Fed Gov Today

The artificial intelligence executive order the White House released in October calls for agencies to “improve A-I procurement.” Agencies may soon actually start to use AI to do that. Polly Hall is Senior Advisor to the Chief Procurement Officer at the Department of Homeland Security. At ACT IAC’s AI Procurement Forum recently at Carahsoft headquarters in Reston, she says the use cases for AI in acquisition are exploding.The questions at hand for AI in acquisition include both sides of the procurement coin. One side is how agencies will buy AI technology; the other is how agencies will add AI to their acquisition processes to buy everything. Karla Smith Jackson is Senior Procurement Executive, Deputy Chief Acquisition Officer, and Assistant Administrator for Procurement at NASA. At ACT IAC’s AI Procurement Forum recently at Carahsoft headquarters in Reston, she tells me what’s ahead for AI in acquisition at her agency.AFCEA TechNet Emergence detailsRichard Spires book event registration

The Department of Veterans Affairs lists three items among its highlights for 2023. The Chief Technology Officer, Charles Worthington, and CIO Kurt DelBene named VA’s Health and Benefits mobile app; improvements to VA.gov; and expanding the online Veterans Legacy Memorial program as those three items on the latest episode of the Office of Information and Technology’s monthly LinkedIn Live series, #TalkingTech. After the episode finished, I asked them both about several of the projects they talked about on the show.

The newest “Data, Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence Adoption Strategy” from the Chief Digital and AI office at the Pentagon focuses on the convergence of those three elements. Experts believe the impact on warfighting will be profound. Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan (USAF ret.) is former director of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. He’s writing about AI and geopolitics, and we discuss what he sees now, and in the future.CIOs across government are tracking a lot of different initiatives and priorities: zero trust, AI governance, cloud migration, digital modernization, and more. Energy CIO Ann Dunkin recently called those items the “ever expanding agenda.” On the latest Fed Gov Today TV, I ask her what she means by that.The fifth edition of the President’s Cup Cyber Competition is under way at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Michael Harpin is Competitions Section Chief at the Cyber Defense Education and Training Branch at CISA. He tells me who’s eligible, how they can practice, how they can participate, and what’s in it for CISA - and the contestants.ACT-IAC event: Making AI Work For Us

The Air Force will apply data to determine readiness of pilots. That’s one of a number of areas the Air Force will apply data… to measure its success. Colt Whittall is Founder and CEO of BRAVO17, and former Chief Experience Officer of the Air Force. He linked to an article on LinkedIn titled “Readiness Redefined But Not Measured” where the author, Matthew Ross, writes about the pilot readiness data. I ask Colt what resonated with him in that article, and how organizations in government can measure for success in various situations.The State Department is moving its top-secret network to the cloud. That move is happening in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at State. Jimmy Hall, Jr. is the Chief Information Officer for the Bureau. At DODIIS 2023, he tells me about the mission of the Bureau, and how the cloud move will work.“Innovation In Government: DODIIS” TV show details

A new National Defense Industrial Strategy is coming from the Pentagon any day now. The model to operationalize that strategy already exists in the MRAP story, according to Jerry McGinn. He’s Executive Director of the Baroni Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University, and former Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manufacturing and Industrial Base. He’s writing about it in Breaking Defense, and tells you why the MRAP story is worth watching.The Chief Information Officer of the Defense Department, John Sherman, is launching a new user experience initiative across the department. It’s part of the response to the “Fix Our Computers” complaints from DOD employees. At DODIIS 2023, I asked John Sherman how the initiative will work, and what he wants to accomplish.A new Cyber Workforce Development Institute is coming from the Office of the National Cyber Director. The White House says ONCD is working with agencies to prepare them for what’s coming. Jordan Burris is Vice President for Public Sector Strategy at Socure, and former Chief of Staff in the Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer. I ask him what he sees ahead for building the federal cyber workforce.“Innovation In Government: DODIIS” TV show details

Some of the numbers for your TSP will change in 2024, and some will stay the same. And, the TSP is digging into a social science. Kim Weaver, Director of External Affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, tells you what’s changing, and how the TSP is trying to get its message across better with social science.Civilian agencies in the federal government have thousands of use cases for artificial intelligence. Those use cases are starting to yield results for those agencies. Kevin Walsh, Director of the Information Technology and Cybersecurity Team at the Government Accountability Office, details what his team found when they inventoried those use cases.“Innovation In Government: DODIIS” TV show details

Federal agencies have a roadmap now for delivering digital-first experiences to the customers they serve. The guidance the Office of Management and Budget calls “Delivering a Digital-First Public Experience” can be a roadmap for the vendor community too, according to Clare Martorana, the Chief Information Officer of the United States. On Fed Gov Today TV recently, I asked her what she meant by that.You heard Clare reference the roll-out of the digital-first guidance, and her presentation about it at ACT-IAC’s Executive Leadership Conference 2023 in our TV conversation. Today’s podcast includes some highlights of that presentation, starting with her view of the relationship between government and industry. Right after her presentation at ELC, I joined her on stage for a fireside chat about the digital first guidance.

This podcast is sponsored by SAP Concur.The Chief Information Officer of the Navy, Jane Rathbun, says her service’s enterprise work platform, Flank Speed, will be the foundation of the Navy’s zero trust effort. The Navy stood up Flank Speed when the pandemic forced almost the entire service into remote work. Darren Turner, chief technologist for the Department of Navy Chief Technology Office, tells you how the Navy stood up Flank Speed, and where the program will go in the future.Enterprise platforms like Flank Speed are just one type of transformation agencies are undertaking now. Almost every agency has a legacy system of some kind that’s ripe for modernization. Marques Tibbs-Brewer, Vice President of Federal Government Operations for SAP Concur, reveals three important aspects of transformation that aren’t technological.The Department of Veterans Affairs is ready for the next phase of its transition to a new financial management system. That system features nine functions across the entire agency. Terry Riffel, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Management Business Transformation, at the Financial Management Business Transformation Service at the Department of Veterans Affairs, explains why customization is out of the question in the FMBT modernization process.

A change may be coming to your Thrift Savings Plan account. The TSP will use a new benchmark for the International Fund.  Kim Weaver, Director of External Affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, explains what the change means for participants, and what differences, if any, you’ll see in your account.A theoretical shift is under way at the Patent and Trademark Office. That shift is turning into real-life examples now. On the newest edition of Fed Gov Today TV, Jamie Holcombe, the Chief Information Officer at the Patent and Trademark Office, explains the concept behind the shift from projects to products.Emergency managers across the federal government have a new opportunity to learn from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and from each other. FEMA’s taking entries for its Vanguard Executive Crisis Leaders Fellowship. Deanne Criswell, the Administrator of FEMA, details the program, and what she wants federal leaders from all agencies to get out of it.AFCEA DC Winter Gala info

The new Chief Information Officer at the Interior Department is the old CIO at the Farm Service Agency at the Agriculture Department. Darren Ash moved from USDA to Interior a little more than a year ago. He worked closely at USDA with that agency’s CIO, Gary Washington. At AFCEA Bethesda’s Energy, Infrastructure, and Environment Summit recently, I hosted a discussion with Darren and Gary. To begin the discussion, I asked Darren how his current agency and his former agency work together.