The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that while the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) effectively executed decision-making procedures for its electronic health record (EHR) system modernization efforts, it was unable to ensure complete involvement with stakeholders.

GAO said in a report released Friday that VA planned to initially implement modernized EHR systems at its facilities in Washington this year. The department also created 18 EHR councils comprised of VA healthcare professionals that conducted workshops from late 2018 to 2019.

According to the watchdog, two clinicians from the selected facilities reported that the department “did not always effectively communicate information to stakeholders” such as staff and clinicians, preventing the inclusion of relevant stakeholders in EHR workshops.

These workshops were meant to enable EHR councils to relay information such as how to properly configure the records system to support compatibility and clinical work matters.

GAO noted that the EHR councils were still conducting meetings as of March and that VA temporarily delayed EHR implementation to accommodate more pressing needs in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

VA is yet to indicate its plans for ensuring appropriate stakeholder representation in future EHR sessions, GAO said.

The Federal Risk Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) office has established a new unit focused on training liaisons on relaying resources and information to their respective agencies, Federal News Network reported Monday.

Ryan Hoesing, customer success manager at FedRAMP's program management office (PMO), told the publication in an email that the Agency Liaison Program will use a “train the trainer” approach to driving collaboration and knowledge-sharing across the federal government.

He noted that the new PMO resulted from an “ideation challenge” launched by FedRAMP last summer and is working with over 30 agency partners to date.

“The Agency Liaison Program also establishes a formal feedback mechanism to enable continuous process improvement as the program rolls out new initiatives,” he added.

Ashley Mahan, FedRAMP director, also told Federal News Network in an email that the PMO will continue the focus on automating authorization procedures and promoting education throughout the FedRAMP community.

FedRAMP previously released guides for agencies as well as small businesses and startups on the authorization process, she added.

According to data reported in the SupplyShift platform, suppliers’ perspectives concerning the effect of COVID-19 on the supply chain are trending in a positive direction. Of the companies surveyed since March, 43 percent reported that they were running at 81-100 percent of capacity, the report stated on Tuesday. 

In addition, 14 percent of respondents have reported that they were operating at more than 100 percent of capacity. Employee availability remained relatively high throughout the period, with 68 percent of respondents reporting employee availability of 90 percent or higher. 

For companies that did report lowered capacity, the three main reasons cited were government-mandated shutdown, reduced demand and supply chain disruptions from their own suppliers. Over half expect the main impacts of disruption to continue decreasing over time. The report noted that as the public and private sectors begin to understand the implications of COVID-19 on the supply chain, companies will shift their focus toward operational recovery.

"As we navigate the business challenges of COVID-19, the conversation has transitioned from risk mitigation to recovery," observed Alex Gershenson, CEO of SupplyShift. "Our collaboration with Moody's Analytics and Verisk Maplecroft brings powerful enhancements to our solution. We hope these tools will continue to aid the business community as they work to secure their supply chains."

Tom Reynolds, a global supply chain practice consultant, has also commented on the effects of COVID-19 on the global supply chain. He noted that increased globalization and the prevalence of e-commerce have led businesses to count on customers spread all around the world, unlike the previous norm of a more localized and homogenous group of end consumers. 

The participation has made supply chains vastly more complex, and supply chain officers point out the need to develop capabilities to handle that complexity seamlessly even during times of distress. 

“There’s an increased demand within companies to make their supply chains more flexible and dynamic,” said Reynolds. “This is challenging for supply chain leaders, as sourcing from multiple places would bring in a lot more complexities on the inbound side.” 

Potomac Officers Club will host its Supply Chain Resilience and COVID-19 Virtual Event on June 11th. Click here to register for the event.

John Polowczyk, Vice director for Logistics, J4 with the Joint Chiefs of Staff will speak at the virtual event. He will address the unprecedented global demand surge in personal protective equipment to supply-side challenges amid the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Polowczyk will be joined by Dave Kless, executive director of Operations at the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and Stuart Jones, director of Supply Chain Management at LMI to further discuss the implications inherent with the global pandemic. 

Register here to join Potomac Officers Club for  its Supply Chain Resilience and COVID-19 Virtual Event on June 11th to learn about the speakers’ perspectives on the state of public-private collaboration and how coordination at the strategic and tactical levels can strengthen supply chain response to future challenges.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has issued a request for comments to seek inputs on an information collection request to optimize government-wide customer experience. The information collection effort will monitor federal programs and attain resources to allow agencies to augment customer service delivery capacities, the Office of the Federal Register said Tuesday.

SSA will only accept voluntary collections that have met the agency's criteria. The agency will utilize the program's results to deliver government-wide data and enable accountability and transparency of federal programs.

SSA expects to conduct around 17,866,680 customer experience activities and receive 5,955,560 annual responses in support of the collection effort. The agency plans to file the collection request to the Office of Management and Budget for approval 30 days from the release of the notice.

Intelsat General Communications (IGC), subsidiary of Intelsat, has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) for Satellite Communications Terminals, Technologies and Constellations Interoperability with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC), the company reported on Tuesday.

“We look forward to working with C5ISR and bringing new capabilities to warfighters as quickly as possible,” said Intelsat General President Skot Butler. “Intelsat General’s new FlexGround service, for example, is purposefully designed to keep tactical users in remote environments securely connected with the high data rates they require.

Under the agreement, Intelsat General will help advance the CCDC’s Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center (C5ISR). The agreement will also develop Intelsat General’s technology and services as a solution for the Army’s mission and efforts to progress satellite communications (SATCOM) systems capabilities.

Intelsat General’s work on the CRADA will help to establish a working environment to conduct tests, demonstrations, experiments and exploratory information exchanges. The company will utilize its FlexGround service to align with the Army’s Tactical Network Modernization focus for Capability Set 2023. Intelsat General’s service has offered portable broadband connectivity, enabling extended capabilities.

Of the capabilities, the service branch will be able to advance ground force mobility, range extension, rapidly deployable command posts with smaller electronic and physical signatures, converged mission command and control, common operational picture technologies, improved cybersecurity and anti-jam capabilities.

“No matter where in the world, our ultra-portability, high-throughput, flexible service plans, pay-as-you-go option, and global availability enable troops to quickly access the connectivity they need whenever and wherever they need it. We have taken the complexity out of SATCOM, so our customers can focus on their core mission,” added Butler.

About Intelsat General

Intelsat General Communications (IGC) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Intelsat, which operates the largest and most advanced satellite fleet and connectivity infrastructure in the world. IGC provides government customers with mission-critical mobility communications solutions that include managed services with flexible pricing plans.

From remote military outposts and disaster-recovery sites to U.S. embassies and homeland-security agencies, IGC solutions support and enable some of the most complex government applications. As the only commercial satellite operator with an independent third-party Service Organization Control (SOC 3) cybersecurity accreditation, Intelsat is uniquely positioned to help its government customers build a secure, connected future.