A breakfast event held September 18, 2018 kicked off the Bethesda Chapter of the Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association’s (AFCEA) discussion on the Federal government’s efforts to modernize the IT infrastructure.
The meeting included speakers from CMS https://www.cms.gov, General Services Administration (GSA) https://www.gsa.gov, USDA https://www.usda.gov, Department of Homeland Security https://www.dhs.gov , and the Department of State https://www.state.gov.
Barry West, former DHS Executive, moderated a panel on the Federal government’s ideas on how agencies are going to continue to move forward in IT modernization efforts. Government leaders on the panel discussed a wide range of modernization topics.
Bobby Saxon, Chief Technology Officer for the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at CMS, told the attendees, “The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) provides incremental funding for approved projects.”
TMF is overseen by the Technology Modernization Board comprised of Government IT leaders representing experts in technology transformation and operations. The plan is for agencies to submit IT- related project proposals for the Board to review and consider. CMS welcomes strategic partners and actively wants to discuss innovative ideas with industry to see what companies can offer.
Kelly Olson, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Federal Acquisition Services, and Director, for Technology Transformation Services, at GSA, mentioned how the Centers of Excellence (COE) are accelerating the modernization process across government.
She mentioned how GSA’s Emerging Citizen Technology program recently launched the “Emerging Tech Atlas” program to provide a one-stop shop to better understand and demystify emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain.
She also described how GSA has undertaken key activities with USDA that includes working towards accelerating cloud adoption and consolidation which will require data centers to be provided with the latest technology.
Francisco Salguero, Deputy CIO at USDA, with his agency working with GSA on IT expansion issues, explained how USDA is now fully utilizing technology successfully. USDA’s goal is to not only accelerate cloud adoption, but to optimize call centers with the latest technology, and develop metrics and dashboards to drive process improvement.
Donna Roy, Executive Director, for Information Systems Security (ISSO), at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been working with vendors on the “Trusted Internet Connection” (TIC) program. This program is being redesigned for the future and will soon be initiating a Cloud Steering group. As she reports, the tech environment is ever changing so new pilots are ongoing.
Looking at modernizing technology from a worldwide viewpoint, Ken Rogers, Deputy CIO for Business Management & Planning at the Department of State, is concerned as are other agencies and the public on how workforce needs will be adjusted as technology advances since different positions will exist and the workforce maybe changed but also reduced. He suggests, “The ever changing workforce will come not only come from government but also from the private sector.”
He reports that “The Department of State takes a worldwide approach to the Cloud and realizes that a multi-cloud strategy is needed as one size doesn’t fit all. In the future, the State Department is looking to optimize global networks to provide access to the cloud but the issue of securing data must meet population needs not only in the U.S but also worldwide.”