GSA unifies tech groups into single service

Three technology groups at the General Services Administration are being combined to offer agencies a one-stop shop for building and buying IT.

The reorganization joins the 18F innovation shop with the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies (OCSIT) and the Presidential Innovation Fellows program to create the Technology Transformation Service. The new entity is in the mold of the Federal Acquisition Service and the Public Buildings Service -- two organizational pillars at GSA.

"This new service will provide both the foundation for our government's digital transformation and also partner with other agencies to assist them in their own attempts to transform," GSA Administrator Denise Turner Roth said in a May 3 blog post announcing the reorganization.

The Technology Transformation Service will entrench 18F, which was created in March 2014, as a permanent fixture of the federal bureaucracy.

Federal CIO Tony Scott said the new organization would "strengthen the way federal agencies develop, buy and share cutting-edge solutions, and continue the significant progress we've seen over recent years in enhancing the way government uses technology to serve the American public."

GSA plans for the Technology Transformation Service to focus on emerging technology. The Federal Acquisition Service will retain its leading role in IT acquisition, especially where commodity IT products and services are concerned. The Office of Governmentwide Policy will continue to drive policy across agencies. Internally, GSA's IT shop and CIO will run IT operations and strategy. The CIO's office will serve as a "test bed for many emerging technologies," the release states.

Phaedra Chrousos will shift from her role as associate administrator of OCSIT and 18F to become commissioner of the new service. 18F Executive Director Aaron Snow will be deputy commissioner.