TTS Technology Portfolio
Mission: We exist to make TTS more productive and secure, empowering our staff and programs to better deliver on their missions.
Vision: We strive to make TTS the model for how to do IT in government: human-centered, transparent, and as a force-multiplier for the organization(s) we serve.
Background
The Tech Portfolio was formed in July 2019 as the reincarnation of the 18F/TTS Infrastructure team. It can be thought of as a mini (mini) version of GSA IT that serves TTS exclusively. We are technically under the Acquisition Services Fund (ASF), though our funding comes through overhead charged to TTS programs.
Responsibilities
We oversee/manage/coordinate everything technology-related that cuts across TTS, and anything technology-related that will affect TTS from the outside, particularly security, compliance, infrastructure, and policy. We provide all the things that allow TTS staff to get their jobs done at the highest quality level.
Rather than try to exert control over everything technology at TTS, we focus instead on protecting, streamlining, and enabling our staff and systems, and doing so in an empathetic, transparent way. The Tech Portfolio’s work applies to much more than technology; it applies to our entire operation, including how TTS works inside the law, secures our systems, and spends money. We also:
- Find where we may be duplicating effort or have gaps around technology, and if those are opportunities for TTS/GSA/government-wide shared services
- Serve as the primary liaison between GSA IT and TTS, ensuring high levels of service, finding compromise, and generally keeping a good relationship between the teams
Take a look at the following for more specifics:
FSGC
TTS sits within the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), and the Tech Portfolio Director represents TTS as the voting member on the , external,FAS Systems Governance Committee (FSGC). This body decides on what groups in FAS get funding from the Acquisition Services Fund (ASF) for new/expanded technology initiatives.
Voting considerations
TTS' votes mainly focus on technology/product aspects, following the , external,18F De-Risking Guide. We will generally defer to other voting members on alignment with other initiatives, etc.
- If this is a
New Investment
:- Cost should be under $10M, ideally under $5M
- Based on , external,Standish Group report that only 6.4% of federal IT projects with labor costs > $10 million were "successful" (on time, in budget, satisfactory, and ultimately used)
- Cost should be under $10M, ideally under $5M
- If this is an
Amendment
, looking for:- Evidence that users (outside the team) have deemed the previous phase(s) a
success
- E.g. quotes from usability research participants
- A demo
- Evidence that users (outside the team) have deemed the previous phase(s) a
success
- Should plan for and then show live, usable deliverables every six months (incremental delivery)
- Showing reasonable options for what could be done for lower cost
- The Integrator Fees/Allocation should only include offices that the initiative
is applicable to
- Per the , external,TTS-only, FAS Budget Guidance, "Integrator spending is supported by the revenue generated by the business lines, and therefore should be of benefit to those business lines."
Out of scope
The following are example tasks that the Tech Portfolio isn't responsible for in its current state:
- Purchasing office equipment for individuals (rather than the project the individual supports)
- Picking up software development tasks for TTS programs
- Being the owners/stewards/pushers of data/metrics for TTS, beyond what applies to responsibilities listed above
Partners
These are the groups we interact with heavily:
- FAS Systems Governance Committee (FSGC)
- Supply Chain Risk Management group
- GSA IT
- CTO
- TTS-only, Security (IS)
- TTS-only, Office of Digital Infrastructure Technologies (IDT)
- Mac Working Group: Teams across GSA IT that enable Mac use at GSA
- TTS, particularly
- Business Operations (BizOps): Coordinate on software purchases
- Digital Council: Governance of TTS sites, including interactions with the Office of Strategic Communication (OSC) around GSA-wide digital goals/initiatives
- Office of Acquisitions (OA): Coordinate on budgets and software purchases
- Outreach: TTS-wide communications
- , external,Security and Compliance Guild
- Solutions: Infrastructure and authorizations
Important links
- , external,TTS-only, FY21-22 Business Plan
- , external,Before You Ship - TTS' internal documentation about security, compliance, and infrastructure
- Maintaining the authoritative source documentation for components used across TTS , external,TTS-only, Software-as-a-service (SaaS) , , external,TTS-only, Systems, and , external,TTS-only, Accounts
- , external,More internal documentation
- , external,Read more about us
Feedback?
We're open and excited to hear , external,TTS-only, (anonymous) feedback to hear how we're doing!
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