Report Urges Action, Says Trump Administration Has Chance to Make U.S. Leader in Digital Services
A new report aims to help the U.S. government become the global leader in digital services, which include everything from cyber and procurement to customer service facing items.
The report is from the Global Government Forum and is titled “From Lagging to Leading: The Opportunity for a Breakthrough in U.S. Government Digital Service Delivery.”
For the report, Global Government Forum experts Kevin Cunnington and Andrew Besford interviewed 13 members of the U.S. federal government’s CIO Council, including current Federal CIO Clare Martorana. They note that the current time provides a window of opportunity, given the ongoing presidential transition process.
“To meet these expectations, the U.S. government must deliver a seamless, simple, and secure experience that meets the needs of the American people whenever they interact with public services, reflecting the world-class digital experience championed by the U.S. private sector as a global technology leader,” noted the report’s introduction.
The report praised the federal government for making progress in deploying funds from the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) and in making progress on urgent cybersecurity needs following attacks like Logj4 and Solar Winds.
On the challenges front, the report noted the following concerns in the federal government:
A lack of a clearly stated ambition, political sponsorship, and representation for technology at the highest levels of government.
A need for clarity around the organization of federal technology.
Challenges with the approach to modernizing legacy systems.
Insufficient investment in the federal technology workforce.
Significant duplication due to a lack of centralization.
The report made five recommendations and urged the incoming Trump Administration to “swiftly engage in detailed work to develop these recommendations to seize the opportunity to make meaningful progress during its tenure.”
The recommendations are:
Build upon the success of the Technology Modernization Fund and modernize service delivery at scale
Increase the Federal CIO’s authority to drive digital modernization
Modernize the technology workforce to get the Federal Government working differently
Support new CIOs and create a CIO talent pipeline
Pare down the accumulated legislation that holds back transformation
The report concludes by saying that if the U.S. addresses these issues, it could lead the world in digital government innovation.
