Technology is supposed to make our lives easier. So you know something’s wrong when nearly a third of federal government acquisition professionals surveyed say their agency’s acquisition technology makes the job more difficult.

Government agencies strive to lower the cost of products and services to save taxpayers money. They also aim to shorten “procurement administrative lead time,” or PALT—the time from identification of need to delivery of value—to expedite their missions without delay. 

Case work is the universal working style of government agencies. Everything from handling customer service inquiries to issuing permits to responding to weather events—in short, any workflow a public sector organization handles—is a “case” that requires a systematic approach from start to finish.

The good news is that we’ve officially moved into the next phase of the pandemic, where the White House expects the threat of serious illness to be considerably diminished. But the bad news? Nearly 18 million Americans stand to lose the Medicaid benefits granted to them during the public health crisis as eligibility determinations return to pre-pandemic guidelines.

In successful federal government acquisitions, an agency’s needs are met in the most effective, economical, and timely manner. The key to meeting your acquisition objectives? Proper acquisition planning—which begins well before you write your plan document. In other words, plan first, document later.

Whether deploying a ship or a software application, a new acquisition is only as good as its requirements.

Clearly defining your requirements in the RFP results in a less risky contract opportunity, leading to more competition and lower pricing from vendors. All the nuts and bolts of the opportunity—the many small requirements that make up the larger project—need to be captured in a deliberate, methodical fashion. And for transparency into the scope of the acquisition, the complete set of requirements should be shared with all stakeholders.

Implementing zero trust may seem daunting, but it is also an opportunity to integrate more secure coding practices into your software applications from the start. Zero-trust security assumes that all traffic on your internal network is potentially malicious. Consequently, it requires taking measures to:

You can spend hours scrolling down the rabbit hole of government IT horror stories, which makes the recent launch of the federal website for ordering free COVID tests that much more remarkable. The website worked, and it was surprisingly easy to use. But that success belies decades of underinvestment in digital transformation that has stifled public sector innovation and hardened the government's low-tech image. For example:

In this post we will look at how to accelerate the development of cloud native applications, give you a snapshot of the USAF deployment of D2iQ, and provide a link to the DLT Cloud Security Assessment to see where you currently stand.

"We are making progress. This really is not just about technology. This is about changing our processes changing our approach to delivering and operating technology to IT systems and our cyber mechanical warfare systems as we move forward," said Robert Vietmeyer, DoD Director for Cloud and Software Modernization.