The department said there are currently more than 130 use cases deployed across its operations and many more are in development.
Michel Sandiford
- Veterans Affairs is investigating hundreds of potential applications of artificial intelligence. More than half of those would impact the health care mission. The VA said AI-assisted colonoscopies lead to better detection of tumors. It also said AI helps reduce the risk of opioid overdose and suicide among patients. The department said there are currently more than 130 use cases deployed across its operations and many more are in development.
- Agencies are hosting another Freedom of Information Act technology showcase this year. The NexGen FOIA Tech Showcase 3.0 is scheduled for May 12-14 as a virtual event. It is co-hosted by the Chief FOIA Officers Council’s Technology Committee and the National Archives’ Office of Government Information Services. The goal is to help agencies identify technical solutions, including artificial intelligence, that can assist in processing FOIA cases and potentially help reduce ever-growing FOIA backlogs.
- A group of unions and nonprofits are asking for an emergency court order to stop further cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The American Federation of Government Employees and other plaintiffs on Tuesday asked a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction that would prevent FEMA from laying off more emergency response workers. FEMA had halted layoffs due to the massive winter storm late last month, but multiple outlets have reported that the agency would soon resume staff cuts. AFGE argues that these staff reductions violate the law and reduce FEMA’s preparedness to respond to disasters.
- Democrats in Congress want to give federal workers a 4.1 percent raise next year. Lawmakers in the House of Representatives and the Senate have reintroduced the FAIR Act. It’s a bill that aims to keep federal salaries in line with the private sector and the rising cost of living. Democrats have reintroduced the FAIR Act every year, but the bill has never received much attention in Congress. It is estimated that federal salaries lag behind those of the private sector by about 25%.
- The Ministry of Home Affairs orders all its bureaus and offices to remove non-English content from their websites. A message from the IT shop said it had been instructed to “scrub” all non-English content by the end of the day on Tuesday. IT workers have also been told to add a disclaimer to Interior websites stating that “English is the official language and the authoritative version of all federal information.”
- Federal workers who soon lose their job protections may also lose access to some other benefits. Career employees converted to the Trump Administration’s Schedule Policy/Career will, for the most part, no longer qualify for student loan repayment options. They also will not be able to receive recruitment, retention or relocation incentives. That’s according to additional guidance issued by the Office of Personnel Management on the new employment classification. The changes for future employees in the schedule policy/career are in line with what most political appointees already see in their employment conditions.
- The Department of Veterans Affairs is looking to get the rollout of a new multibillion-dollar electronic health record back on track after putting the project on hold for three years. The VA has been in a “reset” period since April 2023. At that time, implementation of the new Oracle-Cerner EHR was halted until the department addressed persistent outages and performance issues at locations already using the system. VA Assistant Secretary Paul Lawrence told Federal News Network in an interview that sites already using the system are “catching up” on pre-implementation productivity levels, and that some sites have already achieved that goal.
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