GSA's Tech Team Keeps Busy

The General Services Administration's revamped Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies has its hands full with tech projects designed to engage the public, promote openness and improve government innovation and efficiency.

At a breakfast hosted Thursday by market research firm INPUT, Dave McClure, the new office's associate administrator, outlined the many initiatives keeping him and his staff busy. For example, in support of the Obama administration's open government initiative, OCSIT is looking at what's ahead for federal websites and building tools such as improved search capabilities to help the public interact beyond the information available on a site's front page. And FedSpace, a Facebook-like site announced in April, will be a "game-changer" to expand collaboration and knowledge out across government, McClure said.

GSA also has been pushing government's migration to the cloud with the Federal Cloud Computing Initiative. The agency last month relaunched its Infrastructure as a Service RFQ, along with info.apps.gov, a new information portal to help agencies better understand cloud options. Apps.gov has been cleaned up to better reflect the Software as a Service options available, though agencies tend to use the site for research and then go through a different acquisition vehicle to purchase those capabilities, McClure said. He added that plans are in the works to launch Forge.gov, a cloud-based platform modeled on Defense's Forge.mil where civilian agencies can test and develop applications and certification.