Management

President's Management Agenda Emphasizes IT Modernization

The administration says it will focus on enhancing mission effectiveness, reducing cybersecurity risks and building a modern IT workforce.

Phil Goldstein

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Phil Goldstein is a former web editor of the CDW family of tech magazines and a veteran technology journalist. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and their animals: a dog named Brenna, and two cats, Grady and Princess.

The Trump administration is all in on upgrading federal technology.

IT modernization is a key component of President Donald Trump’s Management Agenda, which the administration released on March 20. The plan’s debut, which occurred in Kansas City, Mo., included leaders from the Office of Management and Budget, the General Services Administration and the Office of Personnel Management, as well as Federal CIO Suzette Kent, FedScoop notes.

“To move us from vision to action, the president’s management agenda focuses on three key drivers of transformation,” Margaret Weichert, deputy director for management at OMB, said during the rollout event, Nextgov reports. Those three drivers are IT modernization; data, accountability and transparency; and creating a federal workforce for the 21st century.

In terms of IT modernization, the agenda echoes many of the themes in the White House’s earlier report on IT modernization, which was released in December and which the agenda notes is a “key component” of the administration's plans to modernize IT.

The agenda emphasizes three key priorities that it will follow as it directs agencies to upgrade their technology:

Enhancing mission effectiveness “by improving the quality and efficiency of critical citizen-facing services, including through the increased utilization of cloud-based solutions such as email and collaboration tools.”
Reducing cybersecurity risks to the federal mission by leveraging modern commercial capabilities and implementing cutting-edge IT security capabilities.
Building a modern IT workforce by recruiting, reskilling, retaining professionals “able to help drive modernization with up-to-date technology.”

Agency IT modernization plans, the report says, “must be focused on delivering better service to the public, and in doing so should be developed in furtherance of these priorities. This will result in building and maintaining a modern, secure, and resilient IT, which improves the lives of the American public.”