Eye on Policy

The latest talk-of-the-town stems from the 40+ page November 7 memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The memo follows up the Trump White House Executive Order 14625 from last April, so the industry has been on notice. Many in the defense business wondered what would happen to the many reform commissions and committees that have been looking at Defense procurement reform. The community has been looking to see how or whether the scattered efforts at speeding technology adoption would coalesce into comprehensive policy. Now we have it.

Walmart: The next model for digital government? Presuming they will return to some semblance of normal operations, federal agency programs and IT staff will once again think earnestly about modernization. When they do, I wonder if the topic of user experience or service to the citizen will once again rank top-of-mind. If it does, managers might look at Walmart. The giant retailer is among the first companies to try and apply the most recent revolutionary computing force, namely generative artificial intelligence.

To paraphrase a line from President Lincoln’s second inaugural address, all dreaded it, all sought to avert it … And the shutdown came. The manifest cause of the shutdown might well be one’s interest in extending health care subsidies. But the fundamental cause is a generalized failure of Congress to do the work of agency-by-agency appropriations on any kind of meaningful schedule and on any reasonable philosophic basis. I have lived professionally through shutdowns since the first 1995 one during the Bill Clinton administration. They all entail bitterness, this one more than most.

The next debate in artificial intelligence center is on whether so called artificial general intelligence has arrived or will arrive. Some of the mega AI companies are already claiming they have it. In the more practical domains, AI has already caused change. No longer do organizations dutifully promise, while already knowing better, that AI will not replace people, only enhance what they do. That fig leaf has fallen away to reveal the fact that AI is, in fact, replacing people.

The next debate in artificial intelligence center is on whether so called artificial general intelligence has arrived or will arrive. Some of the mega AI companies are already claiming they have it. In the more practical domains, AI has already caused change. No longer do organizations dutifully promise, while already knowing better, that AI will not replace people, only enhance what they do. That fig leaf has fallen away to reveal the fact that AI is, in fact, replacing people.

President Donald Trump may appear inconsistent on various policies, but on certain domains the administration has demonstrated remarkable single mindedness. Among them, paring down contracting to what it deems essential to operation of the government. And, ensuring the government is getting what officials consider fair prices, especially for services.

If the Trump administration does anything well, it is to keep everyone guessing. From whether to sanction Russia to energy policy, nothing characterizes this administration so much as unpredictability. Still, for those companies in the business of federal contracting, some initiatives have taken on what looks like a sustained trajectory. Among them: consolidation of much contracting into the General Services Administration.