The Federal chief information officer (CIO) gave rare commentary on the direction he wants to see the Federal government take in modernizing its processes and functions – marking one of his most public statements yet.
Greg Barbaccia has largely kept to himself since stepping into the Federal CIO role earlier this year. He most recently appeared on CNBC to discuss the Trump administration’s newest AI Action Plan, but has otherwise rarely appeared in media interviews.
Yet on Thursday, he took to LinkedIn where he shared thoughts on the government considering itself to be “digital,” as he put it, but commented that “in reality, we’ve only digitized, not transformed.”
Barbaccia – who was also named Federal chief AI officer last month – has an extensive background in highly technical positions within the private sector, while also serving in various roles within the intelligence community throughout the early 2000s.
Now he’s pointed to areas where the Federal government can improve its modernization efforts, noting that while spreadsheets have replaced paper, “workflows remain unchanged,” and while approvals are scanned, they’re “not automated,” and that forms are just PDFs, not “fillable, trackable, or integrated.”
“We substituted, but now we actually have to modernize,” wrote Barbaccia, adding, “It’s time to re-engineer how work is done, not simply recreate legacy processes in a digital format.”
Moving forward, Barbaccia said that looks like automating repetitive tasks, making data actionable “not just stored,” enabling more streamlined collaborative decision-making, and adapting behaviors “not just adopting tools.”
“If we’ve only changed the medium and not the actual process then transformation hasn’t occurred,” wrote Barbaccia. “It’s not enough to change the platform. You have to change the practice.”
While he didn’t offer details on how the Federal CIO’s office plans to work toward those goals, Barbaccia said to “stay tuned” for what’s to come.