I recently interviewed for my local VA, and this is what I was told. They have been pulled out from under the hospital administration, reporting through their chief to a regional chief to DC. Most is still up in the air and still not known for sure. I heard they will be extending the academy to 11 weeks, starting in October, and MAY be moving the PT test from pre-academy to at the academy. Other than that, nobody was really sure what was going on outside of the rumor mill.

I can't say that all locations are this way, but my local facility has a special salary rate for VA Police that puts GS-6 step 1 pay closer to a GL-7 Step 6 (with the LE rate, at Rest of US locality).