News and Updates

Innovative work, news, and ideas from people and teams in government

White House and GSA Celebrate Record Years in Prize Competitions, Citizen Science Efforts

White House & GSA Celebrate Record Years in Prize Competitions, Citizen Science Efforts—On July 20, GSA’s Open Innovation Program and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) co-hosted the Open Innovation Forum in partnership with Digital.gov. The event was themed around building equitable partnerships and it celebrated OSTP’s biennial report to Congress that covers the federal government’s prize competitions, crowdsourcing and citizen science initiatives in fiscal years 2019 and 2020. — via General Services Administration

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Aug 03, 2022

Outreach

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Partner Toolkit

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recognizes the need for governments, states, territories, tribes, crisis centers, and partners to speak with one voice to ensure there is a clear understanding about what 988 is and how it will work. We encourage you to use these communication outreach materials and build upon them with your community coalitions to meet the needs of your specific audiences.
Jul 22, 2022
Jul 20, 2022

Senior Executives Are the Allies Tech Teams Need, Part 1

Senior Executives Are the Allies Tech Teams Need, Part 1—Successfully delivering software in government requires people to work differently. Without clear answers for how to do this, well-intentioned executives and teams default to existing processes that risk undermining their own success. This is part one in a series on how to evolve that relationship. — via 18F

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Jul 20, 2022

Help Us Improve Digital Forms

Help Us Improve Digital Forms—People in the U.S. spend over 10 billion hours each year completing government forms. The Office of Evaluation Sciences is working to reduce this burden and make digital forms easier and more accessible. You can help by filling out a short typical form. It will take less than five minutes! — via General Services Administration

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Jul 14, 2022

Veterans Affairs

An Accidental AI Professional

This feature on Agata Ciesielski, a fellow in the White House Presidential Innovation Fellowship (PIF) Program, highlights the opportunities provided by the program to work on big impact inter-agency problems, such as elevating artificial intelligence solutions.
Jul 06, 2022

FedRAMP Penetration Test Guidance Updates

Penetration Test Guidance Updates—These updates were made to address the ever-changing cybersecurity landscape. Revisions include updated guidance around existing and new threats as well as addressing attack vectors so they’re in alignment with current best practices. Learn about the four initiatives included in the revision process, and download the new June 2022 PDF. — via FedRAMP

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Jul 05, 2022

Announcing the CX Maturity Model

Announcing the CX Maturity Model—A recent executive order on improving customer experience and service delivery holds 17 agencies accountable for 36 specific commitments, but it is a call to action for the entire federal government. The Customer Experience Center of Excellence (CX CoE) has created a Maturity Model, a framework to help organizations transform their federal service delivery. It is designed to provide organizations with a deeper understanding of how to measure their maturity level, and tactics to get to the next level. Although the CX Maturity Model does not represent or constitute official guidance, it can help you take your organization’s CX Maturity to the next level. Tailor the model to meet your agency’s specific needs. — via The Centers of Excellence

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Jun 30, 2022

C-SCRM Acquisition Community of Practice (ACoP) Interact Site

C-SCRM Acquisition Community of Practice (ACoP) Interact Site—Since the launch of the Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management (C-SCRM) Acquisition Community of Practice (ACoP), GSA and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have been co-leading an effort to broaden the level of awareness and develop agency maturity in the areas of acquisitions, supply chain risk management, and cybersecurity across the federal government for information communication technology and services (ICTS). To increase C-SCRM awareness and adoption government-wide, the C-SCRM ACoP launched an online collaborative space for the federal government’s IT community and industry to share best practices, ideas, guidance, tools, and expertise needed to implement C-SCRM requirements. Working together as a community and sharing information will help us improve our cybersecurity posture across all levels of government. — via General Services Administration

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Jun 30, 2022

What is Customer Experience?

What is Customer Experience?—With the new Executive Order on Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government (Executive Order 14058), customer experience (CX) has become a buzzword in the federal government. Let’s take a look at what it is. — via DOI Revenue Data

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Jun 21, 2022

DHS Usability Testing Kit

Usability testing is a way to learn how easy or difficult it is for people to use something by observing them actually using it. The resources provided in this kit can help you systematize the process, produce reliable findings, and generally expand your ability to test service materials (i.e., paper and digital forms, mobile applications, web pages, etc.) thoroughly with real users — before you launch them out into the world.
Jun 13, 2022