A private-sector solution to public-sector design

Imagine, for example, that a large-scale automobile manufacturer does some market research. The results show that 80% of their target market wants to drive a blue car. The company, believing this to be the best path to ROI, decides to reallocate its resources to making only blue cars. It’s likely that no one would bat an eyelash, because private companies don’t have to serve the entire American population.

The federal government, on the other hand, can’t produce just blue cars. It has a mandate to serve everyone in the United States. That means accounting for edge cases so that people can access services regardless of their physical condition, environment, income, or tech fluency. Extending the car example, they have to offer the full array of colors to the public, in one way or another.

In many cases, the federal government takes an all-or-nothing approach to solving its technology problems. This leads to inefficient solutions that take longer to implement and often cost more than they should.

What if federal agencies could split the difference between serving the few and serving the many? What if they could focus on solving the fundamental challenge facing the largest number of people first, then iterate to creatively serve the edge cases? What if they could build the blue cars first, then incrementally add additional colors?

This isn’t a far-fetched idea, because some federal tech initiatives have taken this approach already.

Maximizing value for spend

Under the GSA Customer Experience Center of Excellence, ICF partnered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to modernize a federal farm loans program. One of the modernization goals was to reduce the backlog for loan processing. During our initial observational research, we discovered that a digital-only solution would benefit most producers and loan recipients. However, many producers also valued their in-person meetings with loan officers. These meetings were meaningful interactions for geographically isolated farmers. This feedback led us to propose a hybrid approach to streamline the farm loans program.

By initially investing in an online solution that met the needs of most producers and leaving space for technology to address the needs of those who prefer in-person interaction later, the USDA achieved significant savings on the front end of the program without increasing the backlog.

The farm loans program modernization is a great example of bringing a flexible mindset to solving the federal government’s technology challenges. Rather than just layering on more technology and creating a complex system, we found an efficient and cost-effective way to meet the needs of all stakeholders involved.

This is a valuable approach for federal agencies to take now, when new technologies—particularly artificial intelligence—are growing in sophistication and power every day. It also dovetails with the goals of the federal government, which seeks to reduce its spending through innovation. Narrowing the scope of digital modernization projects to focus on the most fundamental functions first can spare agencies the immense front-end expense of implementing new systems.

Here's how it might work:

• The agency conducts a brief round of observation to understand the key challenges in a certain service or process.
• They work with a partner to create a solution that solves much of the problem for the largest number of people.
• Once this foundational product is deployed, designers and engineers work side-by-side in an agile environment informed by continual observation and user feedback to rapidly develop additional features and enhancements.
• The agency works to consistently improve the foundational product to serve edge cases.

Taking a page from the private sector’s iterative approach instead of the federal government’s typical all-or-nothing approach to technology challenges doesn’t mean people will be left behind when they seek public services. It means that federal agencies can deliver on essential parts of their missions while ensuring that taxpayer dollars are being spent as wisely as possible.

To learn more about how ICF is helping federal agencies adopt an iterative approach to their digital modernization efforts, please contact us today.