The SDVOSB will work with VA to modernize and streamline its disability benefits processing, helping Veterans access their benefits with greater speed and accuracyCoforma : Specializing in human-centered design (HCD), agile software development, and product and program management to support feature, product, and service delivery.: Specializing in human-centered design (HCD), agile software development, and product and program management to support feature, product, and service delivery. Oddball : Bringing expertise within the VA Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) and extensive experience designing, building, and deploying accessible forms and other Veteran-facing applications.: Bringing expertise within the VA Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) and extensive experience designing, building, and deploying accessible forms and other Veteran-facing applications. Verdance: Contributing benefits expertise, including contention classification and disability compensation work, design, and engineering services.ContactAshling Knight***@aquia.us Ashling KnightEnd-- Aquia Inc., a cloud and cybersecurity digital services firm, today announced it has been awarded a three-year, $42.7 million contract, "Disability Benefits Crew," under the Department of Veterans Affairs's (VA's) Secure, Performant, Reliable, and User-Centered Experiences (SPRUCE) IT modernization vehicle This is the first prime award under SPRUCE for Aquia Nava II LLC — a joint venture between Aquia Inc. and Nava Public Benefit Corporation. Working alongside its partners at VA, Aquia Nava II will digitize the disability claims process, enhancing the user experience for Veterans and VA staff, and leading to faster decision times, more accurate data, and reduced costs."Founded by three service-disabled Veterans, being selected to modernize VA's disability benefits processing is particularly meaningful to our team," said David Maskeroni, co-founder and chief revenue officer of Aquia. "Having personally navigated these systems as Veterans, we understand firsthand the challenges that users are facing

This is a guest post by Genevieve Gaudet, Martelle Esposito and Kira Leadholm of Nava Public Benefit Corporation. The DC-based company creates platforms and technical systems to help government agencies better serve constituents.Less than 25% of Americans trust the federal government to “do what’s right.” Although trust in government has marginally increased since 2023, this statistic is concerning.Various factors eroded the public’s trust in government, and the hoops one must jump through to access government services — often called “administrative burdens” — are surely among them.To reduce these barriers and restore trust in government, public interest technologists must design products and services to meet the public’s needs. One way to accomplish this is through co-design — an approach that deeply involves community members and treats them as experts of their lived experiences.Participant advisory councils (PACs), where groups of program participants regularly meet with development teams to provide feedback on product improvements, offer an emerging way to practice co-design. Stemming from a long history of community engagement practices across fields, PACs emerged in government as an effective way to gather feedback on new products or services. However, they’re still an uncommon design method for technology projects.Success stories from other sectors suggest that PACs can be an efficient and human-centered way for technologists to build products that meet peoples’ needs, which can ultimately help restore trust in our institutions. This is because PACs enable teams to make decisions that lead to positive impacts while helping participants feel heard and valued