Remarks for Workday Federal Forum on May 22, 2024 as Prepared for Administrator Robin Carnahan

May 22, 2024

Thank you. I’m glad to be here with so many government and industry partners – all committed to improving how we can deliver a better experience for the American people. 

It’s worth taking a minute to think about how far we’ve come. For 20 years, those of us in government have dreamed about this moment, a time when we could harness technology to deliver better for the people we serve. 

I’ll never forget my first day as Missouri Secretary of State nearly 20 years ago – there were 3 times as many people manually opening envelopes of annual business registrations and preparing checks to be deposited than we had in our entire IT team.  

Things have changed dramatically in those 20 years, to the point that we now have both the computing and human capacity to not only collect, but also to analyze enormous amounts of data, and to actually apply those learnings to make government work better, faster, and cheaper.

Just like so many innovations of the past, the printing press, the washing machine, the internal combustion engine. Technology innovations change the world. They change how people learn, how they do business, how they live their lives. 

In short, they helped people thrive. 

That’s exactly what we want from tech we bring into government. Technology that’s an enabler and force multiplier and empowers our teams to do their best work. 

At its core, government is a service delivery business. And the 300 million people who turn to and expect something out of their government deserve great service. So when I talk about making the damn websites work, it isn’t just about technology, it’s about public trust in our government it’s about our democracy’s ability to deliver.

Today, effective delivery means we not only have to keep up with the speed of fast changing technologies, but we have to do that in ways that remain true to our values as a democracy. 

The challenge of this moment is navigating that tension between moving fast while protecting our shared values.

So, meeting this moment starts with being crystal clear about the values we as the federal government are committed to protecting. 

Those values can be summed up in 3 words: secure, accessible, and responsible. 

When I say “secure,” it means we’re focused on protecting people, their privacy, and their data… as well as our processes, systems, and national security.

When I say “accessible,” it means that, in a democracy, it’s our job to serve everyone, so the technologies and tools we offer have to be equitable, easy to use, and work for everyone.   

And “responsible,” because when government uses emerging technologies, those deployments must be not just ethical, legal, but also fully transparent and accountable about the data sources, data quality, and data models we use. 

These values are woven through the Executive Order on AI it’s in the IDEA Act and the memo on Delivering a Digital-First Public Experience it’s all over the President’s Management Agenda.

Those are the values that are driving us today – and those are the values we expect federal agencies and our industry partners to follow.

So, I want to spend a few minutes talking about how we’re applying those values to deliver better experiences for the people we serve.

I’m sure you’re all familiar with the President’s Management Agenda. It’s the long-term plan for how this Administration plans to modernize the federal government. 

It has 3 key priorities: 

• Strengthen and empower our federal workforce.
• Deliver excellent, equitable, and secure federal services and customer experience.
• And make sure that the business of government runs smoothly.

Let’s start with priority 1, our people.

Across government we need to attract, hire, and upskill more talented public servants. 

At GSA we’re laser focused on this – and it’s paying off – just last week GSA scored the # 2 ranking in the Best Places to Work among mid-sized agencies with our highest score ever.

That focus on people has never been more important as we start to look at the potential of things like AI.  

In fact, as we think about deploying AI, our focus is less about reducing work and more about how these tools can help empower public servants to make an even bigger impact.

It’ll take skilled people to:

• Train the large language models.
• Analyze and draw accurate conclusions from those data.
• Provide thoughtful checks and balances to ensure that the technology we deploy actually helps the people we serve rather than harming them. 

So how do we attract those people into government? 

I know, technologists are patriotic and ready to serve their communities and their country.  They like to solve hard problems and they like to drive impact at scale. In government we have a lot of opportunities to do just that. That means it’s our job to make it easier for talented technologists to say yes to public service. 

To do that, we’re working with the White House and OPM through the AI and Technology Talent Task Force.  And folks are responding so far we’ve seen a 288% increase in AI related federal job applications. 

We’re also making it easier to serve by redoubling the recruiting efforts of the Presidential Innovation Fellows program, the U.S. Digital Corps, and Technology Transformation Service and GSA IT. 

All these efforts are designed to bring more tech talent into government. And there’s reason to be optimistic because we’ve already gotten over 2,500 applications for AI-focused fellowships - and we’ll be announcing a new cohort of fellows in the coming weeks.

As we bring new folks onboard, we’re also being very intentional about recruiting from a diverse cross section of Americans. We know that by doing more outreach at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Minority Serving Institutions, and Tribal partners we can help build a government workforce that represents all of America. We also know that having a workforce that represents a broad cross-section of Americans is the best way to effectively serve all Americans. 

We’re also investing in upskilling our existing workforce and helping other agencies do the same. 

A good example of that is our AI Community of Practice where we’re partnering with Stanford University to train nearly 5,000 federal AI practitioners – and there’s more to come! 

It’s fascinating to see who’s taking that training, it’s not just the tech folks, we’re also seeing strong interest from procurement professionals and team managers as well as our state, local, and tribal government counterparts. It’s no surprise that lots of folks are eager to learn how to use these new tools. 

Ensuring that our technology delivers value for the people we serve falls under the second pillar of the President’s Management Agenda: customer experience.

These days, people expect the online services and digital products they use to be simple, personalized, and easy to use. And they, rightly, expect the same when they interact with government…and we know technologies like AI will only elevate people’s expectations.  

That’s why we’re doubling down on simple, shared solutions like GSA’s Login.gov, the single-sign-on service that millions of Americans use to access government benefits and services. 

Right now Login.gov is strengthening its anti-fraud capabilities – and doing it in ways that are consistent with our values of access and privacy – minimizing data retention and ensuring that personal information is never sold. 

Every Cabinet agency is now using Login.gov for at least one application, and we expect that to expand as we roll out offerings like facial matching. 

Login.gov is a great example of how government can deploy technology tools that are secure, responsible, and ethical and I’d love to see a future where it’s more broadly adopted at all levels of government. 

Another great example is the U.S. Web Design System which promotes accessibility to almost 500 government websites that get over a billion page views every year. 

I’d love to see a future where that commitment to accessibility is part of every public-facing website and included in all our tech contracts. 

Another great opportunity to deploy emerging technology in people-centered ways involves customer experience surveys and feedback forms. 

Lot’s of agencies gather that kind of customer data, but they don’t always have great ways to analyze or act on it. 

That’s why our team built a GovCX Analyzer.  It leverages best practices in data science and AI to build a set of reusable, accessible, open-source tools to make sense of all this data. It can identify the rate at which different customer groups request help and give insights on how critical populations access the services. 

It expands our feedback loop from a few thousand survey responses to knowing how millions of people actually interact with government websites.

That information unlocks the potential for dramatically better CX performance metrics – and those insights make it easier for us to make smart data-informed decisions that better serve our customers. 

Scaling up the adoption of flexible tools like these are how we’ll finally deliver the type of excellent digital services we’ve always imagined were possible, but rarely seen.  

The third and final priority in the President’s Management Agenda – is about improving how government does business and technology has a big role to play there as well. 

We can’t have people-centered technology unless we also have a people-centered approach to how we buy technology.

As you know, GSA is responsible for procuring over $100 billion of goods and services on behalf of government agencies. 

For our industry partners in the room, you should know that we’re looking at how we can simplify and streamline federal acquisition - and get best-in-class technology that more effectively delivers for agencies and the people they serve.  

To understand our new approach to doing that, you should get acquainted with some of our buying guides, all of which you can find on-line. First, check out the 18F Derisking Guide which helps federal and state agencies buy and build user-centered custom software.

Also, for those of you thinking about AI products, please take a look at our new Acquisition Resource Guide for Generative AI – it’s a great read. I read it myself. So I know it’s a terrific, practical guide to help agencies understand how to approach AI-related purchases.

We’re also focused on upskilling the acquisition workforce to better understand specialized computing infrastructure buys – including AI so that agencies can become smarter and more strategic in their tech buys. 

Next, we’re committed to improving FedRAMP to make it more scalable, secure, and easy to use.  As I’m sure you know, FedRAMP is the first security gate that all cloud products and services must pass through before being deployed for government use. 

If you haven’t seen the new FedRAMP Roadmap, please take a look. We’ve integrated feedback from industry and intend to keep listening and keep iterating because we know how important this program is for agencies to be able to access the latest cloud services and for businesses, especially small businesses, looking to sell into the government marketplace.

We’re interested in your continued feedback, so please let us know if you think we’re on the right track. And we’re committed to improving FedRAMP.

And finally, you can also expect our contract language to change as well, we’re reworking them to use more plain language, clear expectations, and include more about the outcomes we’re looking for, not just the technical requirements.

In short, our goal is to shift toward user-focused, agile contracting across the board. So keep your eyes open for that.

Now, here’s what we need from you.

For our industry partners, we need you to hear how we’re reframing our demand signal.

The world has changed so we’re no longer just making choices about whether to “build” or “buy” tech solutions. 

Today there’s a third option: blending both choices in thoughtful, innovative ways to meet our user’s needs. 

We want your breakthrough ideas and your expertise – but we need them to align with this new approach. 

The old way of agencies buying a “black box” solution will never keep up in a world where technology is changing this fast.  Instead, we need more products that can easily connect across government to truly build a seamless digital delivery experience. 

To do that, we need transparency.  We need to know what we’re buying – and we need you to be clear about exactly what you’re offering.

Tell us how data is being used, what security protocols you’re relying on and the cost of maintenance. 

Bring us demos, not memos – sit with us and let’s go through these products together. Let’s bring in some users, do some task testing, and create real-time feedback loops with the folks who have to use this tech.

Providing us with more transparency and options, means we’ll be able to move faster to both contract and deploy more of the secure and effective technology that our customers are looking for.

It’s a win-win.

And for our government partners, here’s something to think about: there is no technology that’s coming to save the day unless we are ready to use it. 

So, let’s keep sharing our expertise, our learnings, and our resources with each other so that we are ready and can make good use of emerging technologies, now and into the future.

GSA not only has lots of learnings to share, we also have money available from the Technology Modernization Fund. And right now there’s an open call for AI-related proposals, so check that out and let us help you modernize your systems and better serve your customers. 

As government, our first responsibility is to the American people. They’re our stakeholders and it’s our job to both deliver great services and also be good stewards of their money. I know you feel the same, or you wouldn’t be here today.  

We’re living through an extraordinary moment.  It’s a time when the possibility of using data and computing power to dramatically improve people’s lives is no longer a dream. 

Today it’s within our reach. 

None of us can do it alone. 

It’ll take government and industry working hand-in-hand and always staying focused on the values that matter to us as Americans. 

I’m convinced that there’s no limit to what we can accomplish when we unite around these common goals. 

Thank you again for being our partners in this important work. Let’s get to work.