Federal Government Information Technology

New IT strategy could help modernize government tech

Federal Times: The federal government spends about three-fourths of its $80 billion information technology budget maintaining aging systems, a recent congressional report says. But a new automated software testing and implementation system is speeding up efforts to modernize software at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Mark Schwartz, chief information officer at USCIS, said Aug. 18 the agency was able to update its online employment verification system in a mere six weeks. Schwartz painted a picture of how a largely stagnant modernization effort four years in the making took off in a month and a half, producing a functioning product that improved the e-verification system whereby employers check the immigration status of new hires.

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