GSA, OMB release shared-services framework

Office of Management and Budget Controller David Mader and General Services Administration Administrator Denise Turner Roth unveiled a procedural and review framework on Aug. 3 for federal agencies seeking to modernize or share their support systems.

The Modernization and Migration Management (M3) Framework, posted on GSA's Unified Shared Services Management (USSM) office webpage, breaks system and service modernization projects into six phases: assessment, readiness, selection, engagement, migration and operations.

Those phases are held against four work streams: program management; workforce, organization and stakeholders; technology; and process and service delivery.

The framework also includes an investment review process conducted by an independent review board that looks for risk and recommends a strategy for the customer, including which providers might be a good fit. Mader and Roth said the review board will also take stock of the outcome of each phase and make budget suggestions.

According to the USSM website, the review board is composed of executives from USSM, OMB, the Shared Services Governance Board and federal shared-services providers that have experience with large-scale migrations.

The framework comes with a "playbook," which is becoming a familiar planning tool for federal IT. The M3 Playbook offers guidance, tools and templates based on lessons learned from federal agency migrations.

Roth and Mader said the playbook walks customers and providers through the necessary activities that can lead to a successful modernization and/or migration. It shares leading practices and lessons gleaned from more than 100 shared-services experts in government and industry.

They also said the playbook drew from a session during which participants from more than 40 agencies reviewed and provided feedback on the framework.