In a conference that’s all about embracing innovation and technology, the General Services Administration is still striving to be at the forefront.
Speaking at the ACT-IAC Management of Change conference in Cambridge, Md., GSA Administrator Denise Turner Roth shined a spotlight on both the agency’s past as an innovator and its future with new programs like the Technology Transformation Service
“GSA has a long history of leadership in that technology space, but more importantly, a long history as a partner,” she said.
“We have had a strong legacy of [chief information officers] who have really pushed the envelope and had the department’s name on the forefront of developing and adapting technologies into our space.”
One of those recent developments was the rollout of the Technology Transformation Service, which Roth debuted in early May. The TTS combines the agency’s tech arms—like 18F, the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies and the Presidential Innovation Fellows— into a single service function to provide the government with innovative technology solutions.
Roth said that the new service brings together the right pieces of innovation to provide the federal government with an incubator for merging technology.
“I think over the recent past, we’ve been very focused on how do we change with this changing environment,” she said. “We recognize that some of our ways of adopting technology and how we are incorporating technology needs enhancing and that’s really reflective of the activity you’ve seen.”
Another area where GSA will play a prominent role is cybersecurity, with Roth citing the agency’s role in the Cybersecurity National Action Plan, the Obama administration’s $19-billion-plan to improve the nation’s cyber defense, as an area where TTS can be effective.
“Our goal there is very important and it will be very important moving forward,” Roth said. “GSA is being asked really to think about the foundational pieces that we are providing to other federal agencies and to really try to build on those efforts.”
Roth added that TTS would help GSA continue to be a committed partner in the CNAP process, as stakeholders like the Department of Defense, Federal CIO and National Security Council identify the cybersecurity tools the government will adopt for more secure operations.
“I really see an opportunity with TTS to serve as a regular space for the federal government to go back to,” she said. “We need to have a space that we can test and explore new ideas and new technologies and see how they are applied in a government setting and then have that information shared with other parts of the GSA.”
Roth added that the TTS program allows GSA to stand-up a permanent institution for innovation that can provide the government new solutions as emerging technologies develop, but to also adapt them to current systems.
“When at the opportunities for the Technology Transformation Service, it’s really is GSA, and the federal government overall saying that there is a space for the onset of emerging technologies in government,” she said. “We need to ensure that we are investing in it and creating that space, but also doing it in a way that collaborates with the existing tools that we have.”
