Former federal tech leaders share transition wisdom ahead of 2024 election

The U.S. will have a new presidential administration regardless of who wins the election and that means new leaders, new priorities and new initiatives.

Speakers at the ACT-IAC Imagine Nation conference on Monday also reminded the audience that many of the new initiatives will be about themes dating back at least to the Clinton Administration and the National Performance Review, also known as the Reinventing Government initiative.

The George W. Bush administration called it the President’s Management Agenda, a moniker that has survived in many ways.

Every administration brings with it ideas and proposals around the broad idea of improving how the government operates and serves its constituents.

Several former senior government officials on the panel in Hershey, Pennsylvania offered tips and advice for agencies as they prepare for the next administration.

UNDERSTAND THE LANGUAGE

“Presidential appointees when they come are in a hurry and they want to make an impact,” said Casey Coleman, a former chief information officer at the General Services Administration. “They can be inclined to think what happened before them isn’t necessarily what they want to continue overseeing.”

She advised honing the elevator pitch so you can control how your programs are described. Don’t let others define the narrative.

One key area to focus on is understanding the services you are delivering. What are the services? What’s the satisfaction or lack of satisfaction? What are the metrics? What’s the perception on Capitol Hill?

It is helpful to have a plan, Coleman said.

“They are going to want to make changes but have a plan that is helpful for them and is in the language of things the new administration cares about,” she said.

Despite the potentially stark differences from one administration to the next, IT-related initiatives do not tend to change much.

“The [IT] community from administration to administration actually works very collaboratively to pass the torch,” said Suzette Kent, who was federal CIO during the second half of the Trump administration. “If anything, they just continue to level up.”

Cybersecurity, the intensity around artificial intelligence, emerging threats and the shift to digital services will not change.

“They don’t change at all,” Kent said. “You have to explain what you’re doing and why you’re doing it in their language.”

Kent advised resisting the temptation to talk about how cool the technology is and the tools being used.

“Don’t talk about that,” Kent said. “Talk about what you are doing and why; who it serves; who it helps; what mission it connects to, and how that influences your priorities.”

DON’T FORGET THE WORKFORCE

One challenge the next administration will face is the aging workforce. The average age of the federal workforce is 47 years old, according to long-time federal tech leader Richard Spires.

Spires served stints as a CIO in government, one from 2004-to-2008 at the Internal Revenue Service and again from 2009-to-2013 at the Homeland Security Department.

That 47-year average has not changed much over the last decade, but the number of federal employees under age 30 is just 7%.

“If you are in a private sector company of any scale, alarm bells would be going off big time,” Spires said.

Spires said he doesn’t see a catastrophe, but he worries about where the next generation of government leaders will come from. The idea of working for the federal government turns off young people.

“The next administration, whoever it is, needs to talk about the importance of being a federal employee and the service aspect of that,” Spires said.

The workforce needs to be a central part of the next administration’s management agenda, which Spires said is something that has been lacking in the past, Spires said.

“That should be a very high priority.”

BUILD A FRAMEWORK

Robert Shea, a former Office of Management and Budget official and senior staffer on Capitol Hill, said agency leaders need to create something like the scorecards used by the George W. Bush administration.

“Having a clear criterion and being transparent about what you’re trying to accomplish is important,” Shea said.

Connecting with OMB and congressional leaders through regular meetings and data sharing is important.

“Applying that sort of approach to whatever management challenge you are undertaking or whatever enterprise you're managing would pay enormous dividends,” Shea said.

Agency leaders need to get out and talk to each other, Kent said.

“Share your results and what you are measuring publicly. What are you accomplishing against your plan?” Kent added.

Be at the table when the new administration is defining its plans.

“Provide input, understand the objectives, measure the results,” Kent said.