Page 32 - Federal Computer Week, July 2019

Modernization
IT. In particular, there’s an immediate need to launch the equivalent of the post-World War II Marshall Plan to retire old IT debt and replace as much technology as possible as quickly as possible with modern commercial solutions.
To get started, it would be prudent to appoint an IT modernization czar who is empowered to advocate at a governmentwide level and answer to Congress. We need to task the modernization czar with creating targets and goals and providing accountability for progress. We need to use return-on-investment strategies to size, allocate and prioritize modernization budgets in light of evolving agency missions.
By analogy, too much of the government’s current IT is similar to a gas-guzzling car of the 1970s — impervious to the improvements provided by innovation, missing embed- ded safety features and way too expensive to keep on the road. We can keep patching it up, or we can make new investments and begin to gain the benefits and economies of modern computing. Over time, modernization will save money and significantly improve mission performance.
The keys to a modernization Marshall plan
Given the hard work of many dedicated and passionate individuals, we already have some of the key compo- nents needed to drive a Marshall plan for IT modern- ization in government.
1. Funding. The Technology Modernization Fund should provide seed capital to jump-start new and inno- vative modernization programs. It is akin to the private- sector venture capital that is a key ingredient to help new and innovative solutions get off the ground. There- fore, funding for TMF should be radically increased to ensure that major modernization efforts have appropri- ate resources.
In addition, TMF should use transparency as a means to drive accountability. A well-designed website with detailed information on spending, utilization and suc- cesses will ensure that projects can be monitored and that progress is reported. Most important, Congress needs to provide serious money and serious account- ability. Modernization must be an important, high-profile priority backed by significant investments and unrelent- ing accountability.
2. Special forces. The White House’s Office of Ameri- can Innovation established Centers of Excellence staffed with industry and government experts in modernization. Through an interagency agreement process, agencies now have access to experienced and qualified experts who cover a broad spectrum of modernization topics and areas. Those fast, nimble teams deliver results in short order. They do not have incentives to create long-running engagements but instead are focused on quick wins.
The program should be accelerated and expanded, and the discovery of opportunities for shared services should be rewarded. The centers should be directed to focus on two areas: quick targets for modernization and the potential for reuse and sharing across the govern- ment. A fortune could be saved when common, modern back-office solutions can be shared among agencies.
3. Smart policy guidance. In most cases, the task of modernizing IT involves rebuilding or moving computing workloads to modern cloud environments. OMB’s recent “cloud smart” policy is a step in the right direction, but it must be embraced, and the entire government needs to pick up the pace.
Current policy is good, but it shows a lack of willing- ness to significantly heighten the sense of urgency and enhance congressional commitment to make modern- ization happen rapidly across the entire government. With the proper focus, it should be possible for every agency to list their top 10 worst O&M IT problems and establish deadlines and budgets to replace and retire those systems. In this way, we put a stake in the ground and incrementally bring the entire government up to speed through published milestones. Ongoing security concerns should also be tackled as part of the modern- ization process, with an eye toward reducing security inhibitors and barriers that slow progress.
The key ingredient to making this modernization Marshall plan a reality is the appointment of a czar. A properly empowered leader could deploy the tools already available, apply some elbow grease, and scale up at a measurable and definable pace. Think of the modernization effort as similar to the Data Center Opti- mization Initiative but on steroids and with an empow- ered task master.
The government has the knowledge and the people to do this. There are significant thought leaders who have driven commendable modernization efforts. Unfor- tunately, those efforts have never been done at scale with all the resources required and with empowered leadership to move the entire government forward.
There is no reason for Americans to continue to pay for antiquated and expensive IT when less expensive, modern solutions will save money, significantly improve mission performance and create a digital-centric cus- tomer experience. The time is now for the government to make IT modernization a reality. n
Michael Garland and Gaurav Pal are principal consultants supporting the General Services Administration’s IT Mod- ernization Center of Excellence focused on cloud adoption. The content of this article is their personal perspective only and does not reflect an official government position.
32 July 2019 FCW.COM