DHS CIO touts tech transformation
An increased focus on agile development and contracting is propelling the Department of Homeland Security, according to its CIO.
An increased focus on agile development and contracting is helping the Department of Homeland Security move ahead on a host of technical fronts, DHS CIO Luke McCormack said.
"We're transforming, using modern techniques to modernize" the department, he said during a panel discussion at AFCEA's Homeland Security Conference on June 22.
He added that the increasingly close collaboration with DHS Chief Procurement Officer Soraya Correa though programs such as the Procurement Innovation Lab, which lets contracting officers try out new ideas, is helping to shift the agency's culture toward "taking risk to eliminate risk."
Michael Palmer, a member of the DHS Digital Service team, said the department is working on an agile procurement vehicle that will enhance its digital capabilities. A request for information was released in May.
Palmer declined to comment on how the Flexible Agile Support for the Homeland (FLASH) contract would interact with other digital services such as those offered by the General Services Administration's 18F. But he did say contractors should be familiar the Digital Services Playbook and incorporate its concepts into their work.
McCormack said FLASH could be a significant building block for the agency's acquisition efforts. Although no date has been set for a formal request for proposals, DHS plans to hold an industry day on June 29 to explain the project in more detail.
DHS is conducting five IT pilot projects designed to showcase the pivot to agile: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' verification system, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's flood insurance and grants management programs, Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Student and Exchange Visitor Information System and the Transportation Security Administration's Technology Infrastructure Modernization Program.
McCormack said the projects are using modern development techniques in real-world applications with the goal of modernizing aging, ineffective systems more quickly and efficiently than traditional acquisition techniques allow.