Page 44 - FCW, June 2017
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CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
4 KEYS TO TRANSFORMING OCITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
VER THE LAST several years, the field of digital approach. But experts say to see real payoff, agencies need to services has emerged as an essential aspect of deepen their investments.
much-needed efforts to transform how agencies IT modernization should be at the top of the agenda. Too provide information and services to the public. often, agencies are unable to take advantage of emerging That need for transformation is being driven by solutions because of their aging IT infrastructure. “Digital
public expectations. Digital citizens take it for granted that solutions will fundamentally change the way agencies deliver
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services will be available at any time, from any device, and through multiple channels. They expect those services to be user-centric, flexible and constantly evolving.
Ultimately, it’s not about technology; it’s about engagement. The challenge now is to build on that early work to develop a cohesive and sustainable approach to citizen engagement.
Here are some lessons learned during the last year that could help agencies shift their citizen engagement initiatives from experimentation to transformation.
1. Change the Procurement Culture
Citizen engagement requires a different mindset than traditional IT services. To move beyond those initial forays in digital services, agencies need to help their employees think in new ways about how they develop and deliver services— beginning with the procurement process.
The Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) was launched to identify, procure and test innovative commercial technology. It’s ultimately focused on resetting expectations for how long it takes to get contracts done. The mission of DIUx “is to do agile culture change,” says Raj Shah, managing partner of DIUx, speaking earlier this year at the New America Foundation Future of War summit in Washington. Tradition-bound contracting is a common obstacle, says David Wennergren, executive vice president for operations and technology at the Professional Services Council and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and
Deputy CIO.
“Access to innovation is a top priority for federal tech
leaders, yet speed and innovation rank low as priorities for federal contracting officials,” Wennergren wrote in a recent column in FCW.
2. Ramp It Up
Most agencies have taken a measured approach to citizen engagement, developing proofs of concept and looking for small victories. No one can fault them for taking that
services, if those agencies can accelerate digitization efforts, move off outdated legacy infrastructure and embrace mobile solutions and applications,” Wennergren writes.
Some agencies have found it helpful to assemble a central team to support citizen engagement initiatives across the organization. The White House led the way by creating the U.S. Digital Service in August 2014, followed by the Pentagon launching the Defense Digital Service in November 2015.
Individual agencies and services have been spinning off their own teams, including both the Army and Air Force during the last year.
3. Question Conventional Wisdom
Beyond the rules and regulations that shape how agencies buy, manage and use IT, there are conventions about how things are done. Rules and regulations require compliance; conventions do not. That’s something a growing number
of agencies are coming to realize as they undertake citizen engagement initiatives.
Case in point: the “Hack the Pentagon” program. During this program, the Defense Department invited members of
the public to identify potential security vulnerabilities in the department’s public-facing websites. The program, overseen by the Defense Digital Service, turned up 138 actionable bugs. The Army followed suit late last year, which helped to identify 118 vulnerabilities.
Citizen engagement is also spurring an interest in DevOps and Agile, as agencies look to accelerate new services delivery. The Department of Homeland Security put its
stake in the ground late last year by awarding contracts to 13 vendors under the $1.5 billion Flexible Agile Support for the Homeland (FLASH) program.
4. But Don’t Forget the Basics
Although citizen engagement demands new ways of
thinking, some conventional wisdom—and existing rules and regulations—still apply. Among other concerns is the e-records
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