Thu
Mar 5
2009
Vivek Kundra: Federal CIO in His Own Words
by Timothy M. O'Brien | comments: 24
The following article contains several audio excerpts and transcripts from Vivek Kundra's first conference call as the newly appointed Federal CIO. After weeks of speculation it was formally announced today that President Obama has appointed Kundra, who had previously been serving as the CTO for Washington D.C.. In his previous position, Kundra pushed the boundaries of Information Technology and set the standard for transparency and accountability adopting Google Apps as a collaboration platform, video taping vendor interactions, and instituting a rigorous regime of metrics and accountability for government contracts.
In the following audio excerpts you'll hear about Kundra's plans to help push Federal IT towards more transparency and accountability. You'll also get a sense that Kundra, through his interaction with the CIO council is going to start unifying the federal government's approach to procurement and planning. In one of Kundra's answers, he suggests that President Obama will be announcing another appointment for a CTO position. This conference call was recorded on Thursday morning, shortly after the Whitehouse published a press release naming Kundra as the newly appointed Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO).
Kundra's Introductory Remarks
VK: Good morning, I want to first say how humbled and honored I am to serve under the Obama administration and for the President in terms of appointing me as the Federal CIO. I'm really excited about the opportunity to fundamentally look at how we're deploying technology in the federal government and rethinking what we could do in terms of finding the innnovative path to lower the cost of government operations [while] at the same time looking at how can we fundamentally change the way the public sector interacts with the public.
VK: How do we make sure that the government is about "We the People" and that we engage citizens in terms of how their government functions - holding government officials accountable in terms of making sure they know where money is going throughout the public sector, ensuring that we have the ability to run an open, transparent, participatory, and collaborative government. At the same time be mindful that in these tough economic times when we're facing two wars, we're looking at an economic crisis and the energy and healthcare issues that this country faces. How can we leverage the power of technology to make sure that the country is moving in the right direction. We look at federal IT spending, the federal government is the largest single buyer of technology in the world at $71 billions dollars annually.
VK: Going through, as the president and director Orszag promised, going through line item by line item looking at the budget and ensuring that those resources are spent effectively and that we hold agencies accountable for how that money is spent is going to be a big part of my role here, and secondly, I'm going to be working very closely with all federal CIOs in terms of the agency level to ensure that they are advancing an agenda that embraces open government, an agenda that looks at how we can fundamentally revolutionize technology in the public sector and reject the view that the public sector has to lag behind the private sector. That we need to embrace new technologies that are going to change the way we serve our constituents and at the same time ensure that the federal government operates in an efficient way.
Kundra's Role as Federal CIO
VK: So I'll be serving in both capacities: both as the Federal CIO and as the e-gov and IT administration, but in terms of the portfolio... if you look at some of the innovations that have happened since 2002, it is not just e-government, we also want to focus on how do we look at the backend system, whether that is in the Department of Defense or Health and Human Services, and ensure that we're having a wholistic view of [information technology] and not just focusing on e-government.
VK: So, the CTO will be named in due time by the President, but what I can talk about is my role in terms of the Federal CIO role. The Federal CIO role is going to be largely focused on 1. the operations of the federal government, looking at the $71 billion and ensure that we're spending that money effectively, 2. on driving a transparency and open government agenda to ensure that the public has access to information, the public has access to government and we rethink how the federal government interacts with the public in an information economy and 3. we want to look at the innovative path in terms of leveraging innovations that are happening whether is it in the private sector or in the NGO community and applying them to the federal government and changing the velocity with which we adopt new technologies.
VK: Vivek Kundra on data.gov and the Imperative to Distribute Data
VK: One of the things we want to do is embark on launching data.gov which would democratize data and give data access to the public and based on that challenge whether it is citizens, NGOs the private sector to help us think through how we address some of the toughest problems in the public sector.
VK: Data.gov will publish data feeds, so we'll have a vast array of data, and the way I like to think about this is that if you think of two forms of data that have been published in the federal government that have fundamentally transformed the economy. One example is the National Institute of Health working with other world bodies when they published the Human Genome Project data online. What that did is it created an entire revolution in personalized medicine where you ended up having over 500 drugs that were created and that are in the pipeline coming into the FDA.
VK: Second, is what happened in the geospatial community when the defense department decided to release data around satellites you created this GPS revolution where now you could go to your local car rental company and get a GPS device or your iPhone and get directions.
VK: In the same way, in the same spirit, there is a lot of data that the federal government has and what we need to do is, we need to make sure that all that data that is not private that is not restricted for national security reasons can be made public. And the question we should be thinking about even when it comes to FOIA is how do we begin with the default assumption that we put information out in the public domain then the second question is what needs to be private rather than the other way around.
Vivek Kundra on the Need to Transform the Government: The Digital Economy
VK: One of the challenges that the government faces is, as we move more and more information, in terms of published information or whether it is [online] content, out in cyberspace. What's really important is that, on the back-end, the government is going to need to go through a transformation to ensure that we have the right resources to be able to respond to a new economy - to the digital economy.
VK: An example is what Facebook has been able to do in terms of self-organizing and civic participation. What they've been able to do is that they have over 140 million or so users and they've been able to self-organize on issues, on policy, on problems and create a movement so that people can be heard. That's one model. The second model is the two-way interaction between the federal government and citizens. And you are absolutely right on that end, it is going to require massive transformation on the back-end to ensure that the government is able to deal with this new reality. And, frankly, those investments haven't been historically made and that's one of the things we are going to do - is ensure that we look at and rethink the workforce for the 21st century.
VK: Third is making information available such as data feeds so applications can be created in a context rich model. If you look at government what they've done historically is they've just put up a website and they'll say this is Agency X. Unfortunately, if you look at the traffic on those websites and you compare that traffic to a facebook or a craigslist, it just pales in comparison and one of the things we need to start thinking about is how do we put information in the right context.
VK: And what I mean by that is, for example, if you look at April 15 or if you look at certain days that matter where the federal government will "fire" certain actions, we need to make sure that the federal government is putting that information in the right context. Because, I may care about taxes around April 15th, or I may care about another issue depending on what time of the day it is. Government needs to move towards context rich information flows and engagement.
Kundra on Open Source
VK: I think you look at open source, as a technology, whether it's mediawiki, for example... with Wikipedia what we did in the District of Columbia was that we had a wikipedia solution that allowed every single employee to collaborate and have access to information. I think there is also a place for specialized software, you look at the FAA or if you are looking at DHS, there are some mission critical systems that you can't apply an open source solution to. We need to have a very pragmatic, balanced approach in terms of software. I would argue that, whether it is open source or proprietary software one of the biggest ticket items when it comes to information technology on that $71 billion dollars is the money the federal government spends on contracts and contracts that, frankly, some of them haven't performed very well and there have not been consequences. And, we need to become serious and tough on those contractors that are not going to deliver. Eliminating those contracts and making sure that we have consultants and contractors that are adding value to the federal government.
Kundra's Example: Social Security Data Center
VK: A simple example would be the Social Security Administration that's getting funding to build out a brand new data center and what we want to make sure is, as the Social Security administration makes that investment, that it is looked at in a much broader context than [it has traditionally received] which has been in specific silos. What that has led to is massive proliferation of infrastructure that is segmented and not interoperable. What we want to do is look at the entire portfolio to ensure that as we make this investment we're looking at them across the federal government and saying, you know what, if we're investing right now to build a whole new data center how does that play into the larger vision of federal IT and how does that play into leveraging that investment for other functions beyond the Social Security Administration.
tags: government, open source, transparency, web 2.0
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Comments: 24
@C.J.:
Excerpt from Unabridged Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, entry for "datum":
"...Used in pl. form with sing. construction. ...by general usage data is now accepted as a singular collective noun."
The earliest example of this usage cited here by the OED is from 1807.
hope all the appointments made by President Obama will work.. and we give him the benefit of the doubt.. Good Luck Mr. Kundra.. He has a good background.. Maybe he has a lot to contribute for the benefit of American people..
I especially liked this statement:
"Government needs to move towards context rich information flows and engagement."
This shows that Mr. Kundra is sensitive to the simple fact that the participants in an information process need to speak the same language.
Natural language is the most fundamental information technology -- and so utilizing the Wisdom of the Language ( http://sn.im/wisdom-link ) promises to be very effective and also very efficient investment in Government 2.0 (and that is something that President Obama also seems to understand very well).
:) nmw
The new Federal CIO should seriously question whether the SSA should even build a new data center. It would be much more cost effective and faster to market if they would leverage the wholesale / retail data center market that exists. A lot of companies specialize in this - we don't need SSA building (or even running) their own. A waste of capital. Unfortunately - all we seem to be hearing is "Web 2.0 speak" rather than pragmatic business sense about Information Technology.
It seems to me he could be the "Hari Seldon" from those Asmove books.
I wonder if it's possible to move to a Full Democracy with Gov Issue PDA's.
Imagine the instant benefit considering these devices could also be used to transmit audio, video and data transmissions as well.
What an age we live in when the designer of face book and other Social Sites is picked to refine out systems of democracy
"I'm really excited about the opportunity to fundamentally look at how we're deploying technology in the federal government and rethinking what we could do in terms of finding the innnovative path to lower the cost of government operations [while] at the same time looking at how can we fundamentally change the way the public sector interacts with the public."
----"the way the public sector interacts with the public."
I like OBAMA's pick. He is part of the newer generations style of thinking.
From "No More Gobbledygook" plain language in Government to better IT communications within Government and between Government and its people, I like it. I hope you the very best, Mr. Kundra.
I think its great that Obama has created this post. This is LONG overdue!
And I think Vivek seems experienced and practical in his thinking.
Improvement of our technology systems, both in terms of equipment, hardware, software, interoperability, improvement and efficiency of networks, intercommunication, etc. will greatly help our govt. If the private sector can benefit from these very same areas, so can our government.
I'm very proud of Obama so far.
On Govt transformation
Vivek Kundra should watch "Us Now" (www.usnowfilm.com) to get a sense of grassroots democracy and innovation.
And probably promote the creation of a software-powered infrastructure needed to ensure that grassroots innovation thrives. Here's my attempt to define the "Societal Digital Infrastructure" http://tinyurl.com/bhaevf
Does it bother anybody else that this appointment reinforces the shibboleth that Americans are technologically incompetent? Granted, he was local to DC, and thus high profile. Some times the implied is stronger than the factual.
@Robert Young, I take high offense at even the slightest suggestion that Kundra is not "an American". He was raised in Maryland, his family move here when he was 11 years old. But, even if he had just taken the Oath of Citizen, our country does not have second class citizens. Name another "American" like Kundra who was married at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia. You probably wouldn't be happy to know that Padmasree Warrior was another potential candidate for the same job (and since Obama is appointing a CTO, there is a chance she may still serve in this administration).
Who is American? Are some people more American than others because they happen not to be "naturalized" citizens? Is the Governor of California an "American" to you? Does it worry you that he lived in India and Tanzania as a child and that he speaks Swahili? I guess you think it is awful that the Commonwealth of Virginia appointed someone named Aneesh Chopra as Secretary of Technology, someone with a similarly "Unamerican name".
Your suggestion is offensive to this Irishman. At one time in the blighted history of this country, my people were discriminated against by people who though us less "American" by virtue of our unmistakably Irish last names. No Irish Need Apply was the norm in places like Boston. My people weren't considered American for years, if you think Kundra isn't an American, then neither am I.
Another suggestion, as you take some time to reconsider your nativist views, you might want to look up the word "shibboleth". From your usage of the word, I'm not sure if you know what it means.
@Lynn V.
I think you miss the point that Kundra is discussing just what you are suggesting. He wants to make sure that the SSA doesn't just blindly acquire yet another $100 million data center, and he wants the OMB to be involved in thinking about leveraging solutions that might not have been on the table.
I would like to see the US Government enlist the help of Google and companies like Amazon with EC2 to start thinking about how all federal agencies could standardize on a common application architecture based on MapReduce, GFS, using technologies like Hadoop.
Maybe you were distracted by "all the Web 2.0 speak". What does that mean? Is, "I'd like to save us all billions of dollars by thinking about better ways to procure technology" web 2.0 speak?
What will be the interaction or functionality of the CIO's office in the Office of the President at the White House and the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget(OMB) also under the Office of the President. The director of this latter office was often referred to as the OMB CIO and the White House's CIO. The OMB position is appointed by thr Presodent and requires congressional approval. The tasks and programs of this subject were the province of the OMB office and administered as part of its portfolio.
In his previous position, Kundra pushed the boundaries of Information Technology and set the standard for transparency and accountability adopting Google Apps as a collaboration platform
So are you saying that he's increasing transparency by feeding government information into a corporate database owned by Google? Im curious what kind of role Google Apps played here and how their involvement can be beneficial to the public?
@Thijs: those are all good questions. When I hear that the DC government embraced Google Apps, I too wonder about the privacy and security consequences of the decision. If the federal government is the largest purchaser of technology in the world, maybe they have an opportunity to create an isolated, private "cloud" that leverages some of the same technologies developed by Google (named MapReduce, BigTable, GFS). DC never had that opportunity, but one could anticipate that, with the appropriate resources, the Federal Government could easily out-Google Google and start leading industry rather than following it.
But, your question about feeding information into a corporate database is an important one.
Another area that offers opportunity for increasing productivity and lowering costs, is using technology for flexible working; breaking the link between department employees and department workplace. It becomes government employee and government workplace. Reading University (UK) says there are 5 levels - most departments are at level 3 or 4. The UK govt is proposing a hotel.gov concept (level 5).
CNN just reported that Vivek is on leave from his new position...
President Barack Obama's pick for federal chief information officer is on
leave from his position following a raid by federal agents of his former
offices and the arrest of two men in connection with a D.C. government
corruption scandal.
Speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, a
White House official said Vivek Kundra is on leave from his post "until
further details become known."
Mr. Kundra served as D.C. Chief Technology Officer from 2007 until this
year, when Mr. Obama selected him for the newly-created position.
FBI agents raided the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO)
Thursday. Yusuf Acar, an OCTO employee, and Sushil Bansal, the chief
executive officer of a D.C.-based information technology consulting
company, have been arrested and appeared in U.S. District Court Thursday
on charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and money laundering.
Tim,
Thanks for the comment back.
All the "Web 2.0 speak" has its place. MapReduce, GFS, Hadoop and the like are all building blocks for certain types of applications - but not all applications. Google's App Engine has not been a raging success to date (limited by the need to write in Jython, a truly narrow class of services, etc.). Amazon WS has had better luck - richer and more atomic services - but still the technology, compliance and economic limits of using the Amazon "cloud" will prohibit most applications from ever running there.
There's a lot of software out there - and new application platforms do not necessarily negate the value of the older application platforms.
My impression of Kundra is that it is unclear he understands that - and may lean too far to the "Google is the answer to everything" camp.
What worries me, as you stated in your first paragraph ("In his previous position, Kundra ... instituting a rigorous regime of metrics and accountability for government contracts"), is that his "rigorous regime" didn't extend to good oversight of his Chief Security Officer, good and basic principles around asset and portfolio management, and good IT financial practices as exhibited by the recent news from the D.C. Office of the CTO. Those are just as important as getting the latest Google Gadget on your desktop.
Thank you so much for posting these audio clips. I've been onto the issue of "transforming" our health care system since I heard a presentation on "personalized" medicine at the NGA conference.
Basically, what they are trying to do with our health care system is to replace doctors with lesser qualified NP's and PA's - with computer decision support systems. If they are successful at getting this "health care" system implemented, they will have the DNA for the entire US population and they will be able to do live fire genetic research on us.
The (former now) Director of the NIH who established the precedent for remote medicine - beginning with radiology was Dr. Elias Zerhouni, an Algerian. He's gone now - but I have no doubt that the NIH is totally corrupted with people who intend to do us harm.
"Transparency allows people to participate in the public civic process, to look at where their money is going, how it's being spent and to hold the government officials accountable," Mr. Kundra said in his speech. "That's one of the central pillars of this administration as we talk about driving forward, as far as radical transparency is concerned." FBI agents raided the city's technology offices about 9 a.m. Yusuf Acar, an employee in the chief technology officer's office, and Sushil Bansal, the chief executive officer of a Washington-based information technology company, were arrested and appeared Thursday in U.S. District Court on charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and money laundering.
I'm a former government official, speaking on background, Kundra’s ability to serve as overseer of U.S. government technology policy and practices is in serious question and jeoparody. The fact that Kundra himself is not accused of any wrongdoing is beside the point (but the full story has not come out yet). As the District of Columbia’s chief technology officer since 2007, he was responsible for the actions of his 300 employees. Kundra was tech smart but lack management maturity. Besides you can't steer 98% of your contracts to Indian - American. That made of lacked oversight in the DC but that won't happen in the Fed. Kundra will not be leading any Federal Technology office anytime soon. He brought extreme embarrassment to the Obama Administration in one week's time.
Vivek K suspended? And his buddies Acar and Bansal arrested for conspiracy to committ bribary and money laundering?? Then we find out Vivek K was arrested in his late teen early twenties for stealing? Sounds like the wrong crowd to be trusting "transparency" with and forging new pathways to merge data together. Tell Vivek to do the Daschle, Richardson, Killefer and how many others we do know about yet?
Will you stop casting aspersions on the man because of his race? - Arunabh Das
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C.J. [2009-03-05 03:58 PM]
"data" is still a plural