The Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) is partnering with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to accelerate the federal government’s notoriously slow technology procurement process, according to National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross.
Speaking Thursday at Palo Alto Networks’ Public Sector Ignite event in Tysons, Va., Cairncross explained that federal agencies are often constrained by acquisition timelines that fail to keep pace with rapidly evolving technology.
“The government system, particularly on the procurement side, does not make modernization easy,” Cairncross said, adding that by the time an agency acquires a new technology product or service, “chances are it’s obsolete or it’s being overcome.”
“So, we are looking, and we are working with our partners at OMB, for example, who are tremendous partners in this regard, for ways to just speed that up and to make it possible to update and modernize at speed,” he said. “I think you will see action taken to make that happen.”
In addition to accelerating the pace of procurement, Cairncross said that ONCD is working with the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the General Services Administration, and OMB to ensure tech products and services are tested and secure.
“That will take private sector engagement as well as we move forward on testing and piloting some of these things more quickly, but we’re excited to do it. We want to make this shift so that this is a posture that can roll forward for the [U.S. government] into the future,” Cairncross said.
The national cyber director also noted that he is working with agency partners in developing the Trump administration’s upcoming national cybersecurity strategy.
“We are working collaboratively across the entire interagency,” he said, adding, “Everyone is looking to see resiliency, looking to modernize, and we’re all moving in the same direction. So, … this really will be a whole of [government] approach.
“We are, like everything that we are doing as an administration, we’re looking to get results on the table at speed,” Cairncross said.