EPISODE · Aug 19, 2025 · 13 MIN

GovCast: VA's Platform One Offers Sandbox to Software

from GovCIO Media & Research Podcasts · host GovCIO Media & Research

The second Trump administration has spent 2025 accelerating its software modernization initiatives through the creation of agencies like the U.S. DOGE Service and other entities designed to digitize and modernize the American government. Modeling after DOD enterprise software container platforms, the Department of Veterans Affairs stood up its own Platform One application in 2021 to drive software modernization within the agency. Matthew Fuqua, technical lead at VA's Platform One, told GovCIO Media & Research Platform One is a sandbox environment where software developers can safely experiment and build applications using protected data. He said his team took inspiration from similar endeavors in federal government and built a platform where developers can focus their efforts solely on coding. Fuqua said that Platform One's ethos centered around "speed, stability, scale and security," and each tenet drives the mission of providing services through software that can benefit veterans. Platform One supports the VA's DevSecOps strategy to streamline its operations and shift away from the traditional waterfall approach to software development that hinders innovation at speed. In a DevSecOps environment, Fuqua's team is able to monitor, update and secure troves of data rapidly, shortening processes that used to take days down to hours. Fuqua said that AI has opened the door to new potential applications but data security is paramount when considering building new software.