Where Are We With Improving Federal Services?

You definitely can’t blink or you’ll miss news on what’s happening that impacts citizen services and customer experience at the federal level these days.  In the past month, we have continued to see many changes, to include:

• Releasing the “Delivering Government Solutions for the 21st Century Reform Plan and Reorganization Recommendations
• Announcement of the reboot of the GEAR Awards which recognize improved services
• Selection of the first agency initiatives to be funded by the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF)
• Launch of the Information Technology (IT) Modernization Centers of Excellence (CoEs) website

Each of these are part of the implementation of the President’s Management Agenda.  Details on each are below.

Delivering Government Solutions for the 21st Century – Reform Plan and Reorganization Recommendations

“Delivering Government Solutions for the 21st Century – Reform Plan and Reorganization Recommendations,” was released on June 21, 2018, with significant references and impact to the experience citizens have with government.  The report states, “Government in the 21st Century is fundamentally a services business, and modern information technology should be at the heart of the U.S. Government service delivery model. And yet, today’s Executive Branch is still aligned to the stove-piped organizational constructs of the 20th Century, which in many cases have grown inefficient and out-of-date. Consequently, the public and our workforce are frustrated with Government’s ability to deliver its mission in an effective, efficient, and secure way.

The plan focuses on combining, renaming and shifting missions of agencies across the government, though many of the initiatives will require Congressional action.  The benefits of the plan are described as:

• Refocusing around structures around missions and customers
• Enhancing Mission Accountability
• Prioritizing Limited Resources and Eliminating Unnecessary Activities
• Improving Communications and Coordination

“The President’s Management Agenda (PMA) outlines a range of additional priorities and tools that, in combination, will create an Executive Branch that is prepared to meet the needs of the American people both now and in the future.”  By refocusing around missions and customers, government services will be simplified. For example, currently food safety is divided between the US Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Under this proposal, all food safety would be located in USDA.  When there’s a food safety issue today, USDA handles everything but lettuce and peanuts?. How would the public know that?

One of the priorities is around customer experience.  Below is the goal of the CX recommendation:

This proposal would transform the way Americans interact with the Federal Government by providing a modern, streamlined, and customer-centric experience for citizens, businesses, and other customers, comparable to leading private-sector organizations. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will provide leadership and establish a Government-wide capability to partner with Federal agencies to identify key customer groups (e.g., farmers, veterans), map their journeys from end-to-end and across agencies and programs, and improve their experience across delivery channels and organizational silos. This will be done in partnership with the U.S. Digital Service and the General Services Administration (GSA) Technology Transformation Service with contributions from specific involved agencies. This capability will also serve as a central resource to better manage organizational change and ensure reform proposals achieve mission, service, and stewardship objectives.  

To read the full report, click here.

GEARS for Government Awards

OMB announced their intention to reboot the Federal Services Awards under the GEARS for Government Awards to recognize individuals who provide outstanding services to their customers.  This is another program that joins the Service to America Medals by the Partnership for Public Service who just announced their finalists in early May and the Service to the Citizen Awards where over 80 federal employees were honored in May 2018, who delivered outstanding services to the public.  

Legislation Impacting Technology Modernization and the Customer Experience

Several pieces of legislation have passed or proposed that together can impact the citizen’s interaction with government and the government’s ability to deliver improved services.  These include:

• P.L. 115-23, Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act, December 12, 2017 – The MGT set the stage for agencies being able to establish working capital funds to fund innovation programs funded by efficiencies within the agency.  In addition, it established the centralized Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) to be used to fund innovations after being reviewed and selected by GSA and OMB.   

On February 27, 2018, the White House memo, “Implementation of the Modernizing Government Technology Act.  This memo described the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF), established the Technology Modernization Board (TMB) and identified the process for submitting proposals for TMF funding.  Since that time, funds have been awarded to the Agriculture Department’s Farmers.gov; migrating the Energy Department’s email to a cloud environment for $15 million; and accelerating the migration of a Housing and Urban Development mainframe application for $20 million.

• Federal Agency Customer Experience (FACE) Act (proposed).  FACE was introduced by Rep. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) on May 10, 2017 and by Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) June 8, 2018.   For a summary of H.R. 2846, click here.  
• Government Customer Service Accountability and Improvement Act of 2018 (proposed).  The Government Customer Service Accountability and Improvement Act was introduced by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), on March 22, 2018 and would establish customer service standards in government.  To read the full bill, click here.
• P.L. 115-114, Connected Government Act, January 10, 2018, requires federal agencies to make any new or redesigned websites 180 days after enactment of the bill that are publicly available to be mobile friendly.  As described in the law, the term ‘mobile friendly’ means, with respect to a website, that the website is configured in such a way that the website may be navigated, viewed, and accessed on a smartphone, tablet computer, or similar mobile device.’’  Not later than 18 months after enactment of the Act, the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will report progress in implementing the Act.
• Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA) (proposed) – IDEA was introduced by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) on May 10, 2018, and by Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) on June 12, 2018.   For a summary of the IDEA, click here.

IT Modernization Centers of Excellence (CoE)

Phase 1 of the IT Modernization Centers of Excellence work continues at USDA, lighthouse agency to modernize IT and improve the customer experience.  Industry day is on June 27, 2018, with Reverse Industry Days being held on June 28 and 29, 2018. Industry day will begin the conversation about Phase 2 – implementation of the Phase 1 recommendations.  The CoEs are expected to move to other agencies over time. To learn more about the IT Modernization Centers of Excellence, click here.

GSA has launched a CoE website to provide updates on each of the CoEs, including the services they provide.  To see updates on the Centers of Excellence, click here.

As we monitor progress towards implementing these recommendations, this legislation and the work of the CoEs, everyone wins – the government, the citizen, and the country.