https://fcw.com/articles/2017/03/27/white-house-innovation-kushner.aspx?s=fcwdaily_280317

Management Can Jared fix federal IT?

 By Adam Mazmanian  Mar 27, 2017

President 's son-in-law , himself the scion of a powerful New York real estate family and the owner of the New York Observer, is slated to lead a government reinvention effort based in the White House.

The of American Innovation is designed to align government operations with best practices from the private sector.

"Government is not business," said White House Press Secretary at his March 27 briefing. "We recognize that there are certain things businesses would never do, in terms of what government has to do, because it serves all our people, but there are certain practices we can put in place that can help us deliver a better product, a better service to the American people in some of those key areas."

Some of those key areas, according to the administration, include modernizing government tech, rethinking the Department of Veterans Affairs and improving U.S. infrastructure.

Having such an effort based in the White House and run by an individual who clearly has the ear of the president could go a long way to bringing about success, many former executive branch officials told FCW.

"Most public administration experts recommend that management improvement responsibility be placed at the highest level possible," said Robert Shea, formerly associate director for administration and government performance at the Office of Management and Budget and currently a principal at Grant Thornton. "This is that."

Shea, who served at OMB during the George W. Bush administration, recalled a similar effort during his tenure.

"My old boss [former Deputy Director for Management] Clay Johnson was the president's best friend, and had the president's ear," Shea said. "That meant more people paid attention than otherwise would have."

Tim Young, a principal for Deloitte's public sector practice and the former deputy administrator for E-Government and IT at OMB, said he hopes the new effort tries to "channel, not duplicate, existing innovation programs in government." He noted that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as well as the U.S. Digital Service and the Government Services Administration's innovation portfolio are already focused on "harvesting and incubating" innovations from the private sector. "I would recommend that the administration use those," rather than reinvent efforts, Young said.

More from FCW

Kelman on the new Office of American Innovation: Let's give Trump credit

Getting funding from Congress and buy-in from career agency people also is critical, said Terry Gerton, president of the National Academy for Public Administration.

"There's no magic bullet," she said. "If you're going to make changes, you're going to need to fund them, and you're going to need the folks inside those agencies to be on board. Otherwise, as we know from experience, government is effective at waiting people out."

Former federal CIO Tony Scott agreed. "You've gotta have leadership from the top, but you’ve really get that operational level of management, which might a layer or two down, engaged -- or nothing is going to happen," he said.

Scott pointed to the President's Management Council as a potential resource for the Kushner-led initiative. Made up largely of agency chief operating officers and run by OMB's deputy director of management, the council key to efforts like the 2015 cyber sprint, he said. "When you brought that group together, you have the operational expertise across government to really get things done."

At press time, OMB had not responded to FCW's request for additional details on the initiative. But Kushner is being aided by some senior Trump appointees, including , director of the National Policy Council, and tech adviser , who is assistant to the president for intergovernmental and technology initiatives. Other players on the innovation team include , deputy national security adviser, , director of the Domestic Policy Council, and , assistant to the president for strategic initiatives, according to the Washington Post article announcing the new office.

"It's not clear exactly what the complete agenda is going to be, but I'm encouraged by some of the names that are involved," said Scott, an Obama appointee. "I know Chris Liddell," a former Microsoft colleague, Scott said, calling him "very good to work with…. He's seen the big hard problems."

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), the ranking member of the Government Operations subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, is encouraged by the focus on IT.

"If Jared Kushner can prove to be an ally on the modernization of both the procurement and management of IT in the federal government, that would be a very welcome development," Connolly told FCW. "I see it as a potentially enormous opportunity, and I hope we have a chance to exploit that opportunity," he said. Connolly and Scott both want to see the new administration rally behind the Managing Government Technology Act, which provides funding mechanisms to move agency IT operations to the cloud.

"The MGT Act is an important concept -- and one that I've heard there is strong support for," Scott said.

At the same time, Connolly cautioned that "the portfolio given to him looks a lot like the statutory responsibility of the deputy director for management" at OMB.

"How do you avoid redundancy? Or are you supplanting the statutory position of DDM with an ad hoc appointment?" Connolly asked. He's also worried that Kushner, who is also a senior domestic policy adviser and supposedly a leading voice in the administration on the Middle East peace process, might have too many balls to juggle to do anything effectively.

"That's biting off more than a normal mortal can chew," Connolly said.

Chris Cumminksy, former acting undersecretary for management at the Department of Homeland Security, told FCW there is already a lot of activity on IT procurement inspired by private-sector best practices. Programs designed to leverage the federal government's purchasing power, such as the GSA's category management initiative, could be welcomed by the Trump administration because they are business oriented, he said.

But business executives who participate with the Kushner group are going to need assurances about how their advice will be used.

There are people who will want to share their expertise, Young said, but to get real cooperation from the Googles and Apples and Teslas of the world, "the White House is going to have to do so in a way that protects private-sector IP."

Dave Wennergren, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Professional Services Council, is concerned that industry participants might sacrifice their opportunity to participate down the road.

"If you're an adviser to this little cell," Wennergren asked, "does that ice you out of actually being a provider of that service later?"

In the end, a lot will depend on Kushner himself and his ability of to keep his team focused.

Young said he "would look for incremental, small but impactful results ... in increments of months, not years," and for how career staff and congressional stakeholders respond to policy ideas.

"I have questions about how it's implemented and if the people in charge have the capacity to do this," Shea said. "But it's assignment of management improvement at the highest level of government, and that's a key ingredient to success." From the press room podium, Spicer sounded convinced.

"I think when you look at some of the business acumen of Jared and some of the other individuals who he is bringing into this process… I think it is a great service to this country," he said.

A former employee of Kushner's sounded a different note, however. Former New York Observer Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Spiers worked for Kushner when he took over the weekly newspaper -- his first high-profile media investment.

"In my experience: Jared will give people who have experience in an industry he's never worked in advice re: how to do their jobs," Spiers noted on Twitter.

Aisha Chowdhry, Mark Rockwell and Troy K. Schneider contributed to this report.

About the Author

Adam Mazmanian is executive editor of FCW.

Before joining the editing team, Mazmanian was an FCW staff writer covering Congress, government-wide technology policy, health IT and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Prior to joining FCW, Mr. Mazmanian was technology correspondent for National Journal and served in a variety of editorial at B2B news service SmartBrief. Mazmanian started his career as an arts reporter and critic, and has contributed reviews and articles to the Washington Post, the Washington City Paper, Newsday, Architect magazine, and other publications. He was an editorial assistant and staff writer at the now-defunct New York Press and arts editor at the About.com online network in the 1990s, and was a weekly contributor of music and film reviews to the Washington Times from 2007 to 2014.

Click here for previous articles by Mazmanian. Connect with him on Twitter at @thisismaz.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2017/03/it-modernization-bill-could-be-reintroduced- congress-week/136492/?oref=govexec_today_nl IT Modernization Bill Could be Reintroduced in Congress This Week

By Frank Konkel March 27, 2017 2 Comments

NEXTGOV

One of the tech-savviest congressmen is ready to reintroduce legislation to tackle one of the federal government’s greatest technology problems.

Sources on Capitol Hill tell Nextgov Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, could this week introduce a tweaked version of the Modernizing Government Technology Act, which passed the House in September but stalled in the Senate during the lame-duck session.

Hurd, along with Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., sponsored MGT in September as a means to combat the federal government’s aging IT infrastructure, whereby systems citizens depend on for integral services—like Social Security benefits—are as many as five decades old. On average, agencies spend around 80 percent of their IT budgets maintaining old and sometimes outdated systems, meaning most of the $90 billion spent on IT annually goes toward aging technology.

Hurd’s legislation was also meant to be an alternative to legislation introduced earlier in 2016 that sought to create a $3.1 billion IT modernization fund through which agencies could borrow against to upgrade their IT systems. At the time, then-U.S. Chief Information Officer Tony Scott championed the modernization fund, claiming $3.1 billion in seed funding could fund $15 billion worth of new applications. But Republican lawmakers took issue with the creation of another pot of money for agencies to draw on.

Hurd’s plan included the creation of such a fund, but didn’t automatically fund it—thus increasing its bipartisan popularity—and additionally called for the creation of working IT capital funds in CFO Act agencies. Such funds would have been sourced through reprogramming or transfers from existing funds previously used for operation and maintenance of legacy systems.

And while the bill easily passed the House last year, its Congressional Budget Office score snuffed its progress through the Senate. CBO estimated the bill’s price at $9 billion over five years. Lawmakers on both sides have been exploring tweaks to the legislation that would reduce that cost.

The legislation is likely to be one of the few truly bipartisan efforts within Congress during the first few months of the Trump presidency, and its timing could be fortunate. Today, President Trump announced the creation of the White House Office of American Innovation to bring business ideas to government technology challenges. Modernizing old government systems—including those that service veterans and handle nuclear codes—appears to be an issue both political parties want to address in a meaningful way.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ https://fcw.com/articles/2017/03/24/trump-budget-it-mod-comment.aspx?s=fcwdaily_270317

Why Trump’s budget bodes well for IT transformation

 By Jerad Speigel  Mar 24, 2017

The recent release of the Trump administration’s budget proposal sent shockwaves through government. National news coverage has focused on the striking differences between increases in defense and homeland security budgets and marked decreases -- if not outright elimination -- of other federal agencies.

Yet while the news media looks at the political ramifications from the proposal, there is another story lurking under the surface. How can the new administration keep the federal government operating at levels that citizens expect and meet the needs of reduced spending? The answer lies in IT modernization.

We are living in a sea-change moment for federal IT. It is not a change in the way the game is played -- it is a whole new game. Relic IT systems need to be rebuilt and replaced. A week after the election, I wrote that President Trump could ensure his own IT modernization moment and those words ring even truer today.

The proposed budget cuts would force federal agencies to make bold, strategic decisions in spending. Moving IT modernization forward would no longer be a luxury, but a matter of survival for certain critical federal missions. The federal government is on the precipice of a dramatic paradigm shift in its IT spending philosophy. Faced with shifting budget environments, agencies can longer afford to spend inefficiently on IT. The solution is the much-needed transition to modern cloud solutions (such as Platform-as-a-Service) that will cost less and increase security posture.

IT costs are just too high

For too long, the federal vendor community has viewed federal IT through an antiquated lens, offering federal clients outdated solutions that include hefty operations and maintenance price tags. Today, we are in the midst of a radical change; vendors that do not adapt to this new reality will die off. An IT revolution is underway, and the president’s budget will embolden agency leaders to take radical action to usher in a new era of more efficient and effective use of IT dollars.

Several years ago, I had an illuminating conversation with an agency deputy secretary that still plays in my mind. The agency was using an outdated IT system that cost more than $100 million annually in operations and maintenance -- it remains illogical that they would continue to use such a costly, ineffective solution. But it was the response that stuck with me as the official told me, “Congress will never not give me the money to keep the system running.”

That may have been the case then. It is not the case now.

Over the last two decades, the federal government has made admirable, albeit cautious, strides to modernize its IT systems. Without a doubt, federal IT still needs to undergo a massive transformation. Agencies are still relying on paper processes and old systems that consume unnecessary energy and resources. A recent report from IDC Government Insights even suggested that some agencies allocate upwards of 90 percent of their IT budgets to supporting legacy systems.

To put it bluntly, federal IT needs to change and it needs to change now. We are on the edge of a revolution in the way that federal applications can be built and managed. We should rebuild old, outdated systems on modern cloud-based application platforms to give federal IT systems the upgrades they so desperately need.

Agencies should aggressively identify systems and applications that are mission critical, yet functionally and budgetarily ineffective and untenable. FedRAMP-approved cloud-based PaaS solutions should be used to deploy new systems faster and cheaper than ever. An implementation that once took a decade now can be completed in less than two years. Deployment budgets that exceeded nine figures can be reduced radically. The ability to accomplish these big goals is no longer the stuff of science fiction. These modern cloud-based application platforms are changing industry -- in federal and beyond -- by eliminating time and money as traditional barriers to success.

The IT transformation moment has arrived

Trump's budget proposal may be the first time that many agencies have felt enough budgetary pressure to forces holistic rethinking of their manual processes, their pricey data center operations, or those old bloated and antiquated universal license agreements that continue to go to waste. Every agency, starting today, must look to the future when it comes to federal IT. The days of spending $100 million per year on outdated, inefficient systems needs to come to an end. Our federal IT future is untenable otherwise.

We do not know what the final budget will ultimately entail or how Congress will push back, but we do know that federal agencies must figure out how to stretch every dollar they spend. For many, doing more with less strikes fear and causes panic. For me, it signals a new era. Globally, industries have moved to cloud-based platforms to maximize competitive advantage and ensure profitability in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. The president’s budget will bring similar market forces to federal agencies, and we must all innovate and modernize in order to remain relevant, effective, and of service to the public.

The federal government now has an impetus to truly review its IT infrastructure and shift the paradigm to save money and improve security. You can argue this process has taken too long, but the moment has arrived. The federal IT revolution is here. Let’s get this transformation started.

About the Author

Jerad Speigel is CEO of Phase One Consulting Group