“The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has outlined 28 priority open recommendations for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in a new report, which include items involving information technology and timely COVID-19 data collection.”
“In some good news for the veterans agency, VA is making some progress whittling away at the ever-changing list from GAO.”
“In a previous report from April 2020, GAO identified 33 recommendations for VA, and since that time, VA has implemented 13 of those recommendations. As of May 2021, GAO identified eight additional priority recommendations, bringing the total count back up to 28.”
“Four of these priority recommendations are aimed at improving VA’s management of information systems and data centers, as well as cybersecurity. These recommendations include:
- Improving efforts to meet data center optimization metrics;
- Developing a plan to discontinue using insecure, knowledge-based verification processes when performing identity verification;
- Developing a cybersecurity risk management strategy; and
- Establishing a process for conducting an agency-wide cybersecurity risk assessment…” Read the full article here.
Source: VA Shows Progress on GAO Recs, Gets New IT/Cyber Items Added to List — By Jordan Smith, May 21, 2021. MeriTalk.