VA calls for help bringing home appeals modernization project

The Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking additional contractor support as it continues to develop Caseflow, a suite of modern appeals processing tools.

The VA appeals modernization project, aimed at streamlining a complicated and difficult system, began back in 2014. In 2015, the VA Digital Service (DSVA) team started looking into retiring the legacy Veterans Appeals Control and Locator System (VACOLS, developed in 1979) in favor of a new suite of digital solutions called Caseflow. This work has been ongoing — for example, DSVA and the VA launched Caseflow’s first tool, Caseflow Certification, in April 2016.

It is now time, however, for development and implementation to kick into high gear. According to the VA, no Caseflow products are “fully finished” at the moment, but all need to be in a state of minimum viability by the time the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017 goes into effect Feb. 14, 2019. Per the Caseflow GitHub page, there are four products currently in a “mature state” and four others “in heavy development.”

This is where the VA’s call for help comes in.

The agency recently posted a request for information on FedBizOpps, seeking contractor help with project management, training, help desk support and more. The project has a 12 month period of performance, with three additional 12 month option periods.

Caseflow, as is typical of U.S. Digital Service projects, is being developed according to user-centered and agile methodology, so the VA is looking for a contractor that will stick with these same working principles. In response to the RFI, potential vendors are asked to submit a case study that demonstrates that vendor’s ability to fulfill the VA’s needs.

Interested entities have until Jan. 14 to respond to the RFI.

DARPA wants to move beyond the air gap

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), always one to push the boundaries of computing, has set its sights on moving beyond air-gap cybersecurity.

To this end, the Guaranteed Architecture for Physical Security (GAPS) project, announced by DARPA’s Microsystems Technology Office in early January, solicits “innovative research proposals” from contractors who think they can build hardware and software systems with “physically provable guarantees to isolate high risk transactions.”

Basically, DARPA wants the computer systems of the future to have high-level security capabilities built right in. “Today, modern computing systems are incapable of creating sufficient security protections such that they can be trusted with the most sensitive data while simultaneously being exposed to untrusted data streams,” the project description bemoans. “Therefore, for the most sensitive computing systems, [the Department of Defense] and commercial industry have in certain places adopted a series of air-gaps  — breaks between computing systems to prevent the leakage and compromise of sensitive information.”

But air-gaps are inconvenient. Cutting certain systems off from the rest has implications for the efficacy of both — and DARPA thinks it is time to move beyond this limited paradigm. Both the DOD and the commercial industry would benefit from figuring out how to build in better security, the agency argues.

DARPA anticipates spending a total of $54.4 million on the project.

GAPS is part of DARPA’s larger Electronics Resurgence Initiative, a multi-project initiative aimed at moving beyond the traditional limits of Moore’s Law.

Americans don’t think government should restrict use of facial recognition tech, survey says

Americans are by and large comfortable with facial recognition technology, especially in cases where it is used in service of public safety, according to a Center for Data Innovation survey that asked participants whether they support the government “strictly” limiting the use of facial recognition tech.

Just 26 percent said that yes, they do support strict government limits on the use of facial recognition technology, while nearly 45 percent said they wouldn’t want this. The percentage of people supporting strict limits dropped further to 18 percent when the question mentioned public safety. The survey does not dig into what “strict” means to respondents.

Survey participants were also in favor overall of the use of facial recognition technology in circumstances where it provides efficiency benefits — like speeding up airport security lines.

These results come at a time when the government’s proper role in regulating the use of facial recognition and other artificial intelligence-powered technologies is being actively debated.

Microsoft President Brad Smith has called for “proactive” congressional oversight of the emerging technology. In remarks at the Brookings Institution in early December, and a concurrent blog post, Smith advocated for legislation to protect against the risk of bias and discrimination, the risk of intrusion into personal privacy and the risk of mass surveillance by government.

He even gave examples for what he thinks this legislation could look like — for example requiring that companies submit algorithms to third-party system testing. “As a society, we need legislation that will put impartial testing groups like Consumer Reports and their counterparts in a position where they can test facial recognition services for accuracy and unfair bias in a transparent and even-handed manner,” Smith wrote at the time.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s approach to emerging technologies has been characterized by the argument that any further government regulation will stifle private sector innovation. Specifically in the case of artificial intelligence, the technology that powers facial recognition software and has been a big focus for the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, leaders have continuously argued against regulation.

The director of the Center for Data Innovation, Daniel Castro, said the results of the survey are a little surprising, but understandable.

“Often consumers fear new technologies, and this fear leads to calls for regulation, so it is somewhat surprising that the public does not support government limits on facial recognition,” he told FedScoop in an email. “However, these results are likely explained by the fact that consumers are increasingly familiar with facial recognition technology, such as using it to unlock their phones, so they understand its convenience. When they understand a technology, they are usually willing to embrace it if they come out ahead.”

The survey was done via a national online poll of 3,151 adult U.S. internet users. The Center fro Data Innovation is a “non-profit, non-partisan research institute.” It’s associated with The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a think tank that promotes policy solutions that “accelerate innovation.”

GSA’s emerging tech lead Herman heads for the private sector

Justin Herman, the General Services Administration’s champion for weaving emerging technologies into public service operations, is leaving federal service for the private sector.

Herman detailed his departure in a LinkedIn post Monday and confirmed to FedScoop that he will take over Jan. 14 as the head of public sector for Twilio, a San Francisco-based cloud communications platform-as-a-service company.

“It has been an extraordinary honor for me to serve alongside so many of you in the advancement of new technologies and solutions to improve the public services that help ensure a better American way of life for all,” he wrote in the post, “but now the time has come for me to continue our shared mission from a new position in one of our nation’s most innovative companies.”

Herman has been an evangelist for the adoption of new technologies like robotic process automation, blockchain and others to streamline how the government provides citizen services. He launched GSA’s Emerging Citizen Technology Office and its compendium of ongoing pilot programs across the enterprise, the U.S. Emerging Citizen Technology Atlas.

He came to the agency in 2012 to bolster the federal government’s use of social media for better engagement both inside and outside the public sector. According to his LinkedIn profile, he began his career as a public affairs officer with the U.S. Air Force for three years before stints in the private sector.

But Herman’s tenure will be widely noted for his efforts to facilitate conversation around adopting new technology solutions to streamline government operations. He frequently hosted webinars that spotlighted potential applications and discussed how agencies could deploy them.

Those efforts culminated in the Future Services Now conference last October, a showcase of various agency programs that were currently leveraging emerging technologies that ranged from blockchain to machine learning and robotic process automation.

In the post announcing his departure, Herman thanked his colleagues at GSA and others he partnered with to advance those emerging technologies discussions.

“Each one of us came into this community at a different time, many for different reasons, but without hesitation I say that each of you represent the best aspirations we can have of our public servants and our partners in business and academia, people who are stepping forward to question the status quo, moving out of your comfort zones to better understand new solutions, rising boldly into the arena with a courage that defies conventional bureaucracy,” he wrote.

Herman told FedScoop his last day at GSA will be Friday.

There’s a new select committee for modernizing Congress. What does it mean for legislative IT?

The House of Representatives voted Friday to establish a Select Committee for the Modernization of Congress. Title II of the House rules package, which includes a provision on tech modernization, passed by a resounding 418 yea votes.

The select committee holds a wide mandate to “investigate, study, make findings, hold public hearings, and develop recommendations on modernizing Congress” in a number of areas, including rules, procedures, staff diversity and more. The committee can also make recommendations on modernizing Congress’ “technology and innovation.”

The committee will be bipartisan — with six Democratic members chosen by the House speaker and six Republican members chosen by the minority leader. Of the 12, at least two will be freshmen members. The committee can issue recommendations for modernization to Congress, but only once two-thirds of the members agree. Under current legislation, following the delivery of a final report, the committee will terminate on Feb. 1, 2020.

So far the group has a chairperson — Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she’s chosen Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., to lead the effort on Friday afternoon.

So what does the creation of this select committee mean for IT systems in the legislative branch?

The Issue

Congress depends on a variety of IT systems, many of which could stand to be updated. But modernization advocates from various ideological backgrounds identify Congress’ constituent communications systems as a particularly front-of-mind issue.

In the past years, constituent populations have grown as Congressional staff numbers have declined. This means Congress increasingly needs to use modern communication technologies to fulfill its most important mission — accurately representing the people.

But members of Congress aren’t often using the best tools available. For example, so much constituent communication is dominated by mass emails, Brad Fitch, president and CEO of the Congressional Management Foundation, told FedScoop. But is this effective? The sheer number of missives makes it hard to know if these campaigns are successful, or if either side is paying attention.

Want to call a member of Congress instead? Research by the OpenGov Foundation found that, given staffing shortages, member voice mailboxes are often simply full. Last year the OpenGov Foundation released Article One, a tool meant to help offices solve this problem.

While the public’s frustration with this can be seen in Congress’ low approval ratings, those on the inside are struggling too. A 2016 survey of staff and members by the Congressional Management Foundation found that while 60 percent of respondents think technology infrastructure in Congress is “very important,” only 6 percent are “very satisfied” with how the existing infrastructure supports members’ duties.

“Congress needs reforming,” Mark Strand, president of the Congressional Institute, told FedScoop. “I think this is something that is widely agreed on, regardless of your politics.”

The Challenges

Modernizing backend technology in Congress, as elsewhere, isn’t sexy. And in Congress, as elsewhere, there are lots of competing priorities for time.

The select committee will face challenges in making sure the work of the committee gets the attention it needs. Part of this, Fitch said, is about selecting the right members — members with enthusiasm for the challenge. “Hopefully it’ll be people who want the job,” he said.

There’s also the issue of resources. Similar congressional reform committees in the past have seen dedicated funding, but this one doesn’t have a specific number associated with it yet. It’s often politically difficult for Congress to spend money on itself. The committee doesn’t have dedicated staff either — per the legislation it can call only on the services of existing House staff.

Strand maintained that, even given some limitations, the existence of this committee is a step in the right direction. “It’s good, it’s a good start,” he said. “Is it enough? Probably not, but it could lead to something a lot more down the road.”

The Opportunity

Challenges notwithstanding, the new select committee has an enormous opportunity in front of it. And there’s precedent here, too — Congress has traditionally undergone some of its biggest reforms with the guidance of joint select committees.

But it has been a while since the legislative body took the time to examine its own operations — the most recent joint select committee wrapped up in 1993. “A lot of stuff has happened, particularly in the technology sphere, since the early 90s,” Zach Graves, head of policy at the Lincoln Network, told FedScoop.

What the committee chooses to focus on remains to be seen, but Graves said he hopes it will make genuine efforts to improve constituent communications, including by opening up the constituent relationship management software contracting field to more competition. He’d also like to see the committee recommend legislation to handle speech and debate issues that keep congressional offices from taking advantage of some cloud services and look seriously at the creation of a Congressional Digital Service.

“We’re thrilled that they’re doing this,” Daniel Schuman, policy director at Demand Progress, told FedScoop. “Congress has real trouble serving the needs of its members, of the staff, of constituents, and the recommendations that they come out with will help Congress better serve the American people, which is the whole point.”

Shutdown could delay some of Trump’s IT reform goals

As the partial government shutdown rocks on into its third week, the lack of appropriations are starting to sting federal programs, including the White House’s technology modernization efforts.

Administration officials mobilized several efforts last year to upgrade the government’s IT infrastructure, including through the expansive President’s Management Agenda, which aims to tie workforce, technology and data management reform together in a series of cross-agency goals. The White House has emphasized its adherence to quarterly milestones to ensure those reform efforts would progress, but with appropriations for 25 percent of the government ceasing, many interconnected goals of the PMA could come to a stop.

“PMA quarterly goals are funded through multiple vehicles, so some goals may be unaffected by the lapse while others may, in fact, be affected,” a senior administration official told FedScoop Friday. “Ultimately, we hope Congress takes action quickly to end the current lapse in appropriations for affected programs.”

Some of those programs include cloud email adoption, technology asset management, and workforce recruitment and reskilling efforts that have been gaining momentum, as of last month’s report on Performance.gov. It also includes the Technology Modernization Fund, which awarded $68.5 million to kickstart a range of modernization projects in 2018 at the departments of Agriculture, Energy, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, and the General Services Administration.

As a result of the shutdown, it’s difficult to get a sense of where some of these modernization reforms currently stand, said Ray Bjorklund, president of BirchGrove Consulting and a former DISA assistant deputy director of procurement.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have all of the details,” he said. “Some of the other major projects that were approved by the TMF board don’t seem to have started yet, so it probably will be an impact for those.”

According to the TMF board’s website, as of Dec. 12, of the six projects that have received awards, only two have spent funds: HUD’s UNISYS Mainframe Migration and USDA’s Farmers.gov Portal. Both of those agencies, however, are closed during the shutdown, which could affect the projects’ plans and timelines.

Energy and Labor have been funded through separate appropriations and are not affected in the shutdown, so they can continue work on their projects. Parts of GSA are still operational, at least temporarily, during the shutdown because of the way some of its offices make money from contract and leasing fees, but it’s not clear if the agency’s TMF project would fall under that.

Even for the projects that are underway, Bjorkland said, they will likely be influenced by the traditional air of caution that strikes agency leaders when appropriations cease.

“There’s a certain cultural malaise that goes along with a shutdown,” he said. “When that happens, even though the Department of Defense got its funding, it puts a little bit of a damper on what they are doing too. Agencies aren’t as aggressive to execute on what their plans are when they are under the cloud of a shutdown.”

Those impacts could radiate out to other technology reforms, such as the administration’s push for recruiting and retaining coveted IT and cybersecurity personnel.

For much of 2018, administration officials have been working to attract tech talent by proposing direct hire and new compensation authorities. But those efforts could face some headwinds with stories of federal employees furloughed or working without pay, said Kevin Cummins, vice president of  Technology at the Professional Services Council.

“That obviously makes it harder when you have a prolonged shutdown,” he said. “It’s hard to put a number or a figure on it, but that’s clearly going to have a negative impact on attracting and retaining federal IT workers. That could be one of the more last negative impacts of the shutdown, from the IT modernization perspective, is the workforce impact.”

It’s also unclear what impact the shutdown will have on the timelines for the Centers of Excellence IT initiatives happening at the departments of Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development, as both agencies are currently shuttered.

Officials for the General Services Administration, which administers the CoE program, weren’t immediately available for comment on how the shutdown will affect project plans.

Kelly, Hurd reintroduce federal CIO authorization bill in new Congress

The bill to elevate the authority of the federal CIO didn’t make it out of the 115th Congress, but that doesn’t mean its authors are giving up on it.

Reps. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., and Will Hurd, R-Texas, reintroduced legislation Friday that would make the federal CIO a presidential appointee who reports directly to the director of the Office of Management and Budget. It would also codify the federal CISO position as a presidential appointee who reports directly to the federal CIO.

“Every single minute of every single day, hackers are trying to steal Americans’ information. From credit card numbers, to social security numbers, our personal information is targeted by bad actors around the globe. Americans should be able to trust their government to keep their information safe,” Hurd said in a statement on the reintroduced bill. “This bill helps keep the vast information stored by the federal government secure from hackers by making clear that the Federal CIO is in charge of the security of our data across the government.”

The original bill, the Federal CIO Authorization Act of 2018, made it through the House and was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in the Senate but was stopped short of passage before the 115th Congress ended this week.

“Reauthorizing and codifying the roles of the Federal CIO and CISO will help streamline government IT processes and advance modernization efforts to bring government into the 21st century. This commonsense, bipartisan legislation to increase government effectiveness, efficiency and responsiveness unanimously passed the House during the 115th Congress; we need to get this done in the 116th Congress,” Kelly said.

The bill would also formally reauthorize and rename OMB’s Office of E-Government as the Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer and require the federal CIO to “submit a proposal to Congress for consolidating and streamlining IT across federal agencies.”

Acting TTS chief Kelly Olson leaving GSA

Kelly Olson, the acting head of the General Services Administration’s technology arm, announced late Thursday she’s leaving the agency.

Olson told Technology Transformation Services staff in an email that her last day will be Jan. 18, and she will be taking a role in the private sector. She spent most of the past eight years in a variety of positions at GSA.

“It is with a heavy heart that I share I’ll be leaving GSA,” she wrote. “Over the past 8 years, I’ve been given incredible opportunities that I’ve poured my heart and soul into, accomplished a lot along the way while working with and learning from some of the most diverse, talented and resilient people I’ve ever met.”

Olson’s departure comes as TTS is set to get a new official director this month in Anil Cheriyan, former SunTrust Banks CIO and recent chairman of the board of directors for the Technology Business Management Council. She said she is confident Cheriyan “will be an excellent leader for the organization and it is clear he is committed to getting to know the team and supporting the important work we do.”

TTS has had a tumultuous track record since the start of the Trump administration. Former Pixar executive Rob Cook led TTS into 2017 and the presidential transition before being replaced by Joanne Collins Smee. Though Collins Smee made great progress in the position — including the launch of the IT Modernization Centers of Excellence program — she lasted less than a year. Olson then took over in her absence in August 2018. Cheriyan was announced to take over in December.

In the few months she led TTS, Olson ensured continuity of operations during the gap in official leadership. She oversaw GSA’s September selection of the Department of Housing and Urban Development as the next agency to take part in the Centers of Excellence initiative.

Olson was a 2018 FedScoop 50 award winner.

Trump signs bill creating group to oversee VA’s GI Bill software efforts

The Department of Veterans Affairs is now be required to create a “tiger team” to oversee efforts to build software that will allow it to correctly pay student housing stipends due under the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act.

President Donald Trump signed the Forever GI Bill Housing Payment Fulfillment Act of 2018 into law on Thursday. The bipartisan legislation, which was introduced by Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., on Dec. 18, 2018, and quickly found its way through Congress, is a direct response to an ongoing issue at the VA that has been blamed on legacy IT.

Two sections of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act, also known as the Forever GI Bill, change the way the VA pays a monthly housing stipend. Previously the stipend was based on the ZIP code of the school where the veteran was enrolled — now it should be based on the ZIP code of the campus of that school where he or she attends the majority of his or her classes. This can be a big deal for student veterans who attend schools with campuses in, for example, both rural and urban areas.

To make this change, the Veterans Benefits Administration found it needed to build a new piece of software. This did not go smoothly.

After months of delays, cases of payment delay or mispayment and one very tense hearing, the VA announced that it intends to “reset” development efforts. The estimated date of deployment for the software initially anticipated by July 16, 2018, is now Dec. 1, 2019.

But Congress wants to keep a close eye on the project this go around, and they’ll do that with the help of the tiger team.

Per the new legislation, the team will be comprised of employees of the VA as chosen by the agency’s secretary. The team will, within 90 days of the enactment of the act, provide a plan describing exactly how the agency will go about building the necessary software and the timeline for the project.

The act also calls upon the team to give Congress “periodic updates” about how the implementation of the plan is going and keep the legislative body abreast of any additional funding or personnel needed to fulfill the plan.

Once the issue is fixed, and the team has submitted its final report to Congress, the secretary of the VA will disband the group.

Senate starts 2019 with confirmations of VA CIO, OSTP director

The Senate kicked off the new year Wednesday with a rush of confirmation votes, including the confirmation of some incoming IT and tech policy leaders.

James Paul Gfrerer, whom President Donald Trump nominated to be the head of IT at the Department of Veterans Affairs this past July, was confirmed to that position by voice vote as part of the Senate’s last day of business in the 115th Congress. Kelvin Droegemeier, a weather prediction expert from the University of Oklahoma and Trump’s pick to head the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, was also confirmed.

Gfrerer’s confirmation means the end of a two-year period without a permanent CIO at the VA. LaVerne Council was the department’s last Senate-confirmed CIO. She left in January 2017 and was replaced in an acting capacity by Rob Thomas. Thomas retired from government in September 2017 and passed the role along to Scott Blackburn, who served in an acting capacity until he resigned in April 2018. At that juncture, controversial Trump campaign staffer Camilo Sandoval stepped in to fill the spot.

Similarly, Droegemeier will also step into a role that’s been formally empty since the Trump administration began. Michael Kratsios, the office’s deputy CTO, has been the de facto leader for the past two years.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., celebrated Droegemeier’s confirmation. “The Senate has confirmed a highly respected scientist and academic to help further our nation’s economic competitiveness and national security,” he said in a statement. “I’m looking forward to working with Dr. Droegemeier and expect his leadership will benefit the scientific community and our nation.”