Page 50 - FCW, November/December 2019

Public Sector Innovations
Trusted Internet Connections Modernization Pilot Program, TIC-in-the- Cloud
National Transportation Safety Board
The Trusted Internet Connections initiative is a relative dinosaur in federal IT. Launched in 2007, it aimed to protect federal networks by preventing the proliferation of internet access points. It was a sensible approach
at the time but has grown increasingly impractical as more government systems move to the cloud. TIC policies have evolved, but not fast enough for many agencies’ real- world mission needs.
The National Transportation Safety
Board was struggling with latency and connection problems as it routed mobile workers’ connections through a VPN client to the agency’s data center then through
the on-premises security stack and back out through a TIC, where NTSB employees could finally connect to cloud services or the open internet. The agency’s solution was TIC-in- the-Cloud.
NTSB deployed Zscaler’s cloud security platform and a software-defined wide- area network to create a zero trust security model. Traffic now flows over broadband and cellular connections rather than a VPN. And by shifting the security stack from
the data center to the cloud, NTSB can securely connect remote employees directly to cloud services and internet destinations, regardless of device, location or network.
Other agencies face similar challenges, and U.S. CIO Suzette Kent announced TIC policy revisions in mid-September that
add three use cases to better accommodate today’s mobile and cloud-powered missions. All agencies must update their network
and system boundary policies within a year to reflect this new guidance, and NTSB’s efforts could provide a much-needed roadmap.
USA Performance
Office of Personnel Management
The Office of Personnel Management’s USA Performance has digitized and streamlined performance reviews for members of
the Senior Executive Service, helping agencies across government transform their performance management.
The project’s reach grew rapidly in the
past year, and 30 agencies have signed up since 2017. Although the original target
user base was 8,000 senior executives, USA Performance has been updated and expanded so that it can now potentially serve all 2 million federal workers.
A cloud-based software-as-a-solution offering, USA Performance allows agencies to share a centralized system for all relevant IT security and compliance requirements. It also enables agencies to eliminate the time and expense of printing and maintaining paper records — an annual cost avoidance that could reach $35 million governmentwide.
It’s not a cookie-cutter shared service, however; users can configure USA Performance for their agency-specific requirements and performance plans. But a standardized approach to the underlying data promises broader governmentwide benefits as agencies seek to meet the workforce goals of the President’s Management Agenda.
This year, the USA Performance team
also developed a web service that enables agencies’ payroll systems to automatically send user updates and reduce administrative maintenance time. In addition, a monthly release cycle now allows for greater responsiveness to customer needs. Those customers have praised the system’s intuitive interface and its ability to help them become nearly paperless.
“These successful technical developments resulted in remarkable growth,” said Rebecca Ayers, OPM’s manager of performance management solutions. “No other system is as adaptable to the unique needs of all agencies across the federal government.”
USA Staffing
Office of Personnel Management
USA Staffing is a shared service that allows participating agencies to modernize their talent acquisition systems by redesigning the way hiring managers and human resources specialists process job applications and make sense of the talent pool.
The recently redesigned platform enables some 80,000 hiring managers across government to accept over 200,000 applications per week for federal positions. In addition to providing a framework for handling high volumes of applications,
USA Staffing has also allowed managers to initiate vetting and onboarding processes by connecting directly to E-Verify, the National Background Investigations Bureau’s Electronic Questionnaires for Investigations Processing and other federal HR systems. Integration with the Office of Personnel Management’s USA Hire brings advanced assessment capabilities for more than 100 federal occupational series.
Designed to be more than a technology product, USA Staffing’s service delivery model includes all the training, implementation, help desk, coaching and change management support agencies need to take full advantage of the system.
Hiring guidelines vary from one agency to the next, so USA Staffing has worked with each customer to configure the system accordingly. The result has been satisfied customers and successful hires: Last year, USA Staffing supported 369,672 selections across government.
USDA Voice of the Customer Centers of Excellence Program
Department of Agriculture
At the Agriculture Department, farmers rule, and the agency wants to make sure it stays that way as new technologies and a fast-changing world reshape those customer
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