Federal employee engagement, IT modernization, AI, FedRAMP, CX and telework are among the technology issues summarized in numbers
by Intelliworx
Numbers are excellent tools for reflection. However accurate or faulty the human interpretation, a number on its own is agnostic. To put it another way, a number alone isn’t inherently good or bad – it just is – it’s just a number.
As such, a numbers-driven post is a sound addition to our year-end roundup series. We’ve culled through the dozens of posts we’ve published this year to look back over the numbers. We’ve also done the same with several trade publications that cover the government space looking for such numbers.
Below is what we found – it’s effectively a review of the past year in government technology – as expressed by numbers.
1. Federal employees report record engagement (73 of 100)
Civil servants gave their employers high marks on the latest FEVS survey. The 2024 edition recorded an “employee engagement index score” of 73 out of 100 possible points. That’s a record high – and it comes with additional good news, including:
- “87% of overall respondents said their supervisor treats them with respect”;
- “78% reported that they have trust and confidence in their supervisor”;
- “79% said their supervisor supports employee development.”
It seems fair to say that we’ve been through a lot of change over the last few years – from telework to price inflation – the hits seem to keep on coming. Scores like this suggest the federal government, as an employer, is getting much of it right.
Read more: 6 solid hot takes on the 2024 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey results
2. The GSA turned 75
The GSA is responsible for:
- “363 million square feet of space”;
- “8,250 leased or owned buildings”;
- “$100 billion in total business volume”; and
- “A leased fleet of more than 230,000 vehicles.”
Read more: GSA: 75 years of adapting to the changing needs of agencies
3. 1984 called and it wants its technology back
The year listed is not a reference to the book by the same name, but to the technology some federal agencies are working with today. That’s right, some agencies are using technology that was put in production as far back as 1984 – or earlier.
- CISA says it has 10-15 years’ worth of tech debt;
- The Indian Health Service (IHS) is using tech systems fielded in 1984; and
- The Space Force has sensors “that are operating on 4,800 baud” which is a slow data transmission speed developed in the 1970s.
The good news is that all these agencies are actively engaged in much-needed IT modernization projects.
Read more: A solid glimpse into federal agency modernization projects
4. Agencies hired some 30,000 tech pros recently
The federal government needs tech skills and it’s been dutifully hiring them by the tens of thousands over the last four years:
“Acting OPM Director Rob Shriver told attendees that over the past four years, the federal government has hired about 30,0000 technologists across nearly 80 agencies.”
The government has also been working to make it easier to apply for these roles through a series of programs. For example, earlier this year, the government announced:
“…it would move away from relying on college degrees for approximately 100,000 federal IT jobs across the federal government.”
Certifications have long been a preference for private sector businesses for hiring technology professionals.
Read more: Federal agencies hired 30,000 IT experts over last 4 years — and are still recruiting
5. Feds invested $3-4 billion in AI research
What does the federal government invest in R&D?
“The federal government spends about $200 billion a year on total R&D.”
That’s according to Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, as reported by Jory Heckman of the Federal News Network.
How much goes towards artificial intelligence (AI)?
“a ‘pretty modest’ share of that spending, about $3-4 billion”
It’s worth remembering that government investment in R&D often winds up benefiting the entire country, and perhaps the whole world. The creation of the internet is a good example, as is the GPS technology embedded in the mobile devices we carry around everywhere. Certainly, there’s a lot of potential for AI too.
Read more: White House science chief calls for boosting ‘modest’ federal AI R&D spending
6. Just 22% of Americans say they trust the government
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Trust in government, as measured by Pew Research, has been falling for decades and is hovering near record lows. It’s a universal issue too, as the lack of trust cuts fairly evenly across demographics and party affiliation.
Pew sums it up this way:
“Public trust in the federal government, which has been low for decades, has increased modestly since 2023. As of April 2024, 22% of Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what is right “just about always” (2%) or “most of the time” (21%). Last year, 16% said they trusted the government just about always or most of the time, which was among the lowest measures in nearly seven decades of polling.”
That’s part of what’s driving the fervent interest from government leaders in improving the customer experience (CX). It’s a recognition that people don’t trust things they can’t understand. For example, if the government creates unclear forms, rules or processes that sow the seeds of distrust.
CX isn’t a panacea, but it definitely has an impact worth pursuing.
Read more: Why is the U.S. government suddenly so interested in CX?
7. The 10.5 billion hour “time tax”
If you’ve ever filled out a government form, filed your taxes or applied for a passport, then you know these forms aren’t the easiest to understand. Such forms often ask for repetitive information, come with long explanations and take a lot of time to complete.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) calls this a time tax – and they’ve got some numbers to quantify the impact:
“This happens to millions of people every day. To put it into perspective, there are 430 agencies and sub-agencies in the federal government. Collectively, they field some 23,000 forms. Indeed, OMB estimates Americans spend 10.5 billion hours annually completing government forms.”
Updating government forms, and converting them into “intelligent interviews” is a surefire path to improving customer experience (CX). After all, government CX makes everything work more smoothly. For example, if tax forms are easier to understand, the U.S. Treasury would raise revenue faster and with less reliance on helplines or digital support.
Read more: How the U.S. Government’s digital transformation efforts are reducing the “time tax”
8. 98% of federal government forms are not yet digitized
The federal government has put several rules and regulations in place to foster its digital transformation initiative. One such rule is the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA), a bipartisan bill signed into law in 2018.
The law requires all executive branch agencies to modernize their websites, digitize government forms, and improve customer service.
Here’s the catch:
“In the five years since its passing, little progress has been made. For example, just 2% of government forms are digitized according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). To put it another way, a staggering 98% of government forms are not digitized.”
Importantly, digitization does not mean merely converting forms to PDF. Instead, digitization means dynamic forms that streamline data collection in support of a business process.
Read more: Efficiently digitizing government documents requires mapping out the whole process
9. The high cost of FedRAMP certification
How much does a FedRAMP certification cost?
It depends on who you ask, but the answers usually range from several hundred thousand dollars to several million.
The acronym stands for the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program. The program promotes the safe and secure acquisition of private-sector SaaS and cloud tools.
It’s an important policy, but it’s also getting very expensive, especially given the cost of cybersecurity goes up every year by 20-30% easily, according to our estimates.
Yet the government is listening and is shaping up to make some changes. FedRAMP director Pete Waterman told FedScoop this year that:
“…his vision for the program entails less risk, complexity and time for agency adoption of cloud services with both the government and industry to reap the benefits of a cheaper, better and easier process for cloud service providers.”
Read more: FedRAMP’s new director has big plans for the cloud compliance program
10. Government spending more budget with fewer vendors
Uncle Sam has spent more money with fewer solution providers, according to reporting by FEDweek:
“Federal agency spending on contracts grew by $33 billion to $759 billion in 2023 over 2022 after accounting for inflation, while the percentage of contracts awarded competitively fell from 68 to 66 percent, a dashboard posted by the GAO shows.”
However, they may have made up some of the differences with transactional spending:
“Agencies meanwhile increased their use of “other transaction agreement” authority—a more flexible procurement method—by $4 billion to $16 billion, although that still was below the recent $19 billion peak of the 2020 pandemic year. That spending is not included in the general accounting of contract spending.”
Read more: Contract spending up but competitive sourcing down, GAO says
11. NIST roles out version 2 of its security framework
“The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s [NIST] February release of version 2.0 of its Cybersecurity Framework is a milestone in the evolution of cyber standards, expanding them to encompass all sectors,” wrote Nathan Eddy for FedTech.
Called the Cyber Security Framework, or CSF 2.0 this marks the first time the guidelines have been updated since 2014. The original framework established a baseline for cybersecurity. CSF 2.0 provides change management controls “to upgrade a stable and strong cybersecurity framework.”
Change management typically refers to managed changes in an IT environment. It establishes a streamlined process of review and approval so that a change, such as a new software patch that plugs a security vulnerability, doesn’t disrupt operations.
Read more: NIST updated its cybersecurity framework. What does that mean for agencies?
12. 17 million FAFSA forms completed on average every year
The rollout of the new FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) got our attention this year for two reasons.
First, digitizing paper forms is one of the ways Intelliworx got started. Second, we’ve helped the VA manage a $100 million scholarship and loan repayment program for healthcare providers over the last five years.
While we wrote up an agnostic and detailed look at the crisis (and a proposed solution), we were enamored with the number of filings every year: 17 million applications.
Numbers like that just go to show what a great country we have; a vehicle for self-improvement and a long-term engine for creating a thriving economy with responsible taxpayers.
Read more: Troubleshooting what went wrong with FAFSA – and how to fix it
13. The risk of 10,000 different AI applications
One CIO for a large federal agency once told our CEO they had 10,000 software applications in production. That’s an expensive portfolio for many reasons, including the expertise to manage it.
How does this happen?
“Despite decades of effort to standardize sprawling IT infrastructures, many agencies are still doing ‘their own thing.’”
Why not put standards in place to eliminate this problem?
“‘It’s just too hard,’ the CIO said. ‘Everyone wants to do their own thing and it’s just too hard.’”
That just might happen again if we rush to push to put AI in place without proper standards.
Read more: Government AI Push Should Prioritize Standardization or Risk Repeating History via FEDweek
14. 200 examples of the government transformation at “warp speed”
William Eggers, who leads the Deloitte Center for Government Insights, says his team has identified 200 examples of effective government transformation:
“Surveying the global landscape of governmental evolution, we see reason for optimism. We’ve identified more than 200 cases worldwide that offer proof of radical transformation, where government agencies have achieved quantum leaps, delivering upwards of 10X improvements across areas ranging from operational efficiency to customer experience to mission outcomes.”
He says this effort is providing the country with eight categories of benefits including “unleashing untapped government productivity,” which he explains:
“Advances in Generative AI can usher a new era of increased productivity in the public sector and diminish the adverse effects of today’s talent and workforce gaps. In order to test and scale powerful AI technologies and applications, government leaders can build solid foundations of data and digital capabilities to identify work streams that are well suited for automation.”
Read more: Eight trends that are redefining government at ‘warp speed’
15. 6 technologies to bring “transformational benefits” within 5 years
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The research firm Gartner published a “hype cycle” report earlier this year that picked what they feel are winning technology for the government:
“There are six technologies that will have transformational benefits within five years for digital government services.”
The six technologies Gartner identified are:
- digital employee experience;
- ai code assistants;
- generative AI
- generative design AI;
- predictive analytics in government; and
- workstyle analytics.
16. The government first experimented with telework in the 1930s
Telework continues to make headlines throughout the year as stakeholders assess the motivations and benefits. Yet the concept of telework isn’t new:
“The first known U.S. government entity to authorize remote work was in 1934, according to a white paper written for the General Service Agency (GSA).”
However, the term “telework” wasn’t coined until the 1970s. Later in 1980 the U.S. Army and NIH both tried telework experiments:’
“The U.S. Army and National Institute of Health (NIH) followed a bit later in 1980 – with similar conclusions – but stopped out of the risk for abuse.”
Eventually, telework would be written into law – largely for the sake of continuity of operations for crisis situations and contingencies:
“In 2010, House Resolution 1722 – the Telework Enhancement Act codified telework into law. It required agencies to ‘establish a policy under which eligible employees of the agency may be authorized to telework.’”
Just like the federal workforce, there’s a similar debate ongoing over remote work in the private sector. Our efforts at benchmarking telework suggest about one-third of private sector employees work remotely.
That number may well be much higher when factoring in hybrid arrangements. Corporations do recognize that less office space reduces fixed costs. Further, remote work dramatically widens their access to top talent.
Read more: Proactive accountability is the key to telework in the federal government
17. It’s all about productivity
Agencies, civil servants and employee unions say telework improves productivity and employee retention. Congress, given its role in oversight, wants data to prove it. Unfortunately, many of the arguments for, and against, telework tend to center on tradition or personal preference.
So how can this debate be resolved? Our very own Rob Hankey put it well when writing for Government Executive, said, focus on measuring productivity.
Read more: Put the telework debate to rest by focusing on productivity.
18. FITARA 18.0 scorecard shows promise
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FITARA stands for Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act. The purpose is broadly to ensure the government buys and uses technology to the best possible benefit – and it comes with a scorecard.
Those scores improved this year, according to John Curran of MeriTalk:
“Federal agency grades were up sharply and nearly across the board on the latest scorecard, which grades the 24 largest Federal agencies on their progress against a range of IT-related categories.”
More specifically:
“18 of the 24 Federal CFO Act agencies saw their overall grades increase, while six of the agency grades were unchanged since the 17th edition of the scorecard issued in February.”
Read more: IT Execs Applaud Latest FITARA Grades, Look for Category Changes
19. About 70% of federal agencies fail accessibility standards
The GSA reported earlier this year that many federal government agencies fail to meet Section 508 compliance requirements.
Grace Dille of MeriTalk noted:
“The majority of the agencies that responded to GSA (76 percent) fall within the lower maturity and conformance categories, displaying performance well below the statutory requirement of Section 508.”
Read more: GSA: Federal agencies are failing to meet accessibility standards
20. 90,000 annual financial disclosures
The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) awarded a contract to our company to help them manage financial disclosure filings (i.e. FDonline).
Disclosures mitigate potential conflicts of interest, as John Martin wrote about for the Federal News Network. The VA is joining 38 other federal agencies that have already implemented the technology.
Collectively, Intelliworx supports more than 90,000 filers who have filed 450,000 disclosure forms over the last six years.
Excluding the Department of Defense, Intelliworx facilitates roughly 60% of these filings across the federal government.
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Intelliworx serves federal agencies big and small with a range of solutions including application management, government workflow and financial disclosure. We’d welcome the opportunity to show you rather than tell you – you are welcome to request a no-obligation demo
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Image credit: Unsplash
