The Virginia Department of Veterans Services “BeneVets Automated Claim Application” named finalist in the National Association of State Chief Information Officers Award Program
Chief Information Officer of the Commonwealth Nelson Moe today announced that three Virginia information technology (IT) initiatives have been selected as finalists in the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) awards program. The Virginia Department of Veterans Services (DVS) “BeneVets Automated Claim Application” is a finalist in the improving state operations category. The Virginia Unmanned Systems Commission is a finalist in the emerging and innovative technologies category. The Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) “Reducing Risk through Enterprise Data Identification” is a finalist in the cybersecurity category. The awards honor outstanding IT achievements in the public sector.
“We are honored to have three initiatives selected as finalists. There is tough competition for these awards,” said Moe, who also is the agency head at VITA. “State government IT staff members work diligently to provide IT solutions and services so that state agencies can better serve citizens across the commonwealth. It’s an honor to see this work recognized by this national organization.” “BeneVets Automated Claim Application” is a centralized, web-based application for submission and processing of veterans claims developed by DVS to work collaboratively with the U.S. Department of Veterans Administration (VA). DVS improved functionality of an existing service for veterans and the agency to completely automate the veterans’ claims filing system. Processing time for claims filed has been reduced from 45 days to an average of 11 days. Recognizing synergies and potential, the commonwealth centralized its efforts and gathered an impressive cross-section of leadership to guide the fledgling unmanned systems, or drones, industry.
The Virginia Unmanned Systems Commission was recognized for successfully enabling alignment of government, business, education and citizen interests positioning the state as the first choice for this new technology. With “Reducing Risk through Enterprise Data Identification,” VITA implemented a full-scale threat analysis of an increasing trend in successful malicious attacks. VITA identified two significant attack vectors, resulting in a 54 percent reduction in security incidents between the six months prior to the project and six months after its completion.
The Virginia finalists will be considered when one initiative in each category is selected for recognition at NASCIO’s annual conference in Orlando next month. Projects and initiatives from NASCIO member states, territories and the District of Columbia were eligible for nomination, and finalists were selected by NASCIO’s awards committee from a field of more than 130 nominees. For more information about the award finalists, go to http://www.nascio.org/newsroom.