OMB releases federal tech impact report as Biden admin winds down

The Biden administration’s government tech policy shop released a new impact report on federal technology on Thursday, highlighting work done on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, modernization and digital service delivery over the last four years.

Clare Martorana, federal chief information officer, says that she’s confident in continued work on federal technology moving forward into the administration of president-elect Donald Trump.

“Technology is nonpartisan,” she told Nextgov/FCW. “We have a lot of technical debt in government. We’ve been focused on making sure that we’re buying down that debt where we can, that we are implementing services that meet the expectations and needs of the American public. And I don’t think that’s going to go away because the constituents that are complaining to their members on the Hill are the customers of these systems.”

Bipartisanship is “not only going to continue, it’s going to accelerate,” she said.

Federal IT issues like modernization often stayed bipartisan during the first Trump administration.

It isn’t yet clear who Trump will tap for Martorana’s role during his next administration. Trump also hasn’t yet said who he intends to nominate for the head of the General Services Administration, which itself plays a key role in the federal tech landscape by setting standards and providing shared services for agencies. The future of the U.S. Digital Service is also hazy.

Asked about what she’s most proud of, Martorana cited the administration’s work on artificial intelligence as having “the most significant and lasting impact,” pointing to “foundational work” like compliance plans, strengthened public inventories of government AI use cases and AI training for feds.

Biden released an AI-focused executive order in 2023, and the Office of Management and Budget put out accompanying guidance on governance, innovation and risk management for government AI. The administration also invested $30 billion in federal AI, the new report says.

Trump has said that he plans to rescind that executive order, which the Republican platform said was “dangerous” and “imposes radical leftwing ideas on the development of this technology.”

Martorana noted that AI use case inventories continued during the Biden administration came from the Trump administration. 

“All of this is a baton-passing relay race,” she said. “The Trump administration did some great stuff in AI. We actually wound up having to do the implementation and oversight and I can't imagine that's not going to continue.”

On cybersecurity, what Martorana has said is her top priority during her waning time in office, the administration is touting gains made in securing software, deploying multi-factor authentication and encryption, enhancing investigative capabilities and enabling continuous monitoring in the wake of the 2020 SolarWinds cyber attack. 

Biden issued a cybersecurity executive order in 2021. Just over half of the 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies have implemented 90% or more of that order’s directives, the new report says.

“While continued effort is required to implement [zero trust], agencies have made tangible security gains to rapidly identify and eliminate malicious behavior before it can harm our national security,” it states.

The report also touts the potential innovation and risks associated with quantum computers, which it says “could pose a significant threat as early as 2030,” given “the possibility of breaking the encryption that protects our Nation’s infrastructure and jeopardizing civilian and military communications.”

On technology modernization, the Biden administration points to its work to modernize FedRAMP, the standardized security assessment and authorization program for cloud computing services in the government. 

The Technology Modernization Fund — created during the Trump years as a revolving fund for government tech — has invested over $1 billion in 69 projects across 34 agencies, according to the report.

Fifty-two of those investments were made with the $1 billion Democrats put into the fund with the American Rescue Plan Act signed by Biden in early 2021.

Martorana called the fund “a really great story of a vehicle that was designed over multiple administrations that’s delivering real impact, efficiency, productivity, and it’s driving success at a rate we don’t see through normal appropriations.”

For digital service delivery, the new report points to Biden’s customer experience executive order and the bipartisan 21st Century IDEA Act from 2018, which got implementation instructions from OMB during this administration. 

“We’ve maintained momentum by standing up a digital experience team dedicated to digital service delivery, prioritizing CX on the President’s Management Agenda and integrating digital experience into Federal policies and standards,” the report states. 

Asked what advice she’d give the incoming administration and the advisory work being fielded by billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on federal tech, Martorana recommended, “look at the data first.”

Ramaswamy has said that fixing federal IT is “low-hanging fruit” for the new administration.

“And then meet with the teams,” said Martorana. “I think it's really essential that they take the opportunity to actually meet with leaders who are here now, have been here previously and focus on areas where they can drive impact that will be lasting.”

The Trump team was late signing necessary agreements with the White House to send agency review teams into government.