TTS Aims to Help Rebuild the Public’s Trust of Government
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By
Frank Konkel
The tech group's director said each time an individual interacts with the government is an opportunity.
The Technology Transformation Services wants to be top of mind for federal agency partners looking to meet their technology needs over the next four years of the Biden-Harris administration.
Speaking Tuesday at Nextgov’s New Agenda conference, TTS Director Dave Zvenyach outlined his vision for General Services Administration’s technology hub, which houses the 18F tech consultancy, the Presidential Innovation Fellowship program and operates the Centers of Excellence team.
As TTS works to help agency partners address President Biden’s four key priorities—ending the COVID-19 pandemic, rebuilding the economy and addressing racial equity and climate change—Zvenyach said the office will operate around two key themes: rebuilding trust with the public and providing “tangible value to our partners and the public.”
“Every moment an individual interacts with a government service is an opportunity to rebuild their trust,” Zvenyach said. “Government services should be delivered in ways the public now demands and expects: quick, easy, secure and accessible.”
Zvenyach cited the TTS Centers of Excellence’s work with the Office of Personnel Management as a use case for rebuilding trust. The partnership steered OPM toward cloud computing and away from high-cost legacy IT investments like mainframe computers. As a result, OPM’s customers—which include federal agencies and employees—have had an improved experience in dealing with the government’s human resource wing.
“We’re not only excited about our support of the agency’s IT modernization efforts and their commitment to improving customer experience for their customers, but also for the trust they’ve given to the CoE and for our industry partners delivering there,” he said.
Zvenyach also addressed the importance TTS will put on providing value to customers and agency partners, adding that the true measure of value must be defined by partners.
“Value is about improving service,” he said. “If we can help our agency partners do their job better, we’re providing value, but it can’t be our definition of doing their jobs better, it has to be about helping to find better outcomes collaboratively.”