AFCEA Bethesda Chapter’s https://bethesda.afceachapter.org Acquisition Panel held February 15 as part of AFCEA’s Health IT 2022 series, highlighted the importance to streamline and modernize the efficiency of government agencies and effectively deal with working in the virtual environment.
Nick Wakeman, Editor-in-Chief for Washington Technology led the discussion with leaders at CMS, GSA, FDA, and NITAAC. The discussion centered on how the pandemic is affecting the workplace environment, how agencies are operating now, but also on what the future looks like moving forward.
Starting the discussion, Derrick Heard, Director for the Office of Acquisition & Grants Management, at CMS, stressed that federal agencies as a result of the pandemic can’t always work as they did in the past. Today, it is vital to understand how to work in the virtual environment.
He explained, “The fact is that the federal and private sector workplace now and in the future will continue to meet virtually. This enables CMS to reach more people in today’s world. However, this requires employees to better manage time and be able to deal with the flexibility that is needed to work in an environment that always seems connected.”
The CMS Director discussed how important it is for the acquisition office to update vendors, work closely with industry partners, small businesses, and other CMS partners to have the right information available at the right time.
As Derrick Heard pointed out, “There are definitely changes in the work environment when you conduct business virtually. Since there is less paperwork, this can result in more effective and efficient use of data. It is also important to use updated technology to make the job easier especially when looking at the acquisition process.
Amy Haseltine, Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Acquisitions, Office of Information Technology Category, Federal Acquisition Service (GSA) complemented GSA on how effectively the agency shifted to the virtual work environment during the pandemic.
She emphasized how working during the pandemic changed a number of factors in the work environment such as the ability to accelerate and merge the use of technology, provide cloud services, and find new ways to deal with cybersecurity.
As she noted, it was surprising to see the workforce at GSA quickly move forward and adapt and embrace new ways as they were forced to embrace the virtual work environment. She talked about how much has changed since there was a flood of information which has required the agency to take on additional responsibilities to better understand the customer in order to effectively help industry partners and new businesses.
At FDA, Director of Acquisition & Grants, Leonard Grant, reports that working virtually and connecting with the staff can be a challenge. FDA was able to bring in consultants to help the workforce operate in the virtual environment and also how to interact with other agencies.
To move forward, FDA engaged in training and provided leadership to the staff, and not only worked with industry, but also met with stakeholders to receive feedback. The agency did a customer survey in order to get feedback in real time.
NITAAC within NIH, operates a full service acquisition program to administer Government Wide Acquisition Contracts for IT acquisition. Ricky Clark, as Deputy Director at NITAAC, concurred with the other panelists on how the pandemic made permanent changes in the workplace and he presented several suggestions on how to deal with the virtual climate in the workplace.
The goal is to virtually train the staff on how to find the resources needed in order to quickly and effectively help not only the staff and but also to provide resources and services to the public in today’s new world.
Since the panelists are involved in acquisitions at the agencies, they are all working very diligently to help their agencies evolve successfully not only in today’s virtual and perhaps hybrid environment. At the same time, it is essential to not only take the right steps at the agency but also work effectively with the public in order to move successfully beyond 2022.