The Impact of Technology on the Federal Government: What’s in it for me?

By Daniel Eisen

I should learn not to promise what I will talk about in subsequent posts. It always happens that as I research for each post I find something that derails the conversation in some way. In my last post, I promised that I would ‘geek-out’ and discuss some emerging technologies for supporting and strengthening federal agency operations and services.

As I began my research things quickly changed. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by a never-ending array of technological innovations we see and hear about each and every day; I know I did just trying to get a handle on all of these new technologies. I began to wonder why we need all of this technology and what it means to me as a citizen consumer of federal programs and services. And, then I remembered some articles I came across a few years ago on the topic of ‘Technological Determinism’.

Never heard of this term? Neither did I. So, I want to share some of them with you. Many of these articles discuss how technology has changed the way we live, technology as an important change agent, technology as a driving force of history and many other engaging conversations. Hang in with me for a few moments and then I will share a few thoughts on what this means for federal IT.

bananapeelproject.org

The discussion over technological determinism divides, mainly, into two schools of thought. First, that of the hard determinists who contend the power to effect social change is credited to technology or its products; technology is reified and depicted as taking on a life of its own (Smith and Marx 1994).  Hard determinists might, “ascribe to machines a power they do not have (Heilbroner 1994), or believe in the dream of progress through technology, or believe that once a technology finds itself into society, it takes on a life (Williams 2000) of its own moving with an unstoppable force.

Our second school of thought, soft determinism, considers the history of technology as the history of human actions looking at technology by learning about those who were there, and their circumstances (Heilbroner 1967; Heilbroner 1994; Smith and Marx 1994). Soft determinists would say, since humans develop technology we do have choices in its development and application in society. Other discussions on technological determinism blend these soft and hard categories.

Many of these articles also contained interesting historical examples. For example, the impact of technologies such as how navigation

cast.uark.edu

technology aided in the colonization of the new world (Smith and Marx 1994), how radio and television changed social behavior (Heilbroner 1967) and how the automobile created suburbia (Smith and Marx 1994). Also, discussed were technologies such as, Flexible Manufacturing Technology, where computers were now integrating” functional areas of marketing, design, manufacturing materials handling, inventory control and quality control into a continuous round-the clock, sometimes unattended operations (Nemetz and Fry 1988).

Today, the Internet, smart phones, tablets, cloud computing among others have raised this discussion to new heights. Yet, I find it comforting that no matter which direction the discussion on technological determinism finds itself moving in, it seems that the relationship between technology and society is not all one way. If you would like to read any of the above articles, send me a request in the comments section. I’ll shoot it right over.

Where does this leave us? What about all of these new technologies? I think the real meaning in how we think about federal IT is remembering that when a federal agency chooses to update, upgrade or bring in a completely new technology, ultimately, it is about strengthening operations and services that serve our citizens. So, what does federal IT mean to me? It means many things from improving my ability to e-file taxes to having technologies that provides the federal government with the capability and readiness to save lives during a natural disaster. Yes, it’s complicated but I am amazed and in awe at how far we have come in such a short period of time. How about you?

Eisen out…

Federal IT Contracting: An Interesting Read

By Daniel Eisen

In my last post I promised that I would highlight some articles I have collected on federal Information Technology (IT) contracting. The pile was taller than I thought.

My process of culling through articles kept reminding me of my how dad always used to say “how’s that going for you?” and “lots of luck”. But, I promised, so here goes.

My collection of articles on federal IT outsourcing started out as a stack of articles on private sector outsourcing. Here are a few worth mentioning.

• The Journal of Business Strategy (2004) – The 10 outsourcing traps to avoid
• The Academy of Management Executive (2003) – The seven deadly sins of outsourcing
• California Management Review (2003) – The winner’s curse in IT outsourcing: strategies for avoiding relational trauma (my favorite title)

These articles provide fascinating conversations on private sector outsourcing from its history, benefits, risks, through methods and approaches for successful implementation. It is not hard to imagine why the federal government would soon follow the same path. However, working through all of the articles focused on federal IT outsourcing two old adages kept coming to mind – “as much as things change, they remain the same” and “everything old, is new again.”

Here are some of my favorites:

From the early days, in 1996 there was a piece in the National Contract Management Journal, ‘Privatization: A Coming Wave for Federal Information Technology Requirements’. This article touts federal IT outsourcing benefits such as personnel cost savings, improved quality of information systems services, focusing in-house resources on core functions and increased access to new technologies. It also provides cautionary warnings ranging from unclear costs and benefits, the loss of control of information systems and corporate security concerns and existing union/labor agreements.

From a 1999 volume of the Journal of American Society for Information Science, I came across the article ‘Better Funding for Government IT: Views from the Front Line.’ In the piece, the author describes the federal IT budgeting process as “myopic”. Yet, there was a strong sense of optimism as the author suggest that the federal IT budgeting process could be improved through approaches and methods such as strategic planning and performance management, developing better IT portfolios, cross-boundary investments (i.e., integrating services across agencies), and sharing risks with the private sector by “linking payment to improvements in government outputs rather than the delivery of technology services.”

Jumping ahead a few more years, federal IT outsourcing is in full swing, supporting and strengthening e-government initiatives. A 2005 article in Public Performance and Management Review, ‘Outsourcing for E-government: Managing for Success’ declared that the government faced a shortage of IT skills and financial resources and through IT outsourcing could “gain access to skilled staff…with the added benefits of economies of scale.”

The author describes many familiar issues and challenges ranging from the political-regulatory environment to issues of IT compatibility and complexity. And, the transition to e-government was not just happening in the US.

A 2005 article in Information Technology and People, ‘From Government to E-government: A Transition Model’ discussed how governments could successfully make the leap from traditional government services to e-government services to “help citizens get in, find their information or transact their business, and then get out as efficiently as possible”.

It was comforting to see that the US was not alone facing many of the same issues and challenges as other developed countries as it shifted to an e-government model.

Finally, we come full circle with a very interesting 2010 working paper, ‘Federal Contracting and Acquisition: Progress, challenges, and the road ahead.’ It is worth a read (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1542830).

But, with limited space and since the “the road ahead” will be discussed in my final post, I will end things here.

I want to wrap-up by admitting that, at first, it was the titles of many of these articles that initially hooked me. Yet in the end, I was treated to many rich, vibrant, eye-opening, sometimes contentious discussions. (Google “federal IT contracting” and you will see what I mean). In my next post, it’s time to ‘geek-out’ and check out some emerging technologies for supporting and strengthening federal agency operations and ultimately the services our federal workforce provides to our nations citizens. But if you would like to read any of the above articles, send me a request in the comments section. I’ll shoot it right over.

Eisen out…

Photo Credit: http://www.itoutsourcingservices.com, http://teleburst.files.wordpress.com,  http://www.itp.net http://www.howtocontract.net, savethepostoffice.com

The Growth of Federal IT Contracting

By Daniel Eisen

As I began my research for this post, I thought I would find and share interesting statistics showing such things as: the growth in revenue of IT contractors and the number of IT contractors over time, the impact to the economy and other data. But, while the data may be interesting, there’s much more to this discussion than just numbers. If you have a calendar and a watch, it’s fairly simple exercise to determine the specific time and date, for example, of the birth of a child.

Then there’s the summer that kids go away to camp and come back a head taller. In much the same way, it feels as if the IT contracting industry has gone through a growth-spurt virtually overnight. Yet, as I sat at my desk, the stack of articles completely taking over, it occurred to me that identifying some specific moment or point-in-time or event responsible for the growth of this industry was becoming difficult to pinpoint. I’m sure many people have opinions as to how all of this began, so in this post I thought I would share some of mine.

If you ask me, the explosive growth of this industry can be traced back to few specific events that happened between 1994 and 1996.  In 1994, Vice President Al Gore published an article entitled “The New Job of the Federal Executive”. In it he discusses events that have transformed the job of the federal executive. One of these events, he suggests, is “the new role of information technology in transforming a manager’s job”. Speaking about transformative powers of Information Technology, he said three very interesting things. First, that “Taylor’s theories about scientific management are no longer applicable in the information age”. Next, “information technology gives the new manager a set of tools that did not even exist a decade ago”. And finally, “the information age allows the new federal manager to communicate effectively across very large organizations. And information technology also allows this to be done without sacrificing accountability”.

Then there was the passage of the 1995 Paperwork Reduction Act (http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/laws/paperwork-reduction). It’s worth your time to take a quick look at the first section (the purpose) of the Act. Here are the two IT focused items in the opening subsection:

• Provide for the dissemination of public information on a timely basis, on equitable terms, and in a manner that promotes the utility of the information to the public and makes effective use of information technology and
• Ensure that information technology is acquired, used, and managed to improve performance of agency missions, including the reduction of information collection burdens on the public

Next, there was the Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996. The highlight, for me, is that one of the new responsibilities of the OMB director was to “promote and be responsible for improving the acquisition, use, and disposal of information technology by the Federal Government to improve the productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness of Federal programs, including through dissemination of public information and the reduction of information collection burdens on the public”. (Here is a link to a good summary (http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/library/misc/itref.html).

Finally, Executive Order 13011 (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-1996-07-19/pdf/96-18555.pdf) signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996 outlined, among other things, the policy and responsibilities by agency heads of the “coordinated approach” that would build “on existing structures and successful practices…to provide maximum benefit across the federal government from this technology”. This order is specifically refers to both the Paperwork Reduction and Information Technology Management Reform Acts.

When I talk to family and friends about the meteoric growth of IT contracting, I always tell them these four events “opened the door by ripping it off its hinges and threw it to the side in order to walk through”. There’s more I want to say but unfortunately I’m out of space, so in my next post, I want to continue this discussion by sharing some of the highlights contained within the stack articles I’ve accumulated on federal IT contracting. They span almost two decades and discuss such things as: impact on our economy, the risks of outsourcing IT, funding concerns and suggestions, e-government outsourcing, federal acquisition progress and challenges and a powerful discussion on outsourcing and political power.

So, I invite you to come for a visit to see all that Washington D.C. has to offer. Check out the museums, take the tour of the Capital and White House, eat at our amazing restaurants, catch a show at the Kennedy Center and take a drive around the metro D.C. region  to see all of the office buildings that are home to the incredible array of IT contractors providing services to the federal government. And, as you walk by the federal office buildings don’t forget about our federal workforce using all of this new Information Technology to steadily improve both internal agency operations and services to the public.

The Impact of Technology on the Federal Government

By Daniel Eisen

This is the first in a blog series focusing on the impact of technology on the federal government. In future posts I will discuss the growth of Information Technology (IT) contracting, emerging technologies, and the challenges faced by federal agencies and federal IT contractors resulting from the recent federal budget crisis.

So, where do we begin? The impact of technology on the federal government operations and the delivery of citizen-centric services are undeniable. Developing and implementing any technology is a complex undertaking. Developing and implementing technology for the federal government, can and usually does, increase this level of complexity. These efforts usually involve multiple stakeholders and interests such as the prime contractor, subcontractor(s), consultants (technical and/or management), other federal agencies, federal budgeting constraints, cumbersome procurement processes, state, local, tribal ,or federal laws and statutes, Congress, and citizens. These efforts are also well-known for their size, complexity, staggering budgets, mismanagement, poor planning, and failures. A 2008 Government Accountability Office report stated:

OMB and federal agencies have identified around 413 IT projects—totaling at least $25.2 billion in spending for fiscal year 2008—as being poorly planned, poorly performing, or both. Specifically, through the Management Watch List process, OMB determined that 352 projects (totaling about $23.4 billion) are poorly planned. In addition, agencies reported that 87 of their high risk projects (totaling about $4.8 billion) were poorly performing. Twenty-six projects (totaling about $3 billion) are considered both poorly planned and poorly performing.

Since it is no fun to lead with the bad news, let’s look at “the good” of one federal government IT effort with the goal of increasing agency efficiency and effectiveness in delivering citizen-centric services.

In 1986 the IRS piloted its electronic tax filing program (e-file).  In 1990, e-file became nationally available.  By June 2011, a Treasury Press Releases (Issue Number: IR-2011-64) touted individual e-file tax returns had surpassed the one billion mark since 1986. Also, reported was more than “100 million individual tax returns were e-filed during the 2011 filing season”. And, in a December 2010 report (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11111.pdf), the GAO stated for fiscal year 2009, the IRS reported an e-file return cost 19 cents to process compared to $3.29 for a paper return. The report cited in 2005, the IRS processed 62 million paper fillings and 68 million electronic fillings and in 2010, only 40 million fillings were paper compared with 94 million electronic fillings.

However, the e-file program has not been all wine and roses. The IRS began a program to modernize the original e-file system in 2004. Now called, Modernized e-File (MeF), the December 2010 GAO report also suggested “although IRS began using MeF to accept individual returns for the first time in 2010, the system was underutilized.” The report states IRS officials cited several reasons such as the system is “unproven compared to the current legacy e-file system” and “the legacy e-file system had a lower rejection rate than MeF and return filers may have stopped using MeF after encountering performance problems.”

Here’s where things get complicated. Congress has set an 80% e-file adoption goal for major returns. So, how might the issues and challenges faced by the MeF modernization effort impact e-file adoption? A July 2010 study in Computers in Human Behavior discussing a model of e-file adoption suggested adoption of electronic filing is significantly influenced by factors such as “trust in the internet and trust in the e-file provider”. Also, a 2011 study in Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, highlighted factors such as level of effort, social influence, security and an individual’s belief in their own competence to successfully use the e-file system all played a role in “predicting taxpayers’ e-filing intentions.” And, a 2011 report by The Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee (ETAAC) discussed the following five groups of recommendations on issues in electronic tax administration:

• Standards for security and accuracy for the electronic tax community
• 1040 Modernized e-file (MeF) platform
• Barriers to e-filing employment tax returns
• Tax filing simplification
• Collaboration and partnership with the electronic filing community

What does all of this mean? Like I said, IT development efforts are complex and Federal IT efforts only add to this complexity. And, in reality, most technologies are not completely perfect. With all of this complexity and imperfection, I like to think in all of the confusion, things will somehow work themselves out.

I need to stop writing and get working on my 2012 taxes. In my next post…the growth of federal IT contracting.