Arlington, V.A (Sept. 20, 2017) - The Professional Services Council (PSC) submitted detailed recommendations to the White House today on leveraging commercial best practices to modernize government technology. 

In a letter to Chris Liddell, the director of the White House American Technology Council (ATC), PSC responded to a request for feedback from industry on its Aug. 30 draft “Report to the President on Federal IT Modernization.”  The draft report includes recommendations to accelerate the adoption of cloud computing, improve cybersecurity and expand the use of shared services.  As the voice of the government technology and professional services industry, PSC strongly supports the Trump Administration’s commitment to bring more innovation into government, modernize federal IT systems, and help agencies leverage commercial technologies and best practices.

PSC’s comments highlight how the federal government has a tremendous opportunity to access innovation and the best ideas and solutions that the private sector has to offer. With some federal IT systems running on decades-old technology, upgrading outdated technology will not only improve the government’s cybersecurity posture but also support agency process innovation to deliver better services at better value to all Americans. 

PSC makes 24 recommendations—based on commercial best practices and federal contractors’ experiences working with agencies—to help the White House go further and faster on IT modernization across the federal government. Key highlights from PSC’s full list of 24 recommendations to improve the IT modernization report include:

• Adding IT procurement policy recommendations to enable government to reach the full array of capabilities and solutions that exist;
• Changing agency data gathering and reporting tasks to more action-oriented requirements;
• Emphasizing the private sector’s role in expanding shared services opportunities;
• Expanding agencies’ outreach and engagement with industry partners on innovative IT solutions; and  
• Removing the suggestion that agencies halt procurement actions on all outdated systems given the current amount of legacy IT that agencies still rely on.

“PSC applauds the American Technology Council for releasing this draft report on IT modernization and soliciting industry feedback. The federal government today has a tremendous opportunity to increase access innovation along with implementing the best ideas and solutions that the private sector has to offer. This ATC draft report and recent Senate passage of the Modernizing Government Technology Act demonstrate that both the White House and Congress are making strides in the right direction,” said Alan Chvotkin, PSC executive vice president and counsel.

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Media Contact:
Ashlei Stevens
Director, Media Relations
703.875.8974
 stevens@pscouncil.org

About PSC: PSC is the voice of the government technology and professional services industry. PSC’s more than 400 member companies represent small, medium and large businesses that provide federal agencies with services of all kinds, including information technology, engineering, logistics, facilities management, operations and maintenance, consulting, international development, scientific, social, environmental services, and more. Together, the trade association’s members employ hundreds of thousands of Americans in all 50 states. Follow PSC on Twitter @PSCSpeaks. To learn more, visit www.pscouncil.org.