{"id":23687,"date":"2017-12-14T22:32:48","date_gmt":"2017-12-14T22:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/12\/14\/usda-first-up-in-white-house-gsa-tech-acquisition-pilot\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:00:09","slug":"usda-first-up-in-white-house-gsa-tech-acquisition-pilot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/acquisition\/gsa\/2017\/12\/14\/usda-first-up-in-white-house-gsa-tech-acquisition-pilot\/","title":{"rendered":"USDA first up in White House, GSA tech acquisition pilot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just one day after releasing its finalized IT Modernization Report<\/a> the White House Office of American Innovation announced a partnership with the General Services Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to pilot a Centers of Excellence program that draws on the best talent in the public sector and industry to achieve many of the goals set out in the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYesterday, we published a report that contains many of our recommendations to improve our government\u2019s IT infrastructure and a roadmap with over 50 action points on how to implement. This is a long term project, but one that if handled correctly will have a transformative impact on the way the U.S. government operates,\u201d said Senior White House Adviser Jared Kushner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the New Year, we will be launching the IT Modernization Centers of Excellence to start putting these recommendations into action. With help from industry partners and our own federal IT teams, we have identified those key areas that have the greatest opportunities and need for centralized talent, process and acquisitions support vehicles. These teams will be based in specific Centers of Excellence, and focused on our immediate priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Joanne Collins Smee, acting director of GSA\u2019s Technology Transformation Service and deputy commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service, USDA will serve as a \u201clighthouse agency\u201d to guide other agencies along the path to modernization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are so proud and so happy that we are working with the White House Office of American Innovation to execute a series of key strategies,\u201d said USDA deputy secretary Steven Censky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Centers of Excellence program is divided into two phases: Planning and Organization, and Execution. The first phase will focus on putting the Centers of Excellence together and identifying needed changes. The second phase will then acquire the necessary technologies to make the changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each CoE will draw on USDA employees with expertise in five areas of excellence to spend two to three years finding solutions to some of the biggest IT problems in the agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The five CoE teams will be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n