veterans Report from Military.com
Committee Holds Markup of Information Technology Bill The House
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs held a markup recently of H.R. 4061, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Information Technology Management Improvement Act, which will improve the management of IT within VA. The bill will give the VA Chief Information Officer authority over the VA’s IT budget, as well as control in the oversight of policies, procedures, personnel and assets. H.R. 4061 will also require the VA Secretary to submit a report to Congress that details the IT funds requested by the Administration in any fiscal year budget submitted to CongressVA has spent about $1 billion per year over the last decade to upgrade its IT infrastructure. The VA’s FY 2005 budget request for IT is $1.6 billion. In 2004, the VA received $1.4 billion for its IT program, and over the past decade has received close to a billion dollars each year for IT initiatives. While there have been improvements in VA’s IT modernization efforts, prominent failures stand out: (1) $600 million plus for a decade of VETSNET – the automated compensation and pension claims processing system that still has not been implemented after 10 years of development; (2) $342 million for CoreFLS – the failed financial management system; (3) $300 million for the HR Links – the failed automated personnel system; and (4) $485 million annually to maintain VISTA, VA’s 25 year-old medical information system. Deal of the Week: 10% Off Custom Veteran T-Shirts & Gifts All Military.com members will receive a 10% discount on individually designed custom veteran t-shirts and gifts. Pride of Service.com offers a comprehensive presentation of your "personal history of military service" on your custom PRIDE OF SERVICE t-shirts, sweatshirts, tank tops, golf shirts, caps, visors, mousepads, license plates and frames, coasters, mugs, aprons, boxers, wallets and neckties. Find this great discount and more at the Military.com Discount Center at http://img.military.com/misc/DC/DealIndex.jsp. Committee Marks Up Housing Bill The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs recently marked up H.R. 3665, the Veteran’s Housing and Employment Improvement Act, which includes additional flexibility in administering the specially adapted housing grants program to better accommodate our most severely injured veterans. This new flexibility would authorize a five year pilot program to provide for adapted housing grants to disabled veterans residing temporarily in housing owned by a family member. These grants are limited to $10,000 for the most severely disabled veterans and $2,000 for less severely disabled veterans. This bill will also allow a severely disabled veteran to receive up to three separate, specially-adaptive housing grants within the allotted maximum amounts. The amendment to H.R. 3665 also extends a homeless veterans employment program, introduced by Congressman Boozman (H.R. 3279). Lastly, H.R. 3665 includes provision from H.R. 419 that extend the President’s National Hire Veterans Committee, introduced by Congressman Mike Simpson, for up to one year and transition the duties to the Veterans Employment & Training Service. Featured Job: ManTech Job Fair - Nov. 9 Active Secret+, Intel, IA and IT job seekers - join a leading a provider of mission critical national security solutions - and become eligible to win a BMW and other prizes - Hyatt Regency, Reston, VA. https://www.winabmw.mantech.com/ New VA Plans Call For Large Facility The new Orlando VA Medical Center that is slated to be built next year has grown in size tremendously since it was first proposed. Officials now say the new center will be a $350 million medical campus that will include more than 1 million square feet situated on up to 100 acres. It will include a 134-bed hospital, a 120-bed nursing home, a 60-bed assisted-living facility/transitional housing and a veterans benefits administration mini-service center. VA Relaxes Mail Rules for Three States The Department of Veterans Affairs is waiving its “date of receipt” rules for benefits claims and other correspondence to three regional VA offices in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi that were affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Veterans’ Panel Avoids Debating Genetics Stars and Stripes reports that the Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission has voted unanimously that a veteran’s genetic makeup, which might show predisposition to certain illnesses before entering service, is not a reasonable topic for the commission to study in its review of “service connection” and disability payments. During an Oct. 14 public hearing in Washington, the commission also rejected, on a 10-1 vote, a proposal to study whether veterans’ disability benefits should be reduced at some “normal” retirement age to reflect the typical income drop of most American workers as they retire. The two votes came as commissioners shaped research questions they want answered by staff or through contracted studies to be conducted by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science and by the Center for Naval Analyses over the next year or more. Veterans Still Face Delays From VA VA internal reports show little or no progress in reducing the processing time for veterans’ disability claims. VA employee productivity nationwide is only three-quarters of what is expected, and in some regional offices, it is far lower.
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs held a markup recently of H.R. 4061, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Information Technology Management Improvement Act, which will improve the management of IT within VA. The bill will give the VA Chief Information Officer authority over the VA’s IT budget, as well as control in the oversight of policies, procedures, personnel and assets. H.R. 4061 will also require the VA Secretary to submit a report to Congress that details the IT funds requested by the Administration in any fiscal year budget submitted to CongressVA has spent about $1 billion per year over the last decade to upgrade its IT infrastructure. The VA’s FY 2005 budget request for IT is $1.6 billion. In 2004, the VA received $1.4 billion for its IT program, and over the past decade has received close to a billion dollars each year for IT initiatives. While there have been improvements in VA’s IT modernization efforts, prominent failures stand out: (1) $600 million plus for a decade of VETSNET – the automated compensation and pension claims processing system that still has not been implemented after 10 years of development; (2) $342 million for CoreFLS – the failed financial management system; (3) $300 million for the HR Links – the failed automated personnel system; and (4) $485 million annually to maintain VISTA, VA’s 25 year-old medical information system. Deal of the Week: 10% Off Custom Veteran T-Shirts & Gifts All Military.com members will receive a 10% discount on individually designed custom veteran t-shirts and gifts. Pride of Service.com offers a comprehensive presentation of your "personal history of military service" on your custom PRIDE OF SERVICE t-shirts, sweatshirts, tank tops, golf shirts, caps, visors, mousepads, license plates and frames, coasters, mugs, aprons, boxers, wallets and neckties. Find this great discount and more at the Military.com Discount Center at http://img.military.com/misc/DC/DealIndex.jsp. Committee Marks Up Housing Bill The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs recently marked up H.R. 3665, the Veteran’s Housing and Employment Improvement Act, which includes additional flexibility in administering the specially adapted housing grants program to better accommodate our most severely injured veterans. This new flexibility would authorize a five year pilot program to provide for adapted housing grants to disabled veterans residing temporarily in housing owned by a family member. These grants are limited to $10,000 for the most severely disabled veterans and $2,000 for less severely disabled veterans. This bill will also allow a severely disabled veteran to receive up to three separate, specially-adaptive housing grants within the allotted maximum amounts. The amendment to H.R. 3665 also extends a homeless veterans employment program, introduced by Congressman Boozman (H.R. 3279). Lastly, H.R. 3665 includes provision from H.R. 419 that extend the President’s National Hire Veterans Committee, introduced by Congressman Mike Simpson, for up to one year and transition the duties to the Veterans Employment & Training Service. Featured Job: ManTech Job Fair - Nov. 9 Active Secret+, Intel, IA and IT job seekers - join a leading a provider of mission critical national security solutions - and become eligible to win a BMW and other prizes - Hyatt Regency, Reston, VA. https://www.winabmw.mantech.com/ New VA Plans Call For Large Facility The new Orlando VA Medical Center that is slated to be built next year has grown in size tremendously since it was first proposed. Officials now say the new center will be a $350 million medical campus that will include more than 1 million square feet situated on up to 100 acres. It will include a 134-bed hospital, a 120-bed nursing home, a 60-bed assisted-living facility/transitional housing and a veterans benefits administration mini-service center. VA Relaxes Mail Rules for Three States The Department of Veterans Affairs is waiving its “date of receipt” rules for benefits claims and other correspondence to three regional VA offices in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi that were affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Veterans’ Panel Avoids Debating Genetics Stars and Stripes reports that the Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission has voted unanimously that a veteran’s genetic makeup, which might show predisposition to certain illnesses before entering service, is not a reasonable topic for the commission to study in its review of “service connection” and disability payments. During an Oct. 14 public hearing in Washington, the commission also rejected, on a 10-1 vote, a proposal to study whether veterans’ disability benefits should be reduced at some “normal” retirement age to reflect the typical income drop of most American workers as they retire. The two votes came as commissioners shaped research questions they want answered by staff or through contracted studies to be conducted by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science and by the Center for Naval Analyses over the next year or more. Veterans Still Face Delays From VA VA internal reports show little or no progress in reducing the processing time for veterans’ disability claims. VA employee productivity nationwide is only three-quarters of what is expected, and in some regional offices, it is far lower.
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