Ep. 292 From Detection to Prevention: Using Technology to Reduce Fraud in Federal Programs

(We recorded this interview at Monk's BBQ in lovely downtown Purcellville, VA)

Connect to John Gilroy on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/

Want to listen to other episodes? www.Federaltechpodcast.com

Defrauding the federal government is like the weather; everyone wants to complain, but nobody can do anything about it. For example, a joint DOL-SBA report from December 2024 revealed $2.3 billion in potentially fraudulent payments.

Today, we sat down with Jeff Gallimore from Excella, where he will diagnose the problem of federal waste, fraud, and abuse. From there, he presents a solution that has already saved millions of dollars.

The problem: too many silos

From a data management perspective, most enterprise computational capabilities evolved through a federated approach. From a historical perspective, it makes sense that each agency would have its own computers and storage.

It makes sense that individual data stores in this environment would be separated, or perhaps the word "siloed", into distinct areas. Now, if you have one silo, you can protect it; if you have a thousand, then there is a problem.

During the interview, Gallimore mentioned an agency that manages 9,000 grants. That is a lot of data to coordinate when it is stored in its "silos."

The solution: gap analysis

Silos can be secure, but the architecture can allow for gaps in security coverage. These gaps, or seams, can allow fraudsters to exploit this structure. For example, an agency may have a division that has identified a person as a fraudster.

If that information is not shared, this person can use the same exploit on another area of the agency. Further, interlinks between federated systems can allow adversaries to gain access.

Excella has a profile of how they have managed to fill in the gaps in siloed data architecture.