My organization is dedicated to improving Veterans’ lives by providing seamless and effective IT products and services that are used to ensure Veterans receive access to the healthcare and benefits they are entitled to for serving our country. As one of the Contracting Officers supporting VA’s Benefits Portfolio as well as VA’s mission to transition to a seamless Electronic Health Record with DoD, I will take the knowledge and information received throughout this DITAP course to work to continually improve our IT contracts for Benefits and Health. It’s FY2024 and my Agency has led the charge to implement and integrate Digital Services throughout VA. Our staff is 100% DS-certified and we continue to hire bright and energetic people to keep our workforce on the leading edge of transformation. We’re constantly working with our OIT customers, business stakeholder, and end users to ensure that we don’t fall into a rut of procuring the same thing over and over again without considering if there are new and innovative solutions emerging in the market place. While we haven’t thrown out the rule-book, we work collaboratively with Policy, Compliance, and OGC to streamline the acquisition process where we can and where it makes sense. We’ve been able to increase customer satisfaction exponentially and have been recognized as a best in class organization. As a FAC-C-DS certified Contracting Officer, I will bring the knowledge gained from DITAP on DS methods, techniques, and processes to my customers on future jobs. I will create a collaborative environment to discuss each acquisition and potential solutions rather than simply send templates and samples to assist my Contract Specialist and OIT customers. I will be an advocate for change and transformation at the working-level to help VA take the first steps to transformation at the agency-level.
Digital IT Acquisition Professional (DITAP) Program Blog 