The Buzz with ACT-IAC

The Department of Justice – home to our nation’s most prominent law enforcement agencies (sorry Park Rangers) and US attorneys’ offices. With more than 40 separate component agencies and over 115,000 employees in all 50 states and worldwide, the DOJ requires an IT infrastructure to match its scale.  Enter the IT strategic plan. This document outlines the major priorities and strategies the departm...

 With 2023’s tax deadline fast approaching, our thoughts turn once again to the peculiarities of America’s filing system. Instead of the IRS interacting directly with the public for annual tax preparation, private companies facilitate electronic filing in the United States, a service that is supposed to be provided to most Americans free of charge.  Yet while more than 70% of Americans qualify for...

This week, The Buzz presents a recorded session from our 2023 Shared Services Summit, which took place on March 21st. National Security Memoradum (NSM)-10, released last year, outlines the Administration's plans to remain ahead of cybersecurity threats posed by quantum computing systems.  Federal agencies must begin to inventory their cryptographic systems and develop cost estimates for trans...

In January of this year, the Biden administration published The U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization, to surprisingly little fanfare. I agree it’s not the sexiest title, but transportation is the single greatest driver of U.S greenhouse gas emissions – nearly 40% of our total, in fact. For our nation to meet the goal of a 50% emission reduction by 2030, Americans need to be a...

After more than 34 years of federal service, acquisitions pioneer Mary Davie announced her retirement at the end of 2022. Much of her career was spent at the GSA, guiding development of well-known procurement practices like shared services and category management. She's won a panoply of awards for her work (including some from ACT-IAC), so we're very excited to welcome Mary to the show t...

This week, The Buzz presents a session from ACT-IAC's January C-SCRM Forum. The federal government has identified Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management (C-SCRM) as one of the pillars of a safe and secure IT environment. In the wake of the SolarWinds attack, the Biden Administration released EO 14028, mandating enhanced C-SCRM practices in the federal acquisitions process. In this panel,...

Even for those with significant experience in the technology field, the concept of quantum computing can feel intimidating. After all, it is a field involving  the notoriously complex theories governing subatomic particles, the physical engineering challenges of supercomputer construction, and the higher-level mathematics of computer cryptography.  And if that sentence made your head spin, then th...

"Innovation" is one of those words that has, unfortunately, been used so frequently as to almost be without meaning. What began as an economic term to describe productivity gains from technology, has morphed into a catch-all for anything new or different, regardless of whether it improves our lives or not. The pursuit of this nebulous idea of innovation as an ultimate goal has crowded ou...

In the annals of tech history, few places carry as weighty a reputation as Silicon Valley. The very name is synonymous with the US technology sector. Somehow, this small region of Northern California has managed to produce nearly all of the most successful and most dominant technology companies in modern history. To the untrained eye, the story of Silicon Valley appears almost magical. Yet to this...

This week, the Buzz presents a presentation from our Small Business Alliance. The ACT-IAC Small Business Alliance is member community chartered to promote the interests and contributions of small businesses in the federal contracting space. In this presentation, veteran contracting specialist and educator William Randolph will give a peek behind the curtains of federal procurement and help small b...

This week, the Buzz presents some more highlights from last year's ELC conference. Veteran broadcaster and interviewer Francis Rose closed out ELC 2022 with two insightful interviews about how federal agencies are carrying out IT modernization efforts. First, Francis interviewed Guy Torres , Deputy Chief Procurement Officer at the IRS and experienced federal acquisitions specialist. Next, Fra...

Much like the government's legacy IT systems, the federal workforce has grown a bit long in the tooth. Based on OPM data collected in 2017, it is estimated that roughly 30% of the federal workforce will be eligible for retirement this year. In addition, more than 70% of the federal civil service is older than 40, and fewer than 1 in 10 are younger than 30. For the federal government to provid...

For our last episode of 2022, The Buzz is revisiting some of the big ideas from the last year in the federal technology sector. We'll return in 2023. Happy Holidays! References: Unpacking DeFi and Financial Risk How Government Built This Series at Bureau of the Fiscal Service Building Trust Through Service Design Brookings data on disparate impact of PPP loans Episodes about Estonian Digital...

This week, The Buzz presents a panel from our 2022 CX Summit. High-Impact Service Providers (HISPs) are federal entities that provide necessary services directly to the American public, as designated by the Office of Management and Budget. In this panel discussion, customer experience leaders at some of our nation's most critical agencies break down their service delivery efforts. Panelists:...

This week, The Buzz presents a keynote session from ACT-IAC's ELC 2022 Conference. GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan joined Winnie Lin , VP of Government and Administrative Services at Peraton, to share how the GSA is helping to upgrade the federal government to improve service delivery to the American people. They discuss the Technology Modernization Fund, the President's Management Agen...

Everyone loves a nice local business. In a world increasingly dominated by enormous, faceless corporations, it's always nice to walk into a brick-and-mortar establishment and know that the business's owner is one of your neighbors. As the Biden administration has recognized, small businesses drive innovation, generate economic mobility, and strengthen community bonds. The sign of a healt...

After the Soviet Union shocked the United States by successfully launching the first artificial satellite in 1957, President Eisenhower recognized the need to accelerate our nation's research and development capacity, in order to meet the future challenges that the Cold War would bring.    Thus, in 1958, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, or ARPA, was born. The agency was later rolled int...

Welcome to the final episode of “How Government Built This,” a six-part podcast and blog post series developed by the Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation (FIT) in collaboration with The Buzz with ACT-IAC. This week, host Jesrael Lopez interviews Joe Gioeli III , Chief Information Officer at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, an...

Welcome to  “How Government Built This,” a six-part podcast and blog post series developed by the Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation (FIT) in collaboration with The Buzz with ACT-IAC. This week, host Jacqueline French interviews Laila Alequresh , Chief Innovation Officer at the Department of Transportation, and Amy Lucero,  A...

Ah, tax season. Though certainly not everyone’s favorite time of year, filing a tax return is perhaps the most notable interaction with the Federal Government that nearly every working American experiences. As those in public service design know, sometimes one interaction is all you get – and whether that interaction is positive or negative can greatly shape the public’s perception of and trust in...

Welcome to  “How Government Built This,” a six-part podcast and blog post series developed by the Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation (FIT) in collaboration with The Buzz with ACT-IAC. This week, host Cindy Good interviews Paul Faucher , Director of Enterprise Services and Digital Engagement, and Troy MacFarlene,  Deputy CIO,...

Because of the peculiar perception of time that we have collectively experienced throughout the pandemic, it may feel odd that the US only began rolling out COVID vaccines in the beginning of last year. So much has occurred in the intervening months that the early days of the pandemic seem much further removed than they are. Increasingly, the United States appears to have moved on. Roughly 80% of...

Welcome to  “How Government Built This,” a six-part podcast and blog post series developed by the Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation (FIT) in collaboration with The Buzz with ACT-IAC. This week, host Cindy Good interviews Dave Larrimore , Executive Director of the CTO Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security, and Ro...

Rather than being explicitly created by the US Constitution, the administrative agencies that make up the Federal bureaucracy have emerged through subsequent acts of Congress. As the United States grew in size and complexity, it  became apparent that some governing powers must be delegated to professional agencies with narrower focuses than the traditional branches of government. Now, the federal...

Welcome to  “How Government Built This,” a six-part podcast and blog post series developed by the Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation (FIT) in collaboration with The Buzz with ACT-IAC. This week, host Jacqueline French interviews Lt. Col Andrew Wonpat, member of the Air National Guard's 175th Network Warfare Squadron. In...