Biden’s Management Agenda Highlights Need for High-Tech Federal Workforce

President Joe Biden speaks during a visit to the General Motors Factory ZERO electric vehicle assembly plant Nov. 17.

President Joe Biden speaks during a visit to the General Motors Factory ZERO electric vehicle assembly plant Nov. 17. Evan Vucci/AP

To deliver better citizen services, the government will need a skilled workforce and the technology to support it, management officials said.

The Biden administration’s governing ethos for the next three to seven years will focus on the federal workforce, improvements to citizen services and better management of government time and resources, all of which will include a technology component, according to the White House.

The Office of Management and Budget released a document Wednesday evening outlining the broad vision of the President’s Management Agenda, which sets up the guiding principles by which the Biden administration will operate.

“The vision is the launch of our PMA,” OMB Deputy Director for Management Jason Miller said during a call with reporters. “It outlines our values and tethers our work around three priorities.”

Miller said there is no hard timeline for releasing additional guidance or specific programs and policies but said there would be more coming out in the weeks and months ahead.

The PMA vision document centers on three pillars: strengthening and empowering the federal workforce; delivering excellent, equitable and secure federal services and customer experience; and managing the business of government to build back better.

As with the last administration, the Biden PMA includes an acknowledgement of technology’s role in achieving each of these larger goals.

“Technology is an enabler across the entirety of this agenda,” Miller said in response to a question. “Whether that’s both powering our personnel systems by making sure we have the right tech talent in the federal government, strengthening our delivery systems.”

Miller said the administration will use existing resources like the U.S. Digital Service and Technology Modernization Fund to support these efforts, as well.

Under a section titled “How We Will Get There,” officials noted the importance of federal IT and cybersecurity.

“Cybersecurity and IT modernization are critical tools that must be at the foundation of government management,” the document states. “We will continue to bolster federal cybersecurity and ensure that secure systems help deliver government services.”

The PMA also cites the importance of a technically skilled workforce to build and manage those IT assets.

“To better prepare for our future, we also must identify and address critical skills gaps across the federal IT and cybersecurity workforce,” the document states, though it does not offer further details on how those gaps will be identified and addressed.

With regard to supporting its own workforce, the PMA notes lessons learned from the pandemic have shown the importance of quality collaboration tools, cloud computing and automation to the future of government work.

“By utilizing expanded flexibilities in work arrangements, such as expanded telework and alternative work schedules, and increased adoption of technology, … the government will enhance its ability to recruit and retain top talent, staying competitive with broader trends in how Americans work,” the document states.

The PMA also acknowledges the importance of federal technology for the rest of the country, including better services for citizens and pushing technological advancements in the private sector.

The agenda includes a heavy emphasis on the customer experience side of citizen services, with the first strategy of that pillar focused on “the service design, digital products and customer-experience management of federal High-Impact Service Providers,” a special designation for citizen-facing services that touch lots of Americans or have a critical impact on society. The PMA includes building better digital experiences for such services.

“Every single interaction with the government is an opportunity to deliver the value and meet and exceed the expectations of the people we serve,” Miller said.

The future of federal customer experience improvement efforts will focus on “key life experiences,” Miller said. “Moments for our customers that are critical to them and they interact with the federal government, oftentimes in multiple places.”

OMB plans to start by identifying an initial set of such life experiences—“Whether it’s experiencing a disaster and trying to access the federal government to support recovery or a life event like retirement or losing a job,” Miller said—then build cross-agency teams to design holistic services around those situations.

The PMA also looks outward to the private sector, particularly with regard to how the government’s buying patterns affect the marketplace.

“The federal government—as an enterprise—influences and reshapes markets, supports key supply chains, drives progress on new technology and solution development, and provides key support into communities throughout the country,” the PMA states.

In that vein, the PMA looks to continue past administrations’ efforts to centralize procurement and use federal acquisition to move markets, including new measures to increase purchases of domestic products.

The document also notes ways in which the administration can use federal procurement to combat climate change and social inequities.

NEXT STORY: FCW Insider: November 18, 2021

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.