White House-backed IT modernization push makes first contract awards

The General Services Administration picked the vendors who will support a White House-backed plan to centralize modernization best practices.

The awards, announced March 14, are the result of a process launched with an October  2017 request for information by GSA on behalf of the Office of American Innovation and continued with a White House industry day in December.

The awards "mark a major milestone in implementing the administration’s far-reaching federal IT modernization effort," Joanne Collins Smee, acting director of GSA’s Technology Transformation Services and deputy commissioner of the agency's Federal Acquisition Service said in the statement.

"This is a significant step forward in the government's commitment to improve citizens' lives," said Chris Liddell, assistant to the president, director of the American Technology Council and a member of the OAI.

The awards support the first phase of work at five IT Modernization Centers of Excellence. Work will begin at the Department of Agriculture, which was selected as the government's "lighthouse" agency.

SIE Consulting Group will be working on cloud adoption, McKinsey & Company is tackling infrastructure optimization, ICF Inc. won two contracts for customer experience and service delivery analytics, while  Kaiser Associates was awarded a contact center contract.

GSA named Bob DeLuca to run operations at the centers of excellence. DeLuca served most recently as CIO of the federal government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation, which helps American companies invest in emerging markets overseas.