schuda confirmed that the contract was canceled on Feb. 28 but did not provide further details about what prompted the decision. It also isn’t clear how this will impact development of the new system.
In an interview with Federal Times this month, VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker said the enterprise service bus is “the heart of the iEHR.” “Everything will talk to it or through it.”
Baker said VA and DoD are still finalizing an estimated four- to five-year development plan for the iEHR. Development of the iEHR is tied to the larger Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record that will enable better sharing of veterans’ health and benefits data, but the iEHR is a separate program that requires its own oversight, Baker said.