Fed Gov Today

A change may be coming to your Thrift Savings Plan account. The TSP will use a new benchmark for the International Fund.  Kim Weaver, Director of External Affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, explains what the change means for participants, and what differences, if any, you’ll see in your account.

A theoretical shift is under way at the Patent and Trademark Office. That shift is turning into real-life examples now. On the newest edition of Fed Gov Today TV, Jamie Holcombe, the Chief Information Officer at the Patent and Trademark Office, explains the concept behind the shift from projects to products.

Emergency managers across the federal government have a new opportunity to learn from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and from each other. FEMA’s taking entries for its Vanguard Executive Crisis Leaders Fellowship. Deanne Criswell, the Administrator of FEMA, details the program, and what she wants federal leaders from all agencies to get out of it.

AFCEA DC Winter Gala info

The new Chief Information Officer at the Interior Department is the old CIO at the Farm Service Agency at the Agriculture Department. Darren Ash moved from USDA to Interior a little more than a year ago. He worked closely at USDA with that agency’s CIO, Gary Washington. At AFCEA Bethesda’s Energy, Infrastructure, and Environment Summit recently, I hosted a discussion with Darren and Gary. To begin the discussion, I asked Darren how his current agency and his former agency work together.

The General Services Administration is pioneering human centered design in a number of areas. One of those areas in acquisition. Mike Shepherd is Director of the Catalog Management Office at GSA. At ELC 2023, I ask him about the state of the art in human-centered design in contracting.

More than half of agencies have moved off legacy telecom contracts, onto the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract. Agencies have a May 2024 deadline now to move to EIS or request an extension. Laura Stanton is Assistant Commissioner for the Office of the Information Technology Category at the Federal Acquisition Service at GSA. Her office is leading the EIS work for the agency. At ELC 2023, she says she has four priorities right now.

The customer experience pillar of the President’s Management Agenda is driving a lot of activity in areas of CX that agencies haven’t thought about before. Beth Martin is a digital services expert at the Office of Personnel Management. After her panel discussion at ELC 2023, I asked her what misunderstandings she’s seen about CX efforts.

A reorg is complete inside the Federal Acquisition Service at the General Services Administration. The Commissioner of FAS, Sonny Hashmi, told you about it on the Nov. 1st Fed Gov Today podcast (if you missed it, you can listen on demand at FedGovToday.com). At ELC 2023, Laurie MacNamara, Chief Customer Officer at TTS within FAS, says the position TTS has, and she has within it, are unique.

Agile development has taken over as the development method of choice for IT management projects in government. But the techniques of agile… aren’t limited to tech. At ELC 2023, Arianne Gallgher-Welcher, Executive Director for the Department of Agriculture Digital Service, says her team is applying agile concepts to change management too.

The Federal CIO, Clare Martorana, says the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management are partnering to stock federal agencies with the people they need. At ELC 2023, I asked the Director of OPM, Kiran Ahuja, about OPM’s role in that partnership.

This Special Fed Gov Today podcast is sponsored by Verizon.

The Labor Department’s customer experience efforts include its response to a major piece of legislation. The American Rescue Plan Act features several services the Labor Department provides. Lesley Sheffield, Senior IT Project Manager for ARPA Unemployment Insurance Modernization at Labor, details the path that Labor has taken to modernize the UI process, and the road ahead.

The Internal Revenue Service has added more than 5,000 customer service representatives since the Inflation Reduction Act passed. Agencies like the IRS say they are looking at tools to make their CX efforts more efficient, in addition to more people power. Stephen Sopko, Managing Client Partner at Verizon, covers some of those tools, and how to apply them effectively.

The Department of Homeland Security’s formal customer experience operation is still relatively new. The agency’s CIO, Eric Hysen, stood up the office officially in September. At ELC 2023, Dana Chisnell, Executive Director of Customer Experience at DHS, tells me leaders at her agency have made big commitments to CX.

The beginning of December will mark the one-year anniversary of Ann Lewis’s tenure as Deputy Commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service at the General Services Administration, and Director of GSA’s Technology Transformation Services. She followed Dave Zvenyach as TTS’s head; he left in August 2022. At ELC 2023, I ask Ann about her vision for TTS.

The acquisition arm of the General Services Administration is doing a technology transformation like a lot of parts of the Federal government. Charlotte Phelan is Assistant Commissioner for Strategy and Innovation in the Federal Acquisition Service at the General Services Administration. She’s leading that transformation effort at FAS. At ELC 2023, I ask her how much of the transformation is similar to other organizations in government, and how much is unique to acquisition.

The job of Chief Information Officer for the Office of the Secretary of Defense is a relatively new one inside the Pentagon. Danielle Metz took that job a little more than a year ago, and on the main stage at last year’s ELC, she told me about some of her objectives. At ELC 2023, she tells me what her office has accomplished in the past year.

Appian Government event, November 29, 2023

The Air Force Research Laboratory has a new Chief Information Officer. Alexis Bonnell has served in government before, including as Chief Innovation Officer at the US Agency for International Development. At ELC 2023, I ask her about her priority list in her new job.

The President’s Management Agenda includes a pillar on rebuilding the federal workforce. One element of that is a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Isaac Hernandez is Senior Risk Advisor at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. He spoke on a panel at ELC 2023 on “DEIA and the Employee Experience.” At the conference, I ask him what message he wants people to take away from that panel.

The new artificial intelligence Executive Order and the new draft guidance on updating FedRAMP are two of the newest items that will impact the Federal Acquisition Service at the General Services Administration. The Commissioner of FAS, Sonny Hashmi, spoke about those items and many others on the main stage at ELC 2023. After his remarks on stage, I asked him what his main message was.

ServiceNow “Modern Logistics & Maintenance” event, Nov 8th, 2023

Appian Government event, November 29, 2023

The Navy is on the hunt for a new Principal Cyber Advisor. Chris Cleary’s tenure as PCA expires after three years. CDR Juliana Vida (USN), former Deputy Chief Information Officer of the Navy, details what makes a good PCA, and what makes a good relationship among the PCA, CIO, and CISO in a department.

Chris Cleary on Fed Gov Today TV

Leaders at the Office of Personnel Management say they’ll use data to drive decision making about the federal workforce. OPM’s working to give agencies data and tools to make workforce decisions, too. On the newest edition of Fed Gov Today TV, Robert Shea, Chief Executive Officer of GovNavigators, former Associate Director at the Office of Management and Budget, and former Commissioner on the Commission on Evidence-based Policymaking, explains why he thinks OPM is on a transformation journey.

The Thrift Savings Plan is rolling out a new feature at TSP.gov. It’ll help you track loans from your account more easily. Kim Weaver, Director of External Affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, explains how the tracker works, and other features the TSP will debut in the future.

ServiceNow “Modern Logistics & Maintenance” event, October 25, 2023

Appian Government event, November 29, 2023

10/24/23: A 3-pronged approach to solving cyber at sea; financial managers get a new tool in the toolbox

The Navy is celebrating a cyber anniversary. The service’s Cyberspace Superiority Vision document turns one year old this month. Chris Cleary is the Principal Cyber Advisor of the Navy. On the newest Fed Gov Today TV, he says the Vision has gotten a lot of uptake in the department over the past year.

Financial management practitioners all across the government are finding new ways to use AI to drive mission and to manage agency budgets better. One FM leader says AI is a change management issue, not a technology issue. Vinay Singh is the Chief Financial Officer at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Joe Baptiste is Senior Manager for Technology Consulting at EY. They both were guests on the new Fed Gov Today special show “AI In Depth”. In this highlight of that show, Vinay explains why he believes A-I is a change management issue.

ServiceNow “Modern Logistics & Maintenance” event, October 25, 2023

Appian Government event, November 29, 2023

Federal CIO Clare Martorana says AI will be an important part of the federal government’s Customer experience efforts. One of the agencies using AI to improve the experience of the people it serves is the Department of Veterans Affairs. Gil Alterovitz is Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer at the VA. Joe Boye is System Engineer for Palo Alto Networks. They both were guests on the new Fed Gov Today TV special, “AI In Depth”. In this highlight of that show, I ask them about success in serving agency customers, whether internal or external, with AI.

A new task force is working on the generative AI challenge inside the Defense Department. Task Force Lima is part of the Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Office at the Pentagon. Lt. Col. Pedro Ortiz of Task Force Lima tells me about the mission of the task force, and his role in that mission.

ServiceNow “Modern Logistics & Maintenance” event, October 25, 2023

Appian Government event, November 29, 2023