Page 18 - GCN, Jun/July 2016

SERVING THE CITIZEN
THE AGENCY TRANSITION TO DIGITAL: ROLL-OUT OR REVOLUTION?
Moving to a digital services culture is as much a philosophical shift s it is a technological transformation.
aTHE TRANSITION government agencies are making to delivering digital services is often referred to as
a cultural experience—not a roll-out or upgrade. It’s actually all of those things. But instituting digital services is more like a revolution, with all the passion
and re-education that implies.
“We’re not out to transform services just to have new services.
We’re really out to transform people’s lives,” said Aaron Snow, executive director of 18F, a fee-for-service government office that helps other agencies build, buy and share digital services. “And to transform the services that improve people’s lives, we have to transform some entrenched practices.” Snow spoke at the Citizen Engagement Summit: Delivering on the Promise of Digital Services, held March 2 in Washington, D.C.
However, transforming entrenched, legacy practices often takes deep institutional resources and leverage. Recognizing that, the GSA recently merged three of its technology groups, the 18F digital services agency, the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies (OCSIT), and the Presidential Innovation Fellows program into a program called the Technology Transformation Service (TTS).
Federal CIO Tony Scott said the newly christened triad would “strengthen the way federal agencies develop, buy and share cutting edge digital solutions,” according to a GSA announcement.
In a May 3 blog post, GSA administrator Denise Turner Roth called the new services organization, “a foundation
for the federal government’s digital transformation,” and
an opportunity to partner with other agencies and assist
them in their own attempts to transform. “By moving these programs into a new service,” she said, “we are demonstrating a commitment to make agile, user-centered delivery of technology the way we do business moving forward.”
The effort will require money and manpower. In remarks made while introducing the fiscal 2017 federal budget, administration officials highlighted upcoming IT priorities, including “delivering smarter information technology, world-class customer service and stronger engagement with communities and citizens.”
The administration also appears to be putting its money and resources where its mouth is. Next year, the administration plans to spend $35 million more on the U.S. Digital Service (USDS), $105 million for digital services teams at 25 agencies, and even more for digital channels throughout the federal government. Citing the need for more IT specialists to pursue its digital goals, the administration said it will also aim to hire 500 top “digital service experts” by January 2017 to work with agencies on their highest priority projects.
Those additional specialists would reinforce the U.S. Digital Service, a group of entrepreneurs assembled in 2014
to work on special projects. Since then, USDS experts have worked on several key projects, including restoring the State Department’s global Consolidated Consular Database after a worldwide outage and laying the groundwork for secure access to all IRS digital services.
In preparing for the 2016 budget, the administration
also released all budget data in machine-readable formats
on GitHub, a web site for hosting open source projects. Altogether, the technical expertise initiatives have saved more than $3.5 billion, according to administration officials.
Those savings have helped sustain the principles GSA
has adopted during the course of the government’s digital transition. Those principles include managing data instead of documents, using shared platforms to reduce costs, providing users with access to information anytime on multiple devices, and ensuring secure information delivery.
Using these guidelines, IT managers are developing
digital systems they believe will help build strong technology cultures. Environmental Protection Agency CIO Ann Duncan, speaking at the Citizen Engagement Summit, said creating a digital services culture requires a radically different thought and decision-making processes. The EPA is turning to user- centered design, modular practices and agile development instead of sticking with familiar waterfall methods. Streamlining government processes also helps encourage
an agency digital services culture, she said.
The mechanics of digital transformation also requires ideas and methods for measuring progress. The U.S. Census Bureau,
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