GSA's 18F organization meets both of its goals in developing this much-anticipated contract for agile development services.
The drive to make software more and more functional may be behind what seems to be a disturbing trend towards failures in critical systems. Because of this, two problems linger with software controlled systems: they can be difficult to interact with, and in their complexity, they produce effects even expert operators can’t foresee.
18F and the Office of Integrated Technology Services release a request for quote to Schedule 70 vendors to provide agile development services. The 5-year contract has a ceiling of $25 million.
The Department of Health and Human Services\' Buyers Club released a major solicitation for website development services using an agile development process. Mark Naggar, the program manager for the Buyers Club, said the two-stage methodology focuses on user needs first and foremost.
The General Services Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plan to release major IT and services solicitations in the coming month. The draft RFPs are part of the broader effort to change the government's approach to acquisition.
With more business than it can handle, 18F hopes a new blanket purchase agreement for IT software development will prove the culture is changing. GSA will issue a final RFQ in the coming weeks and make the initial award in late spring.
Mark Schwartz, the Citizenship and Immigration Services chief information officer, said the Flexible Agile Development Services (FADS) requires four vendors to coordinate software development and keep the government's best interest in mind.
The General Services Administration's 18F and the Office of Integrated Technology Services issued a request for information as part of its strategy to create a blanket purchase agreement where agencies can buy agile development services for IT projects. Experts say the RFI shows how the government is beginning to adopt industry best practices.
The U.S. Digital Service team is working with VA and other agencies to hire and train employees to apply the agile development approach to projects. Mikey Dickerson, USDS director, said the goal is two-fold: to create lasting agile development capacity in agencies and to ensure agencies think about citizens' needs first and foremost.
The difficulty with digital government is that it's easy to get distracted and lose sight of the goal, says Thom Rubel. But it doesn't have to be this way. Rubel offers three key strategies that can eliminate the sideshows which prevent true digital government.
The Office of Management and Budget says PortfolioStat data is proving the positive impact agile development is having on IT projects. The U.S. Digital Service is providing both help and training to expand the understanding and use of agile development.
Clear evidence is in: the agile software development concept is leading to more successful federal technology projects. The Office of Management and Budget issued a memo calling for modular project development in 2012, and it's been monitoring its uptake since. Lisa Schlosser is acting federal chief information officer. Mikey Dickerson is the director of the U.S. Digital Service and the deputy federal chief information officer. Haley Van Dyck is a member of the Digital Services Team. All three of them sat down with Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller to discuss the progress in using the agile concept commonly known as DevOps.
The 7-month-old innovation lab will launch three pilots this fall as part of its new consulting services. Greg Godbout, the executive director of 18F, said the organization now has 100 employees, up from 14 in March, and cut the time to hire down to about eight weeks.
GSA launched the digital government program, called 18F, with the goal of accelerating innovation among agencies and building on federal Chief Technology Officer Todd Park's vision for the government to act as a lean start-up.
Agency officials said Thursday that they will switch from a custom-built to a commercial-off-the-shelf approach to modernize TECS, a mainframe system that has been operating for more than a quarter of a century. ICE spent more than $60 million before deciding to change directions after realizing the custom-built approach wouldn't work.