Fed Gov Today

This Fed Gov Today podcast is sponsored by Verizon.Today’s show is titled “Bridging Horizons: Innovating Customer Experience in Federal Civilian Services. The President’s Management Agenda and a series of executive orders have pushed agencies to transform the way they deal with agency customers. Leaders from FDA, VA, and Verizon dig into the challenges, opportunities, and technological innovations shaping the future of citizen service.The Food and Drug Administration is ready to take a leap… in its customer experience journey. Josh Lehman, Chief Customer Experience Officer and Director of the Office of Customer Experience at FDA, tells you how the agency approaches customer experience, and how it’s about to change that approach.The FDA’s forthcoming CX strategy is just the latest example of agencies taking a deliberate approach to the issue. But not every step in that journey goes smoothly. Brian Pancia, Senior Client Partner for Solutions for Public Sector and Digital Experience at Verizon, tells you about the struggles he sees with CX at agencies, and how to deal with them.Several pieces of policy and legislation put data at the center of the decision making process for agencies. Leaders say data is becoming one of their most important tools in improving customer experience. At the ACT-IAC Emerging Tech and Innovation Conference recently, Evan Albert, Director of Measurement and Data Analytics at the Department of Veterans Affairs, tells me how his agency uses data to measure and improve its performance for veterans.

NASA has a new technology leader to work in its digital transformation. Patrick Newbold is about five months into his tenure there, after joining the agency from the Social Security Administration. At the ACT-IAC Emerging Tech and Innovation Conference recently, he tells me digital transformation is about more than technology.The Defense Department is in year two of its latest Small Business Strategy. That strategy includes three objectives. The first one is unifying small-business related activities. Farooq Mitha is Director of DoD’s Office of Small Business Programs. At SOF Week 2024, he tells me he needs to coordinate efforts from everywhere in the department to achieve that objective.Federal government leaders now have several guiding documents on using and buying artificial intelligence. New guidance from the Office of Personnel Management covers the growing AI workforce, and the General Services Administration has released acquisition guidance on AI too. Rob King is the Chief Data Officer at the Energy Department. At the ACT-IAC Emerging Tech and Innovation Conference recently, he says no one can ignore the disruption AI is causing,especially generative AI.ACT-IAC Health Innovation SummitInnovation in Government from SOF Week

All the military services, and pretty much the whole federal government, says they’re looking for innovative solutions. The hang-up can be what “innovation” actually means to each organization. Lt. Col. David Brewer (USAF) is Total Force Integration Liaison in the Disruptive Technology Division at Air Force Futures Center 3 Integration and Innovation. At the Emerging Tech and Innovation Conference, he tells me why innovation isn’t a noun, and why he thinks people are using the term incorrectly.The Office of Federal Procurement Policy is fresh off the celebration of its 50th anniversary. One of the tools it’s provided to agencies is the Periodic Table of Acquisition Innovations. The table came out of a working group ACT-IAC’s Institute for Innovation put together. Jim Cook is Chair of the Institute. At the Emerging Tech and Innovation Conference, he tells me the institute is expanding its focus from just creating connections.The Bureau of the Fiscal Service is on what it calls a transformation journey, like a lot of other federal agencies. BFS is engaging its employees, and the federal organizations it serves, to guide that journey. Joe Gioeli is Deputy Commissioner of Transformation and Modernization at BFS. At the Emerging Tech and Innovation Conference, he tells me that journey began with what the agency calls a Future Readiness Assessment.ACT-IAC Health Innovation SummitInnovation in Government from Sea Air Space

A new artificial intelligence tech sprint is under way at the Department of Veterans Affairs. 152 teams are competing in the sprint, on two tracks. Donna Hill, Deputy Director of Operations at the National Artificial Intelligence Institute at the VA and manager of the AI Tech Sprint, tells you how the sprint works, and what the agency is looking for.The Defense Department is working with five international partners to co-fund research and development projects. That work is happening in the Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate. On the newest Fed Gov Today TV from SOF Week in Tampa, Roger Newberry, Director of the Directorate, tells me how those relationships work.Two of the F-35 program’s key metrics are how much the planes cost, and much the services can use them. According to new data from the Government Accountability Office, both those metrics are trending in the wrong direction. At agency headquarters recently, Diana Maurer, Director of Defense Capabilities and Management at GAO, tells me what she and her team found when they looked at both markers.ACT-IAC Emerging Technology & Innovation ConferenceInnovation in Government from Sea Air Space

Some records are falling in your Thrift Savings Plan. More federal employees are bringing money into the TSP than ever, and the Plan is breaking other records too. Kim Weaver, Director of External Affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, tells you about some of the other records the TSP is breaking, and why the Board thinks those records are falling.Federal agencies have new guidance from the Office of Personnel Management on using generative artificial intelligence responsibly. The guidance includes nine general recommendations for employees and use-case examples with specific recommendations. On the latest edition of Fed Gov Today TV, Rob Shriver, Acting Director of OPM, explains how the agency hopes agencies will use the guidance.The Comptroller General of the United States is celebrating his 51st year in the Federal government. Gene Dodaro started at the Government Accountability Office in 1973 and became the Comptroller General in December of 2010. At GAO headquarters in Washington recently, I asked him what’s changed, and what’s stayed the same, since he started at the agency and since he took over as Comptroller General.Innovation in Government from Sea Air Space

This show is sponsored by EY.The federal government is beginning month eight of work on the White House’s plan for “Delivering a Digital First Public Experience.” That work, and work tech leaders from other countries are doing around the world, was the focus of an event in Washington recently called Government DX. Dozens of US federal government leaders joined their peers from around the world, on stage and off, to learn how to solve digital transformation challenges from each other. Clare Martorana, the Federal Chief Information Officer, and Harry Coker, the National Cyber Director, were on stage together at Government DX. They joined me exclusively after their session, and I asked Clare to tell a story about digital government that she had just told on stage.Government DX featured leaders from around the world talking about how they’re taking on some of the same problems US federal leaders are attacking. One of those is artificial intelligence. Amy Jones is US Public Sector AI Market lead for EY. At Government DX,  I asked her if government is getting better, worse, or neither at connecting its data to AI.

The Department of Energy says it’s planning for technology that might not exist for ten years or more. Given the leaps in tech in the past ten years, leaders say that planning requires great flexibility. Brian Epley is Deputy Chief Information Officer at the Energy Department. At the ACT-IAC Climate Change Summit recently, he tells me about the partnerships he wants to help maximize that flexibility.Agency Priority Goals in the President’s Management Agenda include several goals that cut across multiple agencies. Former government leaders say agencies still struggle with cross-agency collaboration. Mark Osler is senior advisor for Coastal Inundation and Resilience at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He tells me what he’s seen that works, and doesn’t work, between agencies.

The federal government is missing a “prime opportunity” to cut the size and cost of its real estate footprint, according to the Public Buildings Reform Board. The board finds the government is missing modernization opportunities too. Dan Mathews, a member of the Public Buildings Reform Board and former commissioner of the Public Buildings Service at the General Services Administration, details what the board thinks that opportunity is, and how to capture it.The Military Health System is reimagining how it provides care to its customers. Its digital transformation is just one part of that makeover. Naomi Escoffrey is Chief Accelerator Officer and Innovation Program Manager at the Defense Health Agency. On the newest episode of Innovation in Government from HIMSS, she tells me other military health leaders around the world face some of the same challenges DHA does.Federal government leaders have a unique opportunity to learn from IT leaders from around the world, in person, this week. GovernmentDX is coming to the Reagan Building downtown on Thursday and Friday. Kevin Sorkin is Chief Executive Officer of Pendragon International Media, and Siobhan Bonita is moderator of the Global Government Forum. Kevin and Siobhan are hosting GovernmentDX. They tell me why federal government leaders, especially leaders outside the IT specialties, should come.

Today, a special program. Monday I hosted the Chiefs Panel, the opening event of the Sea Air Space conference. My thanks to the Navy League of the United States, the hosts of Sea Air Space, for inviting me to moderate the Chiefs Panel. You’ll hear that event on the program today, with the Chief of Naval Operations… Admiral Lisa Franchetti; the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Christopher Mahoney; the Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Linda Fagan; and the Administrator of the Maritime Administration, Rear Admiral Ann Phillips (USN ret.)The first question I asked went to CNO Franchetti, about the new fiscal year 2025 budget request, and how it supports her recent strategy document, “America’s Warfighting Navy."Navy League YouTube channel

The President’s Management Agenda doesn’t include an explicit mention of shared services. But one leader says there are plenty of references that imply agencies should use shared services. Chad Clifford is Executive Director of the Grants Quality Service Management Office at the Department of Health and Human Services. At ACT-IAC’s Shared Services Summit at the Carahsoft Conference Center in Reston recently, he tells me why he thinks that is.Eight hubs around the country will be the building blocks of a “Microelectronics Commons.” Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks calls the Commons an effort to bridge what some observers call the “valley of death” between research-and-development and production. Dr. Dev Shenoy is Principal Director for Microelectronics and Director of the Defense Microelectronics Cross-Functional Team in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. On the new Fed Gov Today TV, he tells me what the Commons is, and what DoD wants to accomplish with it.Your biometric markers could be the path to access your retirement information. The Thrift Savings Plan is introducing biometric elements to its identity verification. Kim Weaver is Director of External Affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board. She tells me how it will work for participants, and what the TSP will have to do to make it work.Zero Trust In Depth special showACT-IAC Climate Change Summit infoThe Navy League’s Sea Air Space