Clare Martorana on TMF: every project needs to have ‘clear, measurable impact’ on customers and agencies
Every federal IT project supported by the Technology Modernization Fund must have a clearly defined impact and provide a level of customer service comparable with that found in high-quality private sector services, according to the federal CIO.
Speaking with FedScoop Thursday, Clare Martorana emphasized that the General Services Administration-housed fund has taken steps to increase the use of funding milestones and that it also aspires to introduce trust measures for finished projects.
“One of the other things I think we have improved over the years the TMF has been in place is focusing on project outcomes,” she said. “Every project needs to have clear, measurable impact on customers and agencies. We need to reduce the burden for the public and agency workforces … that time tax you’ve heard us talk about previously.”
She added: “We’re aspiring to have some trust measures … [and] making sure we’re modeling a lot of what we do on what’s done in the private sector. Did someone have success completing the activity they are undertaking? Was the form easy to fill out? Is it available on your mobile phone? Can you log in easily?”
Martorana spoke with FedScoop shortly after the White House and GSA today announced that the TMF would allocate $100 million for projects in support of the Biden administration’s executive order on customer experience. In particular, it is intending to use the money to provide backing for projects that have a direct impact on how citizens interact with federal agencies.
The $100 million of the $1 billion provided to the fund through the American Rescue Plan Act is intended to support high impact projects, but is available to all federal agencies working on IT modernization initiatives to improve customer experience.
“We are really trying to make sure we are utilizing the same digital competencies for the back-end services and making sure on the front end [they] are comparable to high-quality customer experiences you or I might interact with every day in the private sector,” Martorana said.
Commenting further on success metrics for projects that receive funding from the $100 million pot, Martorana said: “We are really outcomes driven with the TMF, and as these projects get started and start to mature, as they start shipping software, we will be able to measure impact throughout the process.”
Speaking last month at an industry forum, Martorana gave further details on how the administration was working with industry to improve how it measures product service delivery in the wake of Biden’s executive order.
