Weekly Roundup: June 5-9, 2023

VA’s DelBene: Contractors Playing Integral Innovation Role. VA is driving forward the idea that when it comes to technology and innovation, federal contractors need to become an integral part of the government team. Kurt DelBene, VA’s chief information officer (CIO), said “One of the things that we’ve observed – and I’ve noted as I joined – is that there’s an arm’s length typically too often between the contractor and the full-time teams. If you think about it, in a lot of cases, that big dev team that we have as part of the triad is just an outsourced team. And we’re driving towards having that team be an integral part of every single one of the projects we run.” 

HHS OCIO is Rolling out Zero Trust Scorecard. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) is rolling out a new zero trust scorecard across the agency’s different operating divisions to accelerate zero trust security adoption and drive strategy across HHS.

HHS CAIO: AI’s Impact on Healthcare Sector Still to be Determined. As artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing many different aspects of human life, it is still important for the Federal government to understand how this new technology will ultimately impact the healthcare sector, according to a top official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Greg Singleton, chief artificial intelligence officer (CAIO) at HHS, talked about the role that AI will play in healthcare, as well as the importance of regulations. “We need to look at what are the opportunities, where can we use these technologies in productive ways to help us all increase the output,” said Singleton.

Military Playing ‘Catch Up’ On Telehealth, DoD Official Says. The U.S. military is continuing to play catch up when it comes to integrating vital technologies to achieve healthcare goals, a Department of Defense (DoD) official said today.

We need a BRAC commission, but not to tackle federal spending.  Dorothy Robyn, Senior Fellow with Boston University’s Institute for Global Sustainability, offers her insights into applying the Department of Defense’s Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, process to tackle federal spending more broadly once the debt-ceiling fight settles down. 

Meeting Federal Cybersecurity Mandates Requires AI/ML-Driven Big Data Analytics. From an overabundance of data to resource and skills gaps, Federal cybersecurity teams are facing an uphill battle to achieve Federal mandates and secure systems against growing and evolving cyber threats. Emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), can help technology leaders do more with less by analyzing large datasets and spotting unusual activity faster.

OMB Needs to Kick-Start Action on Federal Data Strategy, ITIF Argues. The Biden administration and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) need to take several big steps to reinvigorate action on the 2021 Federal Data Strategy (FDS) in order to realize the strategy’s goals, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) think tank argues in a new report. The Federal Data Strategy was created in 2019 by the Trump administration as a framework of operational principles and best practices that aimed to create consistent data infrastructure and practices throughout the federal government, so that the government can “fully leverage data as a strategic asset by supporting strong data governance and providing the protection and security that the American people, businesses, and partners deserve.”

Rep. Comer Pushes White House to Fill Agency IG Vacancies.  House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is urging President Biden to promptly nominate candidates to fill inspector general (IG) vacancies at the Department of State, the Department of Treasury, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In a June 5 letter Rep. Comer expressed concern that the currently vacant IG positions weaken the impact of the agency IG offices because temporary leadership is not well-suited for long-term planning and decision-making.

CSC Argues for Revamp of How Feds Protect Critical Infrastructure. A decade-old directive from the White House on public-private collaboration for the protection of critical infrastructure is outdated and incapable of meeting today’s demands, according to a June 6 report by the Cyberspace Solarium Commission 2.0. (CSC 2.0).  The report Revising Public-Private Collaboration to Protect U.S. Critical Infrastructure – argues for an overhaul of how these partnerships form and which agencies lead risk mitigation efforts.

Competing for the Future of Cloud Computing in Latin America.  Computing is a strategically important driver of economic prosperity and national security. It is the platform for a modern economy. Cloud services are instrumental in how companies manage their businesses and how governments provide citizen services. This report makes the case that building trustworthy cloud computing should be an economic development and foreign policy priority for democratic nations, focusing on Latin America.

City Leader Guide on Civic Engagement Designing Pathways for Participatory Problem-Solving. This guide provides analytic tools, insights from theory and practice, and step-by-step process support for city leaders and staff hoping to engage residents in public problem-solving. Rather than endorse a set of “best practices” or prescribe solutions, we take civic engagement as an iterative practice that presents many possible entry points and design choices on the path toward participatory public problem-solving. This guide can support city leaders, community partners, staff, students, and others providing technical assistance in creating civic participation processes that help address the critical challenges cities face today.

NEW BOOK: Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better.  Jen Pahlka, former deputy CTO of the federal government, has written a timely and insightful book on why government implementation fails and how we can do better. NEXT WEEK: Jen joins host Michael Keegan on The Business of Government Hour to discuss this book and explore its key insights.