Government 2.0 marches on with a new app store
by Celine Roque
As the US Federal Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra has a challenging task – push innovation while bringing down IT spending in government. Currently working on a $75 billion annual budget, the CIO would like to trim it down in response to the economy without sacrificing quality of service. One of his pet projects is the promotion of cloud computing, and recently he announced the launching of the online storefront to Apps.gov as a logical step forward.
It’s a one-stop shop for federal agencies that would like see the cloud-based alternatives out there, both free and otherwise. Apps.gov offers four categories of interest: Business Apps, Productivity Apps, Social Media Apps, and Cloud IT Services. This storefront is being run by the General Services Administration in support of the Federal Cloud Computing Initiative.
In his speech at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, Kundra underscored the importance of implementing a smarter and more responsive IT strategy for the government. According to the NY Times, the launch was well-attended by cloud computing vendors and government agencies. Google co-founder Sergei Brin was upbeat, pointing out that by using these services themselves, government officials will gain a better understanding of how they work, which should translate into better policies and a healthier industry.
Despite his optimism, Vivek Kundra knows that this is only the start, with many issues left to tackle. “Federal agencies and departments encounter many difficulties in deploying new IT services and products. Procurement processes can be confusing and time-consuming. Security procedures are complex, costly, lengthy and duplicative across agencies. Our policies lag behind new trends, causing unnecessary restrictions on the use of new technology. Past practices too often resulted in inefficient use of purchased IT capabilities across the federal government. We are dedicated to addressing these barriers and to improving the way government leverages new technology.”
For more on this initiative, read his blog post or visit Apps.gov.
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