A recent blog post questioned GSA’s recent focus on sustainability as well as our ability to deliver innovative information technology (IT) solutions.
I think that GSA’s pursuit of sustainability is the best way to improve how we deliver innovative IT solutions.
The Business of Sustainability
The real issue here seems to be how we define sustainability—is it a separate environmental bonus or is it woven into the fabric of how we do business?
GSA is obviously motivated by environmental concerns—as demonstrated by Administrator Johnson’s Zero Environmental Footprint (ZEF) “moonshot” goal—but the real impact of our sustainability effort is more nuanced.
Sustainability is a platform through which GSA and all government agencies can tackle their most critical business challenges:
- Organizational Change: Sustainability acts as a North Star for government and industry, inspiring change and creating a ripple effect.
- Operational Effectiveness: Sustainability allows us to reframe the national conversation on budget cuts as an opportunity to create less waste and use our resources more intelligently.
- Innovation: Sustainability is what motivates us to develop and agencies to adopt cutting-edge IT solutions, such as cloud computing.
Driving an organization towards a sustainable future is not just about creating a greener, cleaner environment for future generations—it’s also about being smart about our limited resources, and inspiring lasting change and innovation for future efficiencies.
Do More with Less
Sustainability is not a problem; it’s the answer. Here’s why:
Sustainability is a major differentiator for GSA offerings because it’s something our customers want and need. For example, the federal government is the single largest consumer of energy in the United States. That means that when GSA provides an IT solution that requires less energy to achieve the same results, we’re not only going “green” for the environment, we’re also saving “green” for our customers by cutting costs and waste.
Including sustainability into our comprehensive IT solutions improves the acquisition process. For example, we’re incorporating sustainable acquisition into the IT Schedule 70 program as well as our large IT governmentwide contracts (GWACs), such as Alliant and 8(a) STARS, which have already broken records and outpaced many previous contracts.
Our GWACs save our customers time and money precisely because they are designed to meet every agency need:
- achieving socioeconomic credit
- improving cybersecurity
- fulfilling mission goals
- attaining sustainability
As I see it, delivering integrated services is a major driver to improving GSA’s ability to meet our agency customers’ needs. In fact, GSA can only be a leading IT solution provider by factoring sustainability into everything we do.
From the start, GSA’s sustainability initiative has been about delivering a more efficient, cost-effective, and innovative government for the American people.
Let’s continue this conversation. Leave me a comment. Tweet me. Post a link to your own blog. Open communication will only make us better.