Reps. Will Hurd, Robin Kelly Ask GAO to Study VA’s Efforts to Update EHR System
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Reps. Will Hurd, Robin Kelly Ask GAO to Study VA’s Efforts to Update EHR System


electronic-health-record-EHRReps. Will Hurd (R-Texas) and Robin Kelly (D-Illinois) have requested the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study on the efforts of the Department of Veterans Affairs to update its electronic health record system.

In a letter published May 27, the lawmakers asked GAO Comptroller General Gene Dodaro to provide the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s information technology subcommittee with data on the results and costs of the projects that VA launched to update or replace the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture.

Hurd and Kelly told Dodaro to also provide information on contractors and their roles in the projects that aim to update VistA.

GAO’s study should also identify VA’s plans and estimated budget to carry out updates to the VistA system, according to the letter.

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Navy Adm. Kurt Tidd: Southcom Seeks Help to Disrupt Illicit Networks in Latin America & Caribbean
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Navy Adm. Kurt Tidd: Southcom Seeks Help to Disrupt Illicit Networks in Latin America & Caribbean


140625-N-EF657-340U.S. Southern Command leader and U.S. Navy Adm. Kurt Tidd has outlined the security challenges posed by illicit networks in Latin America and the Caribbean, DoD News reported Thursday.

Cheryl Pellerin writes criminals and terrorists use illicit networks for smuggling drugs, wildlife, bulk cash, weapons, people, illegal logging and mining activities to raise money.

The report said the U.S. military collaborates with its partners such as other federal agencies and allies, diplomatic, law enforcement, and intelligence organizations to detect, illuminate and disrupt networks.

“The disruption piece is almost always going to be by partner-nation law enforcement organizations, or by partner-nation military organizations, so that drives a lot of our activities where we work closely to build their capacity to deal with these networks,” said Tidd.

Southcom deploys more than 7,000 service members in the region weekly to support the cooperation of 45 nations and territories of Central and South America and the Caribbean Sea, the report added.

Pellerin also noted that Southcom supports national and multinational efforts to address Zika virus through research on the transmission vectors, assistance on eradication efforts and supporting the international medical research effort to develop a vaccine.

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GAO: Federal Air Marshal Service Should Consider Risk in Flight Deployment Strategy
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GAO: Federal Air Marshal Service Should Consider Risk in Flight Deployment Strategy


GAOThe Government Accountability Office has said the Federal Air Marshal Service should incorporate risk into deployment decisions.

GAO said in a report published Tuesday the factors that affect FAMS’ allocation of its annual resources between domestic and international flights include travel budget and employee head count but not the risk associated with flights.

FAMS officials also choose geographic focus areas and resource allocation levels based on the judgement of subject matter experts and not the evaluation of risk, GAO added.

The government watchdog further noted FAMS does not document rationales for its international destinations.

The Transportation Security Administration‘s coverage score that FAMS uses to evaluate compliance with flight coverage and resource use goals includes 11 categories but leaves out some attributes of performance measures, the report noted.

GAO recommended for FAMS to integrate risk into its resource allocation method, run risk evaluation to support certain domestic deployment decisions and document the rationale for its choice of international flight locations.

FAMS should also name and define the TSA coverage score and report performance results for all categories, GAO said.

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Dell’s Steve Harris: FITARA Implementation Depends on Agency CIOs, IT Revolving Fund Approval
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Dell’s Steve Harris: FITARA Implementation Depends on Agency CIOs, IT Revolving Fund Approval


Steve Harris
Steve Harris

Dell’s Steve Harris has said government agencies’ progress in the implementation of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act depends on the approval of a White House bill that would establish a $3.1 billion revolving fund for IT system updates, FierceGovernmentIT reported Wednesday.

Harris, vice president and general manager of Dell’s federal systems business, told reporter Eli Richman in an interview that the approval of the proposed bill could help agencies achieve progress in FITARA’s IT portfolio review savings category as well as reduce legacy system maintenance costs.

The IT portfolio review savings category in FITARA aims to evaluate agencies’ efforts to consolidate, classify and update their IT platforms, according to the report.

He also called on Congress to provide agency chief information officers authority over their agencies’ budgets in order to facilitate updates to government IT systems.

“The CIOs are the ones who are responsible for creating cost optimal, highly available, scalable, very secure environments that would support multiple silos of mission capabilities,” said Harris, an inductee into Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 for 2016.

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GAO Recommends TSA Update Airport Security Risk Assessment Method
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GAO Recommends TSA Update Airport Security Risk Assessment Method


AirportRunwayThe Government Accountability Office has called on the Transportation Security Administration to update its assessment methods for airport security in order to help schedule resources for what TSA identifies as high-priority risks.

GAO said Tuesday TSA developed a comprehensive risk assessment of perimeter and access control security in May 2013 after the agency assessed potential threats, vulnerabilities and consequence components of airport and access control risks.

The government watchdog added that TSA failed to update the assessment method with new information based on the current airport security risk environment involving insider threat.

“Updating the risk assessment of airport security with information that reflects this current threat, among other things, would better ensure that TSA bases its risk management decisions on current information and focuses its limited resources on the highest-priority risks to airport security,” GAO said.

TSA also lacked a comprehensive assessment of the vulnerability related to TSA-regulated airports system due to budget constraints, according to GAO.

GAO also recommends TSA perform a system-wide assessment of airport vulnerability and update its strategy for airport perimeter and access control security.

HHS’ ONC to Require Health IT Cost & Limitation Disclosures From Developers
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HHS’ ONC to Require Health IT Cost & Limitation Disclosures From Developers


health infosecThe Department of Health and Human Services‘ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has released updated transparency requirements that obligate health IT providers to file full disclosures on product costs and limitations.

ONC Policy Office Director Elise Sweeney Anthony and Steven Posnack, standards and technology lead, co-wrote in a blog post published Wednesday the regulation applies to all health IT systems certified to the 2014 and 2015 edition of standards, implementation specifications and certification criteria.

Developers should identify costs and technical and contractual restrictions of IT products on both their websites and in marketing materials to comply with the ONC Health IT Certification Program’s new disclosure policies, Anthony and Posnack wrote.

Health IT providers must also submit a transparency attestation on whether they will take voluntary actions to promote transparency and answer all requests to disclose information on their offerings, the blog posts says.

ONC-authorized certification bodies are conducting surveillance on disclosures and non-compliance could lead to corrective action and termination of health IT certifications, Anthony and Posnack said.

Product disclosures are posted on ONC’s Health IT website.

ONC looks to urge professional associations, product researchers and stakeholders to utilize the developers’ product disclosures and transparency attestations.

NIEHS Picks 8 Recipients for Infectious Disease Response Training Grants
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NIEHS Picks 8 Recipients for Infectious Disease Response Training Grants


medical health doctorA National Institutes of Health organization plans to award $9 million in grant funds to eight institutions to conduct safety training sessions for clinicians and other workers that can potentially be exposed to infectious diseases.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and several other agencies to launch the Ebola Biosafety and Infectious Disease Response Training program, NIH said Wednesday.

The three-year initiative is part of NIEHS’ Worker Training Program and aims to educate healthcare, waste management, mortuary, transportation personnel about environmental infection control and hazard recognition methods.

“We need to ensure that we have a workforce ready to contain these and the next infectious disease threats,” said Linda Birnbaum, NIEHS director.

“This new training program will help workers, who do so much to protect others, stay safe when working with patients or people in high risk situations,” Birnbaum added.

Grant recipients are:

  • Duke University
  • Emory University
  • Indiana University
  • International Chemical Workers Union Council
  • Laborers’ International Union of North America Education and Training Fund
  • Rutgers School of Public Health
  • Steelworkers Charitable and Educational Organization
  • University of Alabama at Birmingham

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CBO: House Bill that Would Require NSF to Audit Research Facilities Would Cost $10M Over 5 Years
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CBO: House Bill that Would Require NSF to Audit Research Facilities Would Cost $10M Over 5 Years


BudgetA new Congressional Budget Office report says a proposed House bill that would require the National Science Foundation to subject its research facilities to audits would cost approximately $10 million from fiscal years 2017 through 2021.

CBO said in the report published Tuesday that the passage of the NSF Major Research Facility Reform Act of 2016 would not result in on-budget deficit growth “in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.”

The proposed legislation also lacks private-sector or intergovernmental mandates based on the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not have an impact on revenues and direct spending, CBO noted.

According to the report, the House bill contains provisions that would direct NSF to provide its staff with additional training and education to protect employees that report possible misappropriation of funds and require the foundation to pay management fees related to research awards.

The agency made the cost estimate based on the request of House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on April 27.

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OPM Seeks CIO to Manage Agency’s Digital, IT, Cybersecurity Programs
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OPM Seeks CIO to Manage Agency’s Digital, IT, Cybersecurity Programs


JobAdThe Office of Personnel Management looks for a full-time chief information officer to oversee the agency’s information technology operations as well as its digital transformation and cybersecurity efforts.

OPM said in a USAJobs notice posted Wednesday the CIO will be responsible for the development, implementation and management of IT systems that will form the backbone of human capital functions in the federal government.

The chosen candidate will also develop DevOps, agile development and bi-modal IT models as well as implement a workforce strategy for OPM to attract and retain professionals who can help secure the agency’s infrastructure.

The new CIO will also support an interagency team to establish a National Background Investigations Bureau as part of federal security clearance and investigation reform efforts.

He or she will succeed Lisa Schlosser, who has served as OPM CIO in acting capacity since March 17.

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Lt. Col. Anthony Barbina: US Army Supports Counter-IED Programs in Africa
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Lt. Col. Anthony Barbina: US Army Supports Counter-IED Programs in Africa


explosive-disposalU.S. Army Africa officials have said the military organization is helping to train African soldiers to detect and counter improvised explosive devices, Army Times reported Tuesday.

Michelle Tan writes U.S.’ African allies asked for assistance from USARAF to carry out IED threat awareness training and mitigation operations as Islamic militant groups increase their use of homemade bombs to conduct attacks across the continent.

“The African countries have seen how involved we’ve been in Iraq and Afghanistan and how much we’ve learned… and they’re trying to tap into us and share some of our lessons learned,” Lt. Col. Anthony Barbina, engineer plans and operations chief at USARAF, told the publication.

The report said USARAF established a counter-IED fusion cell focused on supporting partner nations of the U.S.

U.S. forces teach African troops how to spot and safely dispose of roadside bombs, perform forensic exams on those devices and disrupt IED networks, according to Tan’s article.

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