EcoSystem Modernization Strategy
FCS is at the heart of GSA’s modernization and data ecosystem strategy.
FAS-IT Strategic Aspirations
- Customer Experience: Ensure a simple, easy, and enjoyable experience for GSA IT customers.
- Employee Experience: Enable stakeholder employees to work collaboratively and productively from anywhere.
- Digital Experience: Provide a secure, accessible, and modern digital experience.
Mission
Partner with business applications to accelerate the acquisition lifecycle and time to market through the delivery of robust cloud data products and enabling services.
Vision
Provide innovative cloud solutions and strategies that enable application teams to deliver on business requirements aligned to customer missions.
Current State
GSA’s Office of Acquisition Information Technology Services operates a secure, reliable, and cost-efficient cloud, data, and security services ecosystem. This ecosystem supports various business capabilities, applications, and analytics, and has matured over the past decade to become the key enabler at the intersection of cloud, data, and security, driving government-wide use of more-efficient processes and technology.
Future Challenges
- Expanding Business Requirements: Growing functions and missions without corresponding funding require rapid and efficient new solutions.
- Rapid Technology Disruption: Innovations like artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, and data modeling tools transform customer expectations and mission execution.
- Evolving Cyber Threats: Increasing and sophisticated attacks on government data and services demand constant security updates.
- Declining Federal Workforce: The anticipated retirement of federal employees necessitates technology enhancements to maintain efficiency and productivity.
Target State
FCS aims to be the premier cloud and data service provider for the federal government. As data and AI technologies transform GSA’s mission delivery, the EcoSystem will lead in securely providing new data and AI products and services. The FCS data platform will expand to offer new insights, analytics, and decision-making capabilities, driving the GSA mission forward. Strategic goals and initiatives will ensure continued innovation and alignment, benefiting partners, stakeholders, and the workforce.
EcoSystem Modernization Community Model
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Advisory and Strategy Services
From: Disconnected Oversight & Governance Processes
To: Streamlined Governance & Connected Processes
Advisory services expand to support business and technology leaders. Modernization architecture, design and operations decisions are informed by technical experts, data, and cost information to align to current and future business priorities and needs. Key stakeholder partners engage throughout the EcoSystem strategically to meet shared enterprise objectives in a practical manner. Advisory services serve as the bridge between industry innovation and GSA mission needs by continually assessing risks and benefits associated with new capabilities.
Application Support Services
From: Static and Monolithic Applications
To: Microservices
Application architectures will continue to be modernized from legacy monolithic architectures to contemporary microservices-based architectures to provide improved performance, reliability, and agility. Application teams will leverage mature, enterprise-managed DevSecOps pipelines to fully realize the GitOps approach previously established. Modernized applications will take advantage of common platform services for Technical Utility Common Services (e.g. logging, encryption, compute, autoscaling, etc.) and Business Common Services (e.g. forms, search, workflow, notifications, visualization, collaboration, content management, etc.). Applications will interact with common services, data services, and other applications via the API gateway and the Data Mesh. Applications will be managed as digital products by Application owners that will continuously align functionality to customer needs and provide guidance to various engineering teams throughout modernization.
Data & Analytic Services
From: Limited Access to Centralized Data
To: Data Mindset
The GSA mission will be transformed by unlocking new value from data through integration, advanced analytics, and AI. The EcoSystem will serve as a catalyst and accelerator by maturing the enterprise data platform and migrating datasets from legacy stores. Data scientists and data users will have secure, integrated access to formerly disparate data via a Data Mesh solution regardless of where the data is stored. DataOps pipelines will serve as a foundation to automate the preparation, validation, and transformation of data for use by applications, or data practitioners. AI and Machine Learning will enhance the mission in a secure, ethical, and transparent manner. The CDO will serve as a key partner and leader to drive the data transformation strategy and business priorities related to data enabled by the EcoSystem.
Commerical Cloud Services
From: Single Cloud Environment
To: Multi-Cloud with Broker
The EcoSystem is a key enabler of IT modernization by expanding the sources of industry-driven cloud-based services. The future multi-cloud environment will broker commercial services from SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS through an efficient and secure set of common management constructs and policies. Common controls, health dashboards, and cost management measures will provide a single-pane view of the performance of all cloud services. SaaS and low code / no code platforms integrate into the broader cloud-based infrastructure to provide opportunities for business users to be able to create business value through configuration with minimal coding expertise. The platform engineers, security engineers, and their various stakeholders work together to introduce new innovative capabilities and manage technical debt associated with the underlying cloud infrastructure that supports the EcoSystem.