OMB has told major agencies and departments to establish an acquisition innovation lab or similar mechanism—or to make sure that any already in existence meet certain criteria—by the start of May.
A joint memo from the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and the U.S. CIO further requests that agencies place emphasis on information technology investments in their labs, and encourages them to consider participation in a pilot to accelerate the development of digital acquisition capabilities through cross-functional teams of OMB and GSA officials.
The memo flows from White House strategy directives seeking to foster a culture of innovation at agencies and improve service delivery. It cited an innovation lab at HHS called the Buyer’s Club as enabling that department to merge multiple legacy systems into a central web content management system, as well as a lab at DHS that cut lead time in half for certain critically needed cyber security services.
The memo also ordered agencies to: identify an acquisition innovation advocate to encourage testing of new ideas and better ways of executing existing practices; participate in the Acquisition Innovation Advocates Council; and contribute to the Innovation Hallway on GSA’s Acquisition Gateway site. It also suggested they consider joining the digital acquisition innovation lab pilot project.
The memo also said that the Digital IT Acquisition Professional Training and Development Program will be scaled up, following the graduation of its first cadre in April. In that program, “select contracting professionals across government undergo an intensive six-month hands-on training program to learn how to buy IT software and systems development a better way,” said the memo.
