The top acquisition officer within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the national security contracting director at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) took particular aim at the Manage VA Act, proposed by House Democrats in March and the ‘Terminate VA’s EHRM Program’ proposed by House Republicans in January.
If enacted, the Manage VA Act would create a VA undersecretary for management post who would also serve as the Chief Management Officer (CMO). Democratic Rep. Mark Takano of California said the legislation and the new CMO role would have the effect of consolidating and standardizing acquisition and IT functions across the agency including improving the VA’s Oracle Cerner EHRM program…
“There needs to be much more discipline in the VA’s EHRM approach right now and it’s not clear that the CMO position would change that,” [Shelby Oakley, Director of Contracting and National Security Acquisitions at the GAO] told FedScoop after the House VA legislative hearing.
“It feels sometimes like the EHRM program is being run on ‘good vibes’ which just doesn’t work in the long run, we need better processes in place,” Oakley added… Read the full article here.
