The Department of Health and Human Services has adjusted its approach to technology acquisition in order to keep pace in innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a moment when agencies across the government are grappling with how to adjust their acquisition framework to ensure they have the most advanced technology, HHS CIO Jose Arrieta said his agency has decided to approach acquisition by laying out its objectives first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe establish the way we want to interact and work with the contractor,\u201d Arrieta said Oct. 30 at the Data Coalition\u2019s GovDATAx conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another key to the HHS approach has been taking \u201cprice off the table\u201d and setting maximum awards ceilings for contractors. Then, the contractors can compete for the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HHS has been a leader in federal government in deployment of emerging technologies. Arrieta, who has been in the job since May, is trying to implement several innovative programs that include neural networks, blockchain and artificial intelligence. So far, he said, the acquisition approach is working, but he said it can be \u201cvery stressful\u201d both for acquisition professionals and program managers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re managing live execution on the basis of a series of objectives instead of specific requirements,\u201d said Arrieta, who added he\u2019s not afraid of failure, so long as it\u2019s quick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quicker acquisition is a priority for many agencies in the government. At the Department of Defense, acquisition officials are often using other transaction authorities to acquire emerging tech faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe incumbent procurement models for infrastructure don\u2019t necessarily enable agencies to take advantage and keep up with the pace of technology development,\u201d said Arti Garg, emerging market and technology director at Cray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whether it\u2019s data, cybersecurity or acquisition, government officials have continuously talked recently about the need for the cultural shifts in agencies in terms of how work in completed. HHS approach to procurement is no different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere needs to be preparation for the acquisition workforce. This is a much different way of doing business than they\u2019re used to,\u201d Arrieta said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Department of Health and Human Services is trying to keep pace with the development of new technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":45475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":63,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[104,63,31,110,14,33,6],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3242],"class_list":["post-14312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acquisition-update","category-cloud","category-home","category-it-cloud-report","category-it-networks","category-newsletters","category-acquisition"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"UOZOBYCR3NAW5EL2HY5KCEZETE","arc_canonical_url":"\/it-networks\/cloud\/2019\/10\/30\/how-a-new-acquisition-approach-is-changing-and-challenging-hhs\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n