Digital Government Strategy

Hitting The Reset Button In Federal IT

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For the fourth straight year, federal IT spending was about even with the prior year’s budget – and it seems very clear that trend will come to an abrupt halt in 2013. The Professional Services Council (PSC) stated the “Addressable IT Budgets” in Fiscal Year 2012 added up to $121.7 billion – a total the Council estimates will drop to $115.5 in FY13, with budgets for IT equipment expected to drop 19% in FY13.

With the so-called “fiscal cliff” looming, the new year began promptly with a deal that largely addressed the tax portion of the so-called “fiscal cliff” equation, but delayed measures addressing the spending portion of the “cliff” that include raising the debt ceiling and sequestration spending cuts. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 14, 2013 at 7:00 AM

CIO Council Report Reflects Mobile Technology Challenges

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In a follow up report to the Digital Government Strategy, the Federal CIO Council conducted a survey and interviewed 21 agencies on their use of mobile technologies. The “Report on Barriers, Gaps, and Opportunities for Government Use of Mobile Technology” addresses Milestone Action 10.2 of the Digital Government Strategy which aims to “evaluate opportunities to accelerate the secure adoption of mobile technologies into the Federal environment at reduced cost.”

The results offer insight into three key considerations for the use of mobile technologies: opportunities and barriers; gaps; and risks, threats, and vulnerabilities. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 19, 2012 at 9:00 AM

Staring Over Financial Cliff: Preparing For IT Budget Cuts Across The Board

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With sequestration looming, and 2013 federal IT spending requests having have dropped $1 billion over fiscal year 2012 levels, contracting dollars especially for IT are expected to come under intense scrutiny, and in many cases get shuffled to meet changing needs next year.

Those who follow federal IT spending are already aware that the fiscal 2013 federal IT budget request is approximately $78.9 billion, down from the prior year’s $79.7 billion. However, Congress’ continuing resolution and potential sequestration are likely to lower IT spending to between $73 to $74 billion. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 2, 2012 at 1:15 PM

Memo To Incoming Leaders: Think Virtual Reorganization And Turbocharged IT

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The federal government is on the brink of a perfect storm of management challenges. For better or worse, that also presents the nation’s leaders with an opportunity to dramatically reshape how it delivers services, in part by embracing digital technology in new and more powerful ways.

Either way, national leaders moving into new positions at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue in the coming few weeks will have to look seriously at real and “virtual” ways of reorganizing federal bureaucracies, say a group of public administration experts. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 25, 2012 at 7:46 PM

Digital Government: The Transformative Power Of Visual Communications and Little Bets

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Jonny Goldstein, a veteran media producer, artist, trainer, and speaker, created the above visual notes for the recent Digital Government: The Transformative Power of Communications, captured and disseminated fittingly via Instagram.

The tweet: “Check out @jonnygoldstein visual notes from (the) #GovD12 event on Digital Government: the power of communications!” captured the sentiment of many that attended this excellent event, which featured the book Little Bets, by Peter Sims and a series of government agency success stories including the following:

  • Small Business Administration – As a result of a campaign focused on government contracting, visits to the SBA government contracting page have jumped 72% since the campaign began — and a 255% increase in traffic to entry-level courses like Government Contracting 101.
  • U.S. Census Bureau – A national campaign to encourage the public to participate in the 2010 Census saved $1.87 billion in taxpayer money. Census also saw more than 175,000 visits to its FAQs, helping to increase the number of subscribers the agency can reach directly.
  • Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services – In just eight months, CMS has seen more than 850,000 visits to its FAQs, helping to drive an increase of more than 80,000 subscribers to over 2,400 topics.
  • United States National Guard Bureau – NGB was recognized for its excellence in digital communications. It recently won an award for proactively communicating through multiple communication channels to reach the largest possible audience establishing more than 5 million impressions through a dynamic news widget, and communicating its mission and message to 22,000+ blog viewers.
The purpose of this year’s event was to address concrete steps agencies can take to fulfill the objectives of the White House’s Digital Government Strategy:

  • to enable the American people to access high-quality digital government information and services;
  • to insure that government adjusts to a new digital world; and
  • to unlock the power of government data to spur innovation across the nation and improve the quality of services for the American people.
The event’s sponsors provided a Digital Government Strategy checklist as follows: Keep reading →

 /  Published October 25, 2012 at 7:00 AM

What The White House Learned From LinkedIn And The Use Of Big Data

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One of the best presentations at the recent Big Data Innovation Summit in Boston was by LinkedIn Senior Data Scientist Yael Garten. Garten, who leads LinkedIn’s Mobile Data Analytics team, in a presentation entitled Data Infused Product Design & Insights at LinkedIn provided a glimpse of how big data is used by LinkedIn to explore usage patterns, on mobile devices, for instance.

This is a challenge facing the US Government in the new Digital Government Strategy: namely delivering existing web sites and database information — and eventually the types of big data results that the intelligence and scientific communities have — so that mobile devices can access that information from supercomputers.

For those who haven’t kept up with LinkedIn’s progress of late: It’s mission is to “connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.” Here are a few facts at glance, from Garten’s presentation: Keep reading →

 /  Published October 11, 2012 at 9:00 AM

Big Data Report: Leaders’ Understanding Must Catch Up With Technology

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Government is at a crossroads in having the ability to process vast volumes of data, but too few executives who understand how to tap its potential, according to a report on “big data” released today.

The TechAmerica Foundation report offers recommendations for public policy, research and development, privacy issues and overcoming barriers based on government leaders who have established early successes in leveraging big data, such as the Internal Revenue Service and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 3, 2012 at 12:00 PM

IT Leaders Encounter Speed Bumps Delivering Mobile Strategy

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The race to meet a series of milestones for advancing federal mobility continues to encounter differing expectations and the underlying need for better methods for managing data, according to a group of federal IT leaders in the throes of delivering the Obama Administration’s Digital Government Strategy.

In a White House report issued last month, Administration officials listed a variety of accomplishments in the first 90 days of a year-long set of initiatives, declaring “agencies are making great strides towards putting a solid foundation for a 21st Century Digital Government in place.” Keep reading →

 /  Published September 20, 2012 at 9:30 AM

Feds Weigh Pros And Cons Of Apple’s New Mobile iOS 6

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While iPhone aficionados may have to wait three to four more weeks to get their hands on the new iPhone 5, Apple officially released it latest mobile operating system, iOS 6, today. And that meant federal IT executives had yet another new mobile issue to contend with as they began in earnest to evaluate how the new operating system, which boasts 200 enhancements, might impact the growing use of Apple devices across the federal government.

“I think it’s safe to say that these continually improving and expanding features are a key reason why government workers find consumer mobile devices in general – and iOS devices in particular – so compelling for use in accomplishing their missions,” said Dr. Rick Holgate, assistant director for science and technology and chief information officer for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF). Keep reading →

 /  Published September 19, 2012 at 12:19 PM

People To Watch: Benjamin Balter

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Ben Balter was selected as a Presidential Innovation Fellow forProject MyGov as part of the new White House Presidential Innovation Fellows program.

The program pairs top innovators from the private sector, nonprofits, and academia with top innovators in government to collaborate on solutions that aim to deliver significant results in six months.



The purpose of Project MyGov is to reimagine how citizens interact with government through an experience designed around their needs rather than a confusing and fragmented bureaucracy.

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This is one in a series introducing 18 Fellows working on five initiatives that are part of the White House Presidential Innovation Fellows program.

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 /  Published September 5, 2012 at 11:30 AM
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