During the Workday Federal Forum, GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan teased that the agency is working on an open-source tool called “Gov CX Analyzer,” which uses artificial intelligence features to see how individuals are interacting with government websites.

“This is a way to go from a few thousand people filling out a survey, to actually knowing and seeing how people are interacting with your site,” Carnahan said. “It just completely unlocks the potential to know how you can better serve your customers, where the friction points are and how you can improve it.” 

Carnahan pointed to the U.S. Web Design System — an open-source tool that is free for agencies to use — as a shared system and tool that “makes a huge difference.” 

Similar efforts include an announcement from the Office of Management and Budget last year that detailed an analytics tool to track customer experience performance across agency sites. OMB reported leveraging the GSA’s site scanner program to use performance indicators in the tracking of agencies’ site developments.

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The Technical Advisory Group, part of a broader effort to engage stakeholders and support FedRAMP processes related to delivering emerging technology solutions to assist agencies, will inform decision-making on the technical, strategic and operational direction of the government-wide compliance program, according to a GSA press release. 

“This group will help make FedRAMP a smarter and more technology-forward operation that better meets its goals of making it safe and easy for federal agencies to take full advantage of cloud services,” Eric Mill, GSA’s executive director for cloud strategy in Technology Transformation Services, said in the statement. 

Members of the inaugural group are: Laura Beaufort, technical lead with the Federal Election Commission; Paul Hirsch, technical lead with TTS; Michael Boyce, director of DHS’s AI Corps; Elizabeth Schweinsberg, senior technical adviser at CMS; Grant Dasher, architecture branch chief in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Office of the Technical Director; Nicole Thompson, cybersecurity engineer with the Department of Defense’s Defense Digital Service; and Brian Turnau, cloud authorization program manager with GSA’s Office of the Chief Information Officer.

Laura Gerhardt, director of technology modernization and data in the Office of Management and Budget, said in a statement that “the TAG is well-positioned to provide valuable insights into streamlining processes, enhancing security postures and adapting to novel technology implementations so that agencies can leverage the full potential of FedRAMP.” 

GSA released a new roadmap for modernization efforts through the FedRAMP program in March and has since revealed a slew of other FedRAMP-related announcements.

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While facial recognition, a type of  biometric validation, is commonly used with law enforcement agencies, GSA sees the Login.gov pilot as a way to further defend against sophisticated fraud and cyber threats. The work with tech equity experts will “incorporate learnings, as applicable” into the pilot, a GSA spokesperson said in an email to FedScoop, and comes after the agency conducted an equity study on remote identity proofing to “improve outreach practices, user testing and user experience for underserved communities in civic tech design.”

The goal of the upcoming pilot, which will run through the fall, is to evaluate overall user experience throughout the new workflow and to find where individuals become stuck or confused throughout the process so the “team can iteratively make improvements,” the agency spokesperson said.

“Login.gov is committed to leveraging best-in-class facial matching algorithms that, based on testing in controlled environments, have been shown to offer high-levels of accuracy in reduced algorithmic bias,” they added. 

The equity study on remote identity proofing included 4,000 participants, as of April, who were tasked with testing five different vendors for this technology. GSA plans to release a report with the results from the equity study in a peer-reviewed publication this year. 

GSA recently concluded a procurement process that expands the set of “identity vendors” that Login.gov has access to, the spokesperson said. The agency shared plans to evaluate how and when to integrate new solutions. 

“The general availability launch timing is not dependent on this integration process,” the spokesperson said. 

Candice Wright, director of the Government Accountability Office’s Science, Technology Assessment and Analytics team, said in an email to FedScoop that the GSA’s equity study on remote identity can assist the agency in ensuring that the biometric validation technology is “more accurate for all demographic groups.”

“The accuracy of biometric identification technologies is improving overall, but there are still issues with technologies that can perform less accurately for certain subgroups, such as people with darker skin,” Wright said, pointing to a recent GAO report that found comprehensive evaluations of technology as a key consideration to assist in addressing differential performance.

The biometric validation tool, the GSA spokesperson said, uses a “privacy-preserving” approach that compares a selfie that a user takes against their photo identification. The spokesperson emphasized that the data provided by the user is “protected by ensuring it will never be used for any purpose unrelated to verifying your identity” by Login.gov or the vendors with whom it works. 

Login.gov’s biometric technology will be provided by a commercial vendor that, according to the spokesperson, employs an algorithm that is considered proprietary but is one of the leading options as measured by the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT).

“Agencies could achieve more comprehensive testing by providing guidance to technology vendors so that they design their products in ways that support more standardized testing,” Wright said.

NIST’s test for vendors, which last year was split into the Face Recognition Technology Evaluation (FRTE) and Face Analysis Technology Evaluation (FATE), measures the performance of facial recognition tech as it is applied across a variety of applications, such as visa image verification, identification of child exploitation images and more. 

The GSA noted last month that the biometric validation technology is compliant with NIST’s digital identity guidelines for achieving “evidence-based remote identity verification” at the IAL2 level, or the standard that “introduces the need for either remote or physically-present identity proofing.”

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TMF investments to the Departments of Education, Commerce and State total just under $50 million. 

The State Department received two investments: $18.2 million to increase diplomacy through generative AI and $13.1 million to transition its identity and access management systems to a zero-trust architecture model.

The AI investment is intended to “empower its widely dispersed team members to work more efficiently and improve access to enhanced information resources,” including diplomatic cables, media summaries and reports. On the zero trust investment, State said it is planning to expedite the creation of a comprehensive consolidated identity trust system, as well as centralizing workflows for the onboarding and offboarding process.

Clare Martorana, the federal CIO and TMF board chair, said in a statement that she’s “thrilled to see our catalytic funding stream powering the use of AI and improving security at the State Department.” 

State recently announced a chatbot for internal uses and revised its public AI use case inventory to remove nine items from the agency website. Additionally, the agency has started to encourage its workforce to use generative AI tools like ChatGPT. 

The Department of Education, meanwhile, is using a $5.9 million allocation to assist the Federal Student Aid office on a new StudentAid.gov feature called “My Activity” to centralize documents and data to track activities and status updates. The FSA is anticipating “a reduction in wait times and the need for customer care inquiries,” per the GSA release. 

Education also recently announced an RFI for cloud computing capabilities for the FSA office, a follow-on contract for its Next Generation Cloud. 

Finally, the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will put its $12 million TMF investment toward modernizing weather.gov through a redesign to “enhance information accessibility” and “establish a sustainable, mobile-first infrastructure.” NOAA reported plans to integrate translation capabilities for underserved communities’ benefit. 

The release noted that NOAA’s associated application programming interface “faces challenges, causing disruptions in accessing dependable weather information for the American public.”

Martorana said she was “equally excited about the TMF’s two other critical investments — with students getting more modern access to manage their education journeys and the public gaining access to life-saving weather information in an accessible manner for all.”

These investments come after a second appropriations package to fund the government for fiscal year 2024 threatened to claw back $100 million from the TMF. Both the GSA and the Office of Management and Budget have faced challenges in convincing lawmakers to meet funding levels proposed by the Biden administration.

Martorana recently called on Congress to fund the TMF, pointing to the funding vehicle as a way to improve service delivery for the public across the government.

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Before the policy, agencies and their contracting officials were limited to only data from their respective agencies, hampering data-driven decisions, according to a White House fact sheet. But the finalized circular (A-137) establishes that acquisition data is an asset to be used across the government and instructs agencies to be prepared to collect and share that information. 

The policy “marks a paradigm shift in the government’s acquisition data management practices,” the fact sheet said.  

Jason Miller, the deputy director for management in the Office of Management and Budget that houses OFPP, told reporters at a Tuesday roundtable the circular makes acquisition information a “government asset” rather than an agency asset.

“It’s just a huge step in us unlocking the business intelligence that allows those 40,000 contracting officials to operate smarter, better — both on delivering on mission and addressing costs and requirements in ways that result in better outcomes,” Miller said.

Christine Harada, senior adviser who leads the OFPP team in the absence of a Senate-confirmed director, told reporters the guidance changed slightly since a draft version was released for public comment last year. The final version incorporates other work the office has done on data and data-related strategies.

Harada also noted that the administration has created a tool called the Procurement Co-Pilot that “demonstrates the value and the power of having such an enterprise-wide access, and we’ve been rolling that out with our acquisition workforce.”

Better contracting

The data circular is one of the four elements of the Biden administration’s Better Contracting Initiative to improve efficiency and save money on federal spending. The others focus on enterprise-wide software license negotiation, improving contract requirements, and getting more value from sole source and high-risk contracts.

Those other elements of that initiative are also moving forward. On improving negotiation for enterprise-wide software, Miller said the administration has already taken the first step by bringing together agencies that are big buyers of those products to navigate where they have common requirements. He said he’s hopeful that the administration will have more to share on that progress “very soon.” 

Under that prong of the Better Contracting Initiative, the General Services Administration will “lead a government-wide IT software license agreement with a large software provider.”

Harada said in the workshop process, all 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies agreed on over 80% of the requirements, and the remaining ones can be tailored agency-by-agency. “There’s been a lot of really good buy-in from the agencies on this,” Harada said.

The Tuesday announcement came as OFPP marked half a century as an office. Harada and Miller remarked on the accomplishments of the office since then.

“When we were first established, the acquisition workforce had no training — no training whatsoever,” Harada said, noting they’ve since made progress on “investing in the acquisition workforce.” 

She also highlighted the establishment of things like the Chief Acquisition Officers Council and the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee, adding that the theme of the past 50 years has been the government getting “more organized and buying as one.”

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The Federal Secure Cloud Advisory Committee will tap Lawrence Hale as the new committee chair effective May 15. Hale, who serves as deputy assistant commissioner within the Office of Information Technology Category Management for GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, will act as a liaison for the group and as its designated federal officer, as well as serving as a spokesperson for committee work products. 

“The inaugural committee has provided great value and insight over the past year to help ensure secure adoption of cloud computing products and services across agencies,” GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan said in a press release. “We are grateful to all our committee members for bringing their wealth of cloud expertise to help the committee continue equipping agencies with what they need to address ever-evolving threats in order to securely deliver for the American people.”

Two vacant FSCAC seats will be filled by Josh Krueger, chief information security officer for Project Hosts, and Kayla Underkoffler, lead security technologist at HackerOne. Carlton Harris, senior vice president of End to End Solutions, will also join the committee, serving a full three-year term.

Michael Vacirca, a senior engineering manager at Google who has served one year on the council, was reappointed to a full term.

The committee’s inaugural appointments were made last year, with Ann Lewis, director of GSA’s Technology Transformation Services, serving as chair.

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The GSA’s Generative AI and Specialized Computing Infrastructure Acquisition Resource Guide details how contracting officers can approach gen AI procurement decisions through suggested questions and considerations, per an agency press release. 

“Generative AI technology will continue to evolve and we know that this resource guide should continue to evolve with it,” Laura Stanton, assistant commissioner in the GSA’s Office of Information Technology Category, said in the release. “Contracting officers will play a critical role by working closely with program and IT staff to find, source, acquire and make secure the right generative AI solutions for agencies’ needs.”

Along with acquisition recommendations, the guide also includes examples of generative AI in government, recommendations for how government entities may use things like sandboxes or testbeds before committing to a large-scale purchase, instructions on how agencies may define issues they are looking to solve, and more. 

The agency said in the release that the resource guide “will be updated as technologies develop.”

GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan said in the press release that the guide offers AI use cases, common challenges and information to support the public sector’s exploration of the “growing AI marketplace,” adding that the guide “starts to leverage the power of AI to better deliver” for the public.

“This guide is a key part of our commitment to equipping the federal community to responsibly and effectively deploy generative AI technologies to benefit the American people,” Carnahan said.

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Kim has served as the website’s first deputy director since January following a five-year stint at Amazon, where she developed “cutting-edge AI-based technology to scale policy enforcement,” per a GSA email. Kim previously worked across the federal government, serving with the departments of State, Treasury and Defense.

Dan Lopez-Braus, the outgoing director of Login.gov, will transition into a senior adviser position with TTS. 

TTS Director Ann Lewis said in a statement that Kim “will lead the team to implement the recently-announced launch of an optimized pricing structure and a new pilot for selfie-based identity verification, both of which will empower even more agencies and programs to use Login.gov to benefit people nationwide.” 

The news of Kim’s appointment follows an announcement from Login.gov earlier this month that it will pilot biometric technology for identity verification. The tool would allow users to take a “selfie” as a complementary feature to the site’s efforts to protect against identity fraud attempts and cyberattacks. 

A Government Accountability Office report released Monday listed Login.gov as a federal government use case for biometric identification. The congressional watchdog said the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration use it for identity verification for members of the public to access websites and services. 

The GAO issued five recommendations for policymakers to address concerns regarding biometric technology: conducting comprehensive evaluations to provide more information about the effects of biometric tech, enacting privacy laws or guidance, offering tech users additional training and guidance on how they might select and use the biometric technology appropriately, more widespread information-sharing about the tech, and applying a “risk-based” approach in the development of regulations and guidance. 

Biometric identification tech varies in “accuracy for different populations,” the GAO stated, but  there have been advances over the past four years that have led to notable improvements.

Correction: Due to an editing error, Kim was initially identified as a deputy director for TTS rather than deputy director of TTS’ Login.gov.

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“Congress, if you can hear me, please fund the TMF,” federal CIO Clare Martorana said Tuesday during an event co-hosted by Venable LLP and Trend Micro. “It does something really remarkable in our community. You have a board of experts across government that are convened together to really interrogate these proposals.”

Martorana, who also serves as board chair for the TMF, said there’s been a concerted effort to explore ways for agencies to expedite tech projects. The council of chief AI officers has reviewed a plan to accelerate tech deployment within agencies by two years, Martorana said, though there’s nothing concrete to report yet. 

When it comes to work on the technology within agencies, Martorana said establishing governance, managing risk and continuing to innovate are “the three layers of that AI cake…. The risks are significant and we don’t know them all yet. We haven’t identified this whole ecosystem yet.”

Martorana said in an interview with FedScoop after the Tuesday event that she believes that as the Office of Management and Budget and GSA disclose when tech projects across the federal government are in operation, Congress will recognize that the TMF “is a wonderful funding vehicle.” She pointed to the fund assisting with national cybersecurity efforts and improving digital experience online for customers.

“All of the things that we’re using technology to help improve service delivery for the public — safely, seamlessly [and] securely,” she said.

As agencies continue to work toward implementing new tools, Martorana said in a Thursday interview with FedScoop, that CAIO council representatives are focused on establishing an AI-capable infrastructure that has the computing power and resilience to run AI. 

“Some are gonna only be working with generative AI for a really long time and that’s not going  to take a lot of compute power,” Martorana said. “We have a span across our federal agencies.” Larger agencies “taking leaps and bounds” can have a spillover effect on smaller agencies, she added, “giving our federal workforce the opportunity to participate in this technology transformation.”

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GSA said in a release that the pilot will offer users the ability to match a “live selfie” with a self-supplied form of photo identification like a driver’s license. The agency said it will not use images “for any purpose other than verifying identity,” and reaffirmed the platform’s commitment to user privacy. 

This effort comes after the agency’s previous notice of Login.gov’s plans to use an evidence-based identity verification system that follows National Institute of Standards and Technology guidelines. GSA said at the time that the offering of biometric identification would “complement Login.gov’s already strong anti-fraud capabilities” and protect against sophisticated identity fraud attempts and cyberattacks.

Technology Transformation Services Director Ann Lewis said in the new release that GSA looks forward “to soon launching this new identity verification pathway for our agency customers that will protect user data, prevent fraud, and align with IAL2 guidelines — all while doubling down on our strong commitment to privacy, accessibility, and security.”

The GSA said the pilot will begin with interested agency partners and will look to add others over the summer. 

GSA also noted that it expects to complete an independent, third-party assessment of IAL2 compliance later this year.

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