Page 3 - Federal Computer Week, May/June 2019

Trending $2.7B New GAO tech office starts
to take shape
The Government Accountability Office’s new Science, Technology Assessment and Analytics team is beginning to develop and share its plans to take on a much broader role in IT moderniza- tion and emerging technology.
STAA represents something of an alternative to reviving the Office of Technology Assessment. The new enti- ty will adopt some of OTA’s functions and be an extension of the legislative branch’s auditing arm.
GAO recently released more details about its plan for the new team and its vision of the kind of problems and research areas it would tackle. Specifi- cally, officials cited five emerging tech- nologies that warrant attention because they could potentially transform soci- ety — gene editing, artificial intelligence and automation, quantum information science, augmented reality, and crypto- currencies and blockchain.
The STAA team will be divided into four groups: Technology Assessment and Technical Assistance, Science and Technology Program Oversight, Engi- neering Sciences, and an Innovation Lab that will develop analytical capabilities
was lost to cyber crime by U.S. organizations in 2018, the FBI estimates
“To anyone paying attention, it’s evident Congress has a tech literacy problem.”
and new technologies.
Congress appropriated $15 million
for STAA, and officials said they plan to double the size of their current sci- ence and technology workforce “to sig- nificantly expand the level of support we can provide to Congress.”
GAO is “making a lot of really impor- tant steps forward,” said Zach Graves, head of policy at the Lincoln Network, a technology and policy group headquar- tered in Silicon Valley. “The biggest chal- lenge to reviving OTA or a similar entity has been getting the money to do it in a serious way.... They’ve overcome that big hurdle.”
Graves said STAA will be more laser focused on technology and government than OTA was. He added that he was encouraged by GAO’s plan to include industry, academia and the public in the feedback process and the goal of pro- viding lawmakers with policy options in the technology space, where Congress
— ZACH GRAVES, LINCOLN NETWORK
is in dire need of expertise.
“To anyone paying attention, it’s evi-
dent Congress has a tech literacy prob- lem,” Graves said.
The legislative branch has shown some willingness to tackle its shortcom- ings in terms of technology and modern- ization. At the start of the new Congress, the House established the Select Com- mittee on the Modernization of Congress to develop recommendations on how to update a wide range of operations, including technology, human resources and the way lawmakers communicate with their constituents.
Graves said that as the STAA team takes shape, GAO will have to embrace a certain amount of culture change.
STAA is future-oriented and seeks to anticipate the impact of technology on society, while GAO “is focused on auditing and ex-post kind of analysis,” he added.
— Chase Gunter
FCW CALENDAR
5/22 Cybersecurity
Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation Program Manager Kevin
Cox, NASA CDM lead Willie Crenshaw and DOE Deputy CIO Gregory Sisson are among the speakers at FCW’s CDM DEFEND Workshop.
Washington, D.C.
FCW.com/CDM
6/26 IT infrastructure
This FCW workshop will dig into the Trump administration’s
Phase 2 playbook for the Data Center Optimization Initiative and how agencies are consolidating and modernizing their data center operations.
Washington, D.C.
FCW.com/DataCenter
7/17 Emerging tech
FCW’s 2019 Emerging Tech Summit will explore how AI,
robotic process automation and other technologies are reshaping agency missions and serving as critical enablers of IT-driven innovation.
Washington, D.C.
FCW.com/EmergingTech
May/June 2019 FCW.COM 3