Technology Innovation Opportunities in US Government

Improving the Pipeline

Recruiting technology talent in government is extremely difficult

1. Opportunities are not always obvious

Innovation Teams

Technology Transformation Services (TTS)

Technology Transformation Services

• Within General Services Administration (GSA)
• Houses 6 offices with different functions:
• Centers of Excellence
• 18F
• Office of Solutions
• Presidential Innovation Fellows
• Office of Solutions
• Office of Acquisitions

Centers of Excellence

Whole Agency modernization to improve customer experience & reduce legacy IT spending

• Customer Experience
• Cloud Adoption
• Infrastructure Optimization
• Contact Centers
• Data Analytics
• AI

18F

Project-specific partnerships to define strategies & build solutions, from discovery through acquisition

• Partners with specific agencies to help them buy/build digital services
• Teach agencies new digital skills so development can be passed on to agency

Presidential Innovation Fellows

Fellowship program where leaders serve a “tour of duty” as entrepreneurs alongside top agency changemakers

• Mid- to senior-level
• 12 months

Office of Solutions

Portfolio of shared services that help agencies make information accessible, drive innovation, avoid costs

• Offers products/programs to support agencies seeking to modernize IT
• Working on established products/services for public & federal agencies

Office of Acquisitions

Buys digital products & services for TTS

US Digital Service

US Digital Service

• White House agency
• Small multi-disciplinary teams to support government modernization
1. Transform critical, public-facing services
2. Expand the use of common platforms, services, and tools
3. Rethink how the Government buys digital services
4. Bring top technical talent into civic service
• Born out of healthcare.gov rollout challenges

Coding it Forward

Coding it Forward

• Numerous public benefit fellowships and internship opportunities
• Civic Digital Fellowship
• Federal, summer internship
• Civic Innovation Corps
• State & Local, summer internship
• First Act Fund
• $10k grants
• Impact Fellowship
• Entry-level/junior technology roles
• Code for America, Enveritas, Global Pulse, MIT Media Lab, etc
• US Digital Corps?
• Two-year early career fellowship for US Federal Government

Embedded Innovation Teams

Throughout numerous agencies...

• Department of Defense
• DARPA
• AF Werx
• Defense Innovation Unit (DIU)
• Commerce
• Census Bureau
• xD
• Veterans Administration
• Center for Care & Payment Innovation (CCPI)
• Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
• The Lab at OPM (human-centered design team)
• IARPA

...and for small businesses

• Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) & Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs
• Small Business Administration
• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce
• Department of Defense
• Department of Education
• Department of Energy
• Department of Health & Human Services
• Department of Homeland Security
• Department of Transportation
• Environmental Protection Agency
• NASA
• National Science Foundation

Recruiting Process

Why it’s hard

2. The hiring process is cumbersome compared to private industry

Hiring Process (example of schedule A-r hiring, remote positions)

HDS* Approval

PD** Identification

VIN*** Requested

Smaller Pool of Candidates Selected

Candidate Interviews

Tentative Offer Drafted & Sent

Hiring Process Begins

At this stage, available funding via project codes are not required to begin the process. However, the contingent approval refers to pending or available project codes which prove 6mos of funding will be available before final approval.

Hiring Office

Recruitment

Pipeline

HR Pipeline

*HDS = Home Duty Station **PD = Position Description ***VIN = Number required to create a position

Job Posted

Contingent Approval

Agency�Pipeline

HDS* Final Approval

Final Approval & Sign HDS*

Candidates Min Qualified

Sign HDS

+

Applicants FWD’d

Candidate Selected

TTS Hiring Timeline

...why bother?

Fascinating technology with broad impact

PyGrid

Example technology

25

Traditional Data Flow

**Results**

26

Pygrid (PySyft) Data Flow

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**Results**

**Results**

27

PyGrid networks

Census

BLS

NCES

NCHS

BEA

Model Owners Never See Granular Data

28

Amazon

UN

State/Local

NPD

Nielsen

Census

PyGrid networks

Recruiting Process

Potential Improvements

Get early experience with teams, technology

• Gov’t innovation teams favor open-source technologies
• Perfect resume-builders for technology-inclined
• Interesting, real-world use cases of work performed

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• Improves applicant pool for innovation teams

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• Better qualifying credentials for applicant

Make current/future technologies obvious!

• Public Technology Repository (maintained by innovation teams?)
• Linked github
• Technologies, and ongoing projects if possible

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• Create opportunities for students in school to contribute part-time on projects
• Interface with teams, get broader context of technology’s use
• Insight into offices, opportunities for future employment

questions?

Thank you!