Category: IT Services

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GSA Leading the Way for 5G

In July, we gave you a first look at the possibilities of 5th generation wireless technology (5G) in the public sector.

Commercially, 5G devices will deliver voice, video, and data to consumers with unparalleled efficiency for broadband mobility. Providers will upgrade their networks, manufacturers will develop new types of devices, and industry will market products and services around connectivity and mobility.

For the government, a 5G future is more complex since we’ll be tasked with making these technologies useful for everyone. That’s why we’re publishing a white paper on 5G — watch for that after our 5G Technology Customer Event on Oct. 3.

What’s Next for Government 5G

As new technology comes to market, we work with agencies and industry to pair the right wireless solutions to mission needs — focusing on wireless solutions security and cost efficiency.

Schedule 70 SIN 132-53 shows the robust capabilities we bring to the government market:

  • Wireless Carrier Services
  • End Point infrastructure
  • Mobility as a Service (MaaS), a.k.a Device as a Service (DaaS)
  • Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)
  • Mobility Backend as a Service (MBaaS)
  • Telecommunications Expense Management System (TEMS)
  • Mobile Application Vetting
  • Mobile Threat Protection
  • Mobile and Identity Management
  • Internet of Things (IoT)

10/3 GSA 5G Event

To learn more about the possibilities of 5G, join us on Oct. 3 at the GSA 5G Government Symposium. We’ll cover:

  • how 5G can help agencies meet their mission,
  • the challenges facing government as we implement this new technology, and
  • how 5G will integrate into today’s networks.

View the agenda. Join us online or in person.

Stay Tuned to 5G

For our next 5G post, we’ll explore how unlicensed and lightly licensed spectrum could affect campus networks.

Until then, please follow us on Twitter @GSA_ITC and LinkedIn to join our ongoing conversations about government IT.

To get updates for this blog, please sign up on the right-hand side of the page where it says Sign up for Blog Updates.

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Modernizing the Government’s Contact Centers

We’ve all called a customer service line at some point in our lives, whether to order a new service for our house, change a flight, or set up a medical appointment.

Nowadays our options for getting to what we need are rapidly growing. Chatbots, voice recognition, and artificial intelligence (AI) systems provide faster and more accurate responses to our increasingly complex questions.

This applies to the government too. Thousands of people call various government agencies every day with requests and concerns. At GSA, it’s our job to help agencies get the solutions they need to make their contact centers as effective and efficient as possible. In fact, the President’s Management Agenda calls for agencies to provide a modern, streamlined, and responsive customer experience.

We’re ready to help and we developed a solution for those agencies through IT Schedule 70. 

Automated Contact Center Solutions – Up and Running

Earlier this fiscal year, we launched the Automated Contact Center Solutions (ACCS) Special Item Number (SIN) 132-20 under IT Schedule 70.  

This SIN provides any combination of technologies, equipment, software, and/or services needed to deliver high-quality customer service interactions to agency constituents across multiple channels.

The ACCS SIN includes a wide range of automated and attended managed solutions focused on modern contact center technologies: 

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Callback
  • Chat Bots
  • Email Delivery
  • Hosted Online Ordering
  • Hosted Email Web Form
  • Hosted FAQ Service  
  • Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
  • Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
  • Text-to-Speech
  • Voice/Speech Recognition
  • Voicemail
  • Web Callback

Experienced Industry Partners

With the ACCS SIN, federal, state, local, tribal, and other eligible governments can access pre-vetted, experienced automated contact center solutions providers using IT Schedule 70’s streamlined procurement process.

Currently, there are 14 pre-vetted contractors (8 large, 6 small) on the ACCS SIN, with more in the queue to join.  As of 7/24/2019:

  • AT&T Corporation
  • Carahsoft Technology Corporation
  • Cognosante, LLC
  • Deborgem Enterprises, Inc.
  • Filius Corporation
  • IQ Solutions, Inc.
  • ITCON Services, LLC
  • Kores, LLC
  • Leidos, Inc.
  • Maximus Federal Services, Inc.
  • Palmetto GBA, LLC
  • Senture, LLC
  • Systems Integration, Inc.
  • TPUSA, Inc.

GSA is here to help streamline agency acquisitions, provide free scope reviews of draft solicitations, assist with market research activities, share best practices and ideas, conduct training, and more.   

For more information about the ACCS SIN, visit www.gsa.gov/contactcenter, or contact the program office at contactcenter@gsa.gov.

Please follow us on Twitter @GSA_ITC and LinkedIn to join our ongoing conversations about government IT.

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Way Beyond Wireless: Planning for 5G

Every generation of wireless technology has enabled new business models, increased our connectivity, and changed our lives in unimaginable ways. 5G is poised to do the same. 5G enabled devices in the Internet of Things (IoT) will allow huge numbers of sensors and devices to gather incredible amounts of  data and transmit the data at remarkable speeds over wide distances. We are going to see a new wave of information enabled in government and industry. Instead of your phone or laptop acting as the processor, it will sit inside the edge of the 5G infrastructure. This will allow things like driverless vehicles and telemedicine.

5G will provide the digital infrastructure that will shape the quality of life of most of the earth’s population. Yes, it will load web pages and play videos on your phone 10 to 20 times faster than 4G. Mobile devices will spend less time processing data, which will consume less power, which will result in extended battery life. But these are little advances compared to what is possible.

The true potential is how the technology can quickly transfer data between devices in lots of different ways. That ability means it will replace cable and WiFi networks in homes, offices, campuses, military bases, and even whole cities.

What does 5G mean for government?

Because it enables the IoT, 5G is one of the more important emerging technologies. Thanks to 5G’s flexibility, every level of government will use 5G as IoT enters the public sector. Consider these applications:

  • Replacing outdated telecommunications and network technology in public buildings and facilities. 
  • Allowing for advanced automation and security processes at logistics centers and the nation’s ports. 
  • Supporting augmented and virtual reality (VR) applications in our national laboratories. 
  • Monitoring regional and interstate entities power grids to keep pace with fluctuating demands.
  • Providing traffic control and managing fleets of self-driving vehicles in cities.

U.S. policy considers 5G a strategic national asset, and the legislative and executive branches are actively working to reallocate spectrum for its use. The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) is developing standards and testing 5G technologies. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is focusing on cybersecurity threats unique to 5G. Recently, the White House issued an executive order to proactively create and secure commercial supply chains in a 5G future. 

How can my agency get 5G?

We are uniquely positioned to fulfill our customers’ needs and help prepare for 5G implementation.

GSA’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract and Schedule 70’s SIN 132-53 Wireless Mobility Solutions both cover 5G services and infrastructure. 

What’s next?

We’ll be explaining how 5G works, how it will be deployed, and the steps we’re taking to deliver it to our customers. We’ll soon release a white paper outlining our approach to 5G implementation.

On October 3, we’re hosting a 5G Technology Customer Event, where we’ll address how 5G makes concepts like network slicing and edge computing possible. Email wireless@gsa.gov to get on the invite list.  

Join the conversation on Twitter @GSA_ITC and LinkedIn.

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NOAA Forecast: Clear Skies for Cloud Migration

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is known for monitoring oceans, major waterways, and the atmosphere. Its three-pronged mission is

  • “to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans and coasts;
  • to share that knowledge and information with others; and
  • to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources.”

As part of its mission, NOAA prioritizes sharing its institutional knowledge with the public, private, and academic sectors. To make public data like water reports, climate projections, and weather warnings readily available, NOAA turned to GSA’s cloud computing technology.

GSA’s Cloud Acquisition Team considers the NOAA Cloud Initiative a model effort for smart cloud migration. Using the federal cloud strategy Cloud Smart as its guide, NOAA is effectively using the cloud to support its business and mission operations.

Moving Operations and Big Data to the Cloud

According to the April 2019 NOAA Business Brief, “NOAA works with five commercial cloud providers to see how their services can facilitate full and open data access to the taxpayer and to foster innovation by leveraging new automation tools to make data more readily accessible. To date, more than 40 NOAA datasets have moved to commercial cloud provider systems.” The Brief calls for further investment in cloud computing to not only save taxpayer dollars, but also provide improved performance and cybersecurity.

Model Experience, Multiple Vendors

NOAA’s experience shows GSA’s cloud acquisition best practices in action.

First, the NOAA Cloud Initiative plans to acquire their enterprise-level cloud solution through multiple Cloud Service Providers (CSPs). By doing so, they will diversify their technical capabilities and avoid being locked in to one vendor.

Second, NOAA uses Statement of Objectives (SOO) documents instead of Statements of Work (SOW) to illustrate the agency’s cloud goals.

For example, NOAA wants their CSP to“provide cloud storage services that will provide persistent storage, backup service, long-term storage, continuity of operations (COOP), and disaster recovery services.”

By using this type of capabilities-based acquisition tool, the responsibility for preparing SOW shifts from the government to the companies that respond to the solicitation.

The NOAA Cloud Initiative package also specifies a desired contract type. Doing so lets prospective vendors know the right pricing model to propose, which saves time and avoids confusion.

Join the Cloud Information Center

If your agency is considering a transition to cloud or is acquiring a cloud solution, anchor your plan in your mission and guide it by your business objectives. Make the complicated acquisition process go faster by keeping the Cloud Smart strategy in mind.

For more cloud tips, cloud acquisition guidance, templates, and government-wide resources, visit GSA’s Cloud Information Center at gsa.gov/cic. You can also contact our Cloud Acquisition Team directly at cloudinfo@gsa.gov or by calling 202-969-7113.

Please follow us on Twitter @GSA_ITC and LinkedIn to join our ongoing conversations about government IT.

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GSA’s Cloud Information Center: Mission Control for Your Agency’s Cloud Migration

In September 2018, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the first cloud policy update in seven years: the Cloud Smart Strategy. Rather than emphasizing cloud adoption for its own sake, Cloud Smart focuses on how federal agencies can use cloud effectively to meet their mission-critical needs. The successful implementation of the Cloud Smart strategy requires that all stakeholders work together to access the knowledge, tools, experience and innovation happening in the federal cloud community. It’s D.C. Cloud Week and federal IT leaders across the government and the private sector are coming together to discuss the challenges, solutions and success stories happening across the cloud landscape.

The Cloud Smart strategy lays out a roadmap for agencies, and it also addresses several challenges they should expect to face along their cloud journey including security, procurement and workforce change management. To serve our federal customers and align with Cloud Smart and other federal IT initiatives, we analyzed GSA’s cloud offerings; worked across the agency to build connections between industry and government, and developed a new resource for all things cloud: the Cloud Information Center.

Cloud Information Center

The Cloud Information Center (CIC) is a central repository for all things cloud. The CIC is a collaborative community, taking the best from GSA’s experts, cloud providers, and agency champions to explain best practices and solutions around cloud issues like security, technical capabilities, and implementation. The CIC also connects federal buyers with commercial cloud providers. And, if you are new to the cloud computing space, there is a basic introduction that outlines what cloud actually is, why it’s an important tool for meeting mission-critical needs, how to deploy it, and what models are available to agencies, including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS).

The CIC has four main sections:

  • Cloud Solutions: Business, technical, and contractual information on dozens of cloud solutions
  • Acquisition Guidance: Best-in-class templates, examples, market research, contract vehicles, and SMEs available for support
  • Policy Directives: Up-to-date repository of applicable federal IT Modernization directives and guidance
  • Vendors: Product information, case studies, contracts and more for all FedRamp-certified cloud service providers

Federal government users can access GSA’s market research as a service tool, best practices, review and download acquisition guidance, download templates, and communicate/collaborate with fellow decision-makers.

Soon, industry partners will be able to share information about their cloud capabilities with federal government customers via the CIC’s communities of interest forums. As more people join us at the CIC, we’ll add more to the community as we get user feedback about customer needs.

“When engaging with client agencies, the Cloud Adoption Center of Excellence (CoE) strives to translate the value proposition of the cloud as it relates to agency operations and missions, and to that end, it becomes increasingly important to clearly define how cloud can provide a much more robust set of technical capabilities, while emphasizing that it requires a paradigm shift in how security compliance, procurement and governance are handled,” said Bob De Luca, Executive Director of CoE. “The CIC is a great resource for the federal market that addresses and helps agencies navigate through the issues we’re seeing in our day-to-day work.”

Our mission is to help agencies meet their missions. The CIC makes it easy for federal buyers to understand and investigate how cloud, done right, can help meet their critical mission needs. GSA’s boots-on-the-ground cloud adoption experts are working with client agencies to add to, actively manage and validate the content in the CIC.

To visit the CIC, go to gsa.gov/cic. Click here for a CIC Virtual Tour. To learn more, ask questions, and receive updates, please visit and subscribe to our Cloud Interact community here.

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Updated Software SINs Reflect Changes to Commercial Market & Federal IT Policies

GSA is where category management and IT acquisition intersect. Our acquisition experts specialize in understanding both the commercial marketplace and our federal partners’ needs.

To respond to the rapidly evolving software market and some important policy directives, we have updated the three Software Special Item Numbers (SINs) on IT Schedule 70. Now our offerings align better with the way software is sold commercially. Now it’s easier for our customers to get what they need, including transferring software licenses among federal entities.

Governmentwide IT Policies

In addition to our software market innovation, we in the federal acquisition community are also witnessing an unprecedented focus and collaboration around governmentwide IT, including software:

Special Item Number (SINs) Updates

The updates to Software Special Item Numbers (SINs) 132-32, -33, and -34 will make it easier for GSA to serve our federal partners, help them comply with policies, and give them new solutions by:

  • Adding language within Term Software SIN (132-32) to define term software  licenses and distinguish between Term Software and Software as a Service (SaaS) included in the Cloud SIN (132-40);
  • Including optional software identification tags and transferability rights under SIN 132-33 Perpetual Software Licenses;
  • Renaming SIN 132-34 from Software Maintenance Service to Software Maintenance Services;
  • Adding utilization limitations under SINs 132-32, 132-33, and 132-34 clarifying rights and ownership of derivative works; and
  • Defining Commercial Supplier Agreements (CSAs) to include Enterprise User License Agreements (EULAs), Terms of Service Agreements (TOSs), and other licensing agreements.

We are dedicated to aligning what we offer with what the current marketplace’s demands, as technology changes rapidly. We work to improve the federal government’s ability to serve our ultimate stakeholder, the U.S. taxpayer

Please follow us on Twitter @GSA_ITC and LinkedIn to join our ongoing conversations about government IT.

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Access to Innovation Made Easy

Looking to meet your emerging technology requirements? Look no further than Alliant 2, a Best-in-Class solution from GSA, if you need:

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)
  • Robotic Process Automation (RPA) or
  • other types of emerging technologies

When it comes to emerging and innovative technology, Alliant 2 has you covered– its flexible scope fulfills any need you have for IT services.

When we awarded the Alliant 2 contract, we selected only those companies that could demonstrate expertise in leading-edge technologies and an ability to adapt to new technologies.  To get an Alliant 2 award, our Alliant 2 industry partners submitted some 978 unique, leading-edge technology projects valued at or above $1M per project, providing verified experience in:   

Artificial Intelligence – 61 projects
Autonomic Computing – 72 projects
Big Data – 119 Projects
Biometrics – 80 projects
Cloud Computing – 107 projects
Cybersecurity – 128 projects
Health Information Technology (HIT) – 104 projects
Internet of Things (IoT) – 85 projects
Mobile IT – 108 projects
Virtual Networking – 114 projects

Additionally, Alliant 2 industry partners have prime experience on more than 200 DLT projects, and hundreds of RPA projects with tens of thousands of bots deployed.

If you need IT services, including any technology new to your agency, you don’t need to look elsewhere or reinvent the wheel. Chances are great that GSA has got you covered. We built Alliant 2 with you and your evolving technology needs in mind.

Visit our website to learn more about Alliant 2 or find the vehicle that’s right for you with our IT Solutions Navigator.

Please follow us on Twitter @GSA_ITC and LinkedIn to join our ongoing conversations about government IT.

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Expanding IT Schedule 70’s Cloud SIN to Make it Easier for Customers & Contractors

The 2018 Federal Cloud Computing Strategy — Cloud Smart — is a long-term, high-level strategy to drive cloud adoption in federal agencies. This cloud policy is designed to offer a path forward for agencies to migrate to a safe and secure cloud-based infrastructure. This new strategy will help federal agencies achieve additional cost savings, increase security, and facilitate faster delivery of cloud services.

GSA is a key stakeholder in the Cloud Smart strategy. We’re helping federal agencies modernize the government’s IT infrastructure by using our expertise in technology and acquisition. As part of that mission, we’re listening to industry partners and our customer agencies and constantly revisiting our acquisition solutions. We’re looking to ensure they’re working to facilitate the government’s success and that they make it easier for agencies and industry.

When it comes to cloud, we are dedicated to providing acquisition tools and solutions that help the government make meaningful strides in cloud adoption to support their mission-critical activities and meet the goals laid out in the Cloud Smart strategy.

When You Think Cloud, Think GSA

Adopting cloud and modernizing IT infrastructure are complex. GSA has several cloud offerings designed with the customer in mind. We’re working to provide solutions that address the typical challenges agencies are facing, and GSA is here to help agencies be successful.

One example is IT Schedule 70’s Cloud SIN (132-40), originally developed and implemented in 2015. Since then, a lot has changed in both the cloud industry and in government. We have seen an increased demand for cloud computing, and the market has evolved to include professional services that support cloud-oriented products. The evolution has exposed some acquisition challenges and roadblocks in the original SIN.  

Originally, customers using IT70 to buy cloud products also needed to procure cloud-related IT professional services. This had to happen through a second step, often requiring them to issue Requests for Quotes (RFQs) to the entire universe of IT services contractors on IT70 (over 3,500), and many of those contractors may not have any of the appropriate skills to support cloud deployments.

Now, the expanded IT70 Cloud SIN includes the cloud-oriented IT professional services that customers need, providing them access to a full cloud solution in one place. Additionally, we have clarified a few ambiguities about the definition of cloud products that frequently caused confusion.

GSA’s goal is to ensure we are supporting the government’s adoption of, migration to, and ongoing governance and management of cloud computing.

The Cloud SIN revisions are available in the most current solicitation refresh: Solicitation Number: FCIS-JB-980001-B.

Contact GSA To Get Started

Contact the GSA cloud experts with any questions about the GSA IT Schedule 70 Cloud SIN. We help agencies navigate the Cloud SIN to acquire cloud services, including providing free scope reviews of solicitations. We also help industry suppliers with the application process to have their cloud offerings indexed under the Cloud SIN.

To learn more, visit our Cloud SIN page.

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Think IT Modernization? Think GSA

Our mission in the Office of Information Technology Category (ITC) is to “maximize customer value and mission productivity through IT acquisition.” As the largest provider of IT acquisition solutions for government, it is absolutely critical that we ride the bleeding edge of IT innovation. As a service to agencies and taxpayers, we adopt innovative solutions early on and apply them to our own processes — we learn about new technologies by using them. Efforts like this position us to even more effectively help agencies face their future mission needs.

In a blog post last December, we announced our experimentation with distributed ledger technology (DLT) — commonly referred to as “blockchain.” At the time we had just completed a proof of concept to further enhance our Making it Easier FASt Lane proposal review process. We found that DLT can automate many of the manual business processes and steps required to award a new IT Schedule 70 contract. This includes time-intensive tasks such as financial reviews and development of pre-negotiation memoranda, freeing up our workforce to focus on more meaningful responsibilities. DLT also modernizes the award process making it easier, more efficient, and faster for those new contract holders.

IT modernization is a major focus of this administration. Our work with DLT is an excellent example of leveraging emerging technologies to enhance existing systems — to reimagine how we build using an agile methodology to effectively modernize over time. The crawl/walk/run method that we’re using to implement DLT highlights one best-practice path to modernization.

First, We Crawled – What We Did

In July 2017, we kicked off the proof of concept (POC) as an award under the simplified acquisition threshold. This acquisition strategy used an agile acquisition and development approach and had a short, six-week delivery schedule. The entire POC only cost $150,000.

Now We Walk – Development

The POC demonstrated how we could use DLT to help automate our acquisition workforce, specifically touching and entering data only once into a single solution.

To expand the project’s scope, this May we awarded a contract for a pilot. Where the POC tested the waters limited to IT Schedule 70, the pilot has a wider scope: the Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) program (aka the Schedules). We plan to look across the entire enterprise to find out where we’ll gain the most benefits within the Schedules program.

The pilot will create a DLT-based software layer over GSA’s existing infrastructure which creates transparency and documents activities between industry partners (contractors/vendors) and GSA.

This layer will make the proposal review process accountable and allow for a controlled reduction in fixed costs. Also, the pilot automates financial reviews and other GSA Schedules business processes.

For example, we can identify offerors with substandard financial ratios based on the average (as reported by the IRS) of their respective NAICs code. Offerors with poor financial ratios will be flagged for further review; if the ratios look good they will move to the next step.

This first pilot will break down and modularize the workstream and build out a micro-service for the financial responsibility process. Implementing a manageable business process, this will enable us to more simply capture information and to build analytics.

Next, We’ll Run – Production/Sustainment

If the pilot is successful, we’ll continue its development and our efforts to make this a reality by awarding another contract for a full-scale production.

Think IT Modernization? Think GSA

Our team has the expertise and agility to try new things and test new IT solutions. We launch, test, learn, and then use those lessons learned to support our customers.

So, when you think about modernizing your IT systems, think GSA! We have the experts and acquisition solutions in place to make IT modernization a reality for the federal government.

Please follow us on Twitter @GSA_ITC and LinkedIn to join our ongoing conversations about government IT.

The five steps to accelerate the process to award contracts and make life better for the workforce and vendors.

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Modernizing Federal IT — The Path Forward

By Kay Ely, Assistant Commissioner, Office of Information Technology Category

IT modernization is one of the biggest challenges facing the federal government today — it’s a complex issue with a lot of moving parts. Fortunately, with the IT Modernization Report, Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act and its Technology Modernization Fund (TMF), and the President’s Management Agenda (PMA) and Cross-Agency Priority Goals, the stars are really aligned with support and tools to get the job done.

We’ve been talking about modernization for a long time and now, with all of this support and leadership, we’re in the best position I’ve ever seen to take on this challenge.

Here’s my take on what all of this means for agency partners.

IT Modernization Resources

Developed in response to Executive Order 13800, the Federal IT Modernization Report outlines an agile process to help the government harness American innovation to deliver better services to its citizens.

Additionally, the MGT Act authorizes agencies to tackle IT system modernization and establish working capital funds. GSA is also responsible for administering the TMF as part of the MGT Act through a project management office we’ve established. These funds are designed to:

  • improve, retire, or replace existing IT systems to enhance cybersecurity and to improve efficiency and effectiveness;
  • transition legacy IT systems to cloud computing and other innovative platforms and technologies;
  • assist and support efforts to provide adequate, risk-based, and cost-effective IT capabilities that address evolving threats to information security; and
  • reimburse amounts transferred to the agency from the TMF with the approval of each agency’s Chief Information Officer.

Further, the PMA lays out a long-term vision for modernizing the federal government across many fronts. One of the key drivers of transformation is updating and modernizing our legacy IT systems and networks. Helping the federal government adopt and acquire commercially available modern IT products and services is an important priority for GSA, and agencies rely on us to help them get there.

Cross-Agency Priority Goals

Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) Goals drive PMA implementation and tackle critical governmentwide challenges that cut across agencies.

ITC is directly supporting the following CAP Goals:

  • IT Modernization
  • Sharing Quality Services
  • Category Management
  • Federal IT Spending Transparency
  • Improvement Management of Major Acquisitions
  • Security Clearance, Suitability and Credentialing Reform

These goals drive what we do as the government’s acquisition experts, so we’re developing and refining acquisition solutions to address these areas.

Supporting IT Modernization

GSA is supporting governmentwide modernization in four ways.

  1. In partnership with the White House’s Office of American Innovation, GSA’s Technology Transformation Services (TTS) team is standing up IT Modernization Centers of Excellence.
  2. We are tasked, in whole or in part, with half of the 50 key initiatives identified in the IT Modernization Report.
  3. We are well positioned to support the operation and administration of the recently approved Technology Modernization Fund.
  4. We are making it easier to navigate the systems we use to serve our agency customers and help them with their IT acquisitions.

GSA is committed to leading the way to help modernize IT across government. We’ve created a multi-pronged strategy to enhance mission effectiveness and reduce cyber risks through a series of complementary activities between now and 2022.

Mission effectiveness activities include modernizing the IT stack by retiring legacy systems and embracing cloud through implementing cost-effective, cloud-based, commercial IT solutions.

Activities around reducing cyber risks include; managing asset security by implementing capabilities that provide observational, analytical, and diagnostic data of an agency’s cybersecurity; and protecting networks and data by implementing advanced protection capabilities. Another is helping government limit “personnel access” by implementing credential and access management (ICAM) capabilities that ensure users only have access to the resources necessary for their job function. Additional activities are outlined within the Modernizing IT CAP Goal action plan.

What Success Looks Like

To succeed, agencies should work toward several key milestones this fiscal year:

  • using new opportunities to drive foundational technology changes that will improve critical citizen services and increase efficiency by modernizing their networks as they shift to our Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract.
  • submitting their EIS Agency Transition Plans (ATPs) to OMB this fiscal year.
  • using the TMF and working capital funds to support their modernization plans.

GSA Resources

We have several resources that agencies can use to help them acquire and adopt modern IT products and services.

For example, GSA is home to the Technology Transformation Services (TTS), 18F, and the Centers of Excellence that can help implement modernization. We work with OMB and agencies to create acquisition solutions that support modernization efforts, many of which are Best-in-Class (BIC) solutions that produce 10-15 percent savings, so agencies can divert money into their working capital funds.

Some of GSA’s BIC solutions for IT modernization include:

We recognize that modernizing federal IT won’t be easy; it will take working together, sharing best practices, and using resources available to achieve the goals that the PMA has set.

Both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, from The Hill to the White House, have shown their support for modernizing the federal government, and I am confident that together we can collectively seize this unprecedented opportunity to make real and lasting improvements to federal IT.

Please follow us on Twitter @GSA_ITC and LinkedIn to join our ongoing conversations about government IT.