digital

Previous IBM Center posts about the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act) of 2014 by Dan Chenok (The DATA Act and Transparency: 4 Ways that Industry Will Benefit and The DATA Act Moves Forward) and John Kamensky (Here’s Why DATA Act Implementation May Be Successful) discuss various aspects about the law. This post provides a very brief background to the law and focuses on its implementation implications for Federal agencies.

In 2012, President Obama’s digital government plan ordered federal agencies to create at least two mobile apps.  A lot has happened since then, and at all levels of government.

One thing is certain, digital is not simply a side project of the White House, but a booming industry and an expected condition of business. The real question becomes not if, but how the government can mature and scale digital services – whether at USDS, across agency digital services teams, out of the 18F program now housed in GSA’s Technology Transformation Service, or elsewhere.

This post will build on an earlier post, which looked at the future of digital government, by including insights from the “Innovation in the Next Administration” event hosted by Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy and the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation on October 6^th.

The data breach at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in the spring of 2015 was breathtaking in scope – nearly 22 million sensitive personnel records stolen.  But this wasn’t a new issue.  There had been breaches at the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, the IRS, even the National Security Agency.

The current White House leaders of these offices have also inherited a capacity first created in the prior Administration that can turn the good ideas of these two offices in to action – the U.S.

In 2018, the IBM Center for The Business of Government marks its twentieth year of connecting research to practice in helping to improve government.  The IBM Center con­tinues to execute on its ultimate mission: to assist public sector executives and manag­ers in addressing real world problems with practical ideas and original thinking to improve government.