Dan Chenok

The federal government achieves a significant part of its mission by working with and through organizations outside agency walls, primarily through grants, contracts, and similar agreements. The work of government contracting is a very large piece of this pie – whether for information technology, physical goods, or other professional services, nearly half of all federal discretionary spending falls into the acquisition category.

From the OMB “Cloud First” strategy, to GSA’s Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), the government is following commercial best practices to leverage the cloud.

Cloud capabilities can be provided over the public Internet or through connections over private networks -- and government does both. Some agencies establish private clouds due to perceived risks of making data available over public channels. At the same time, they are moving toward greater use of the open Internet, including public clouds.

Late last week, the President signed into law the Digital Accountability and Transparency (DATA) Act.  As summarized by the Administration’s release statement, the DATA Act will

Increased connectivity has transformed and improved access to government – citizens today can connect with government agencies and leaders in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago.

We are pleased to announce our latest round of awards for new reports on key public sector challenges, which respond to priorities identified in the Center's long-term research agenda, see businessofgovernment.org/content/research-stipends.

We expect the following reports to be published in early 2015.  Details of each report are included in the below short summaries.

In light of the ever-increasing demand for health care services due to demographic shifts, technology innovations, and consumer expectations, government plays a critical role in delivering services to a diverse population through a wide range of health-related programs.

Understanding the link between cybersecurity, physical assets and economic growth can help the government design an approach that provides both IT and economic security. A cyber incident can have physical impacts, while a physical incident can have cyber implications -- and both are likely to come with economic costs.

To foster a climate in which cyber and physical assets foster economic vitality, both risks must be addressed and technology must be seen as a key player in economic development.

First, a reflection of events from Sep 11, 2001: I was the career deputy advisor for OMB on IT and E-Government issues. On that day, our office was working closely with the Council for Excellence in Government (CEG) to host a meeting of international IT leaders – one of the early meetings of CIOs and equivalent executives from multiple countries, done in partnership with CEG (which for many years led government, industry, academia, non-profits, and civil society groups generally on technology and management excellence initiatives).

In a panel discussion (watch the video) led by the Partnership’s Judy England-Joseph, three government leaders detailed the lessons learned from their experience that can help other agencies in the sound use of analytics to make decisions. Specifically: Social Security Administration (SSA) - Gerald Ray runs the Disability Appeals process. He observed that the disability review process required significant knowledge of regulatory compliance as well as the specifics of each individual case.

Brian Murrow, an expert on strategy and analytics at IBM, participated in interviews conducted by the Partnership for Public Service as they prepared a series of podcast conversations with pioneers in the use of analytics in the federal government. In a series of guest blog posts over the next few weeks, Brian will share his key takeaways from these interviews. You can also listen to the full interviews yourself if you find yourself wanting to know more.