What to Know About the Government Experience Awards

All right, it's that time again. Welcome to In Case You Missed It, GovTech's government technology news roundup, where we're going to take a look at some of the biggest GovTech news from the past week. We give you our thoughts on what it means for government, citizens, and the market. I'm Dustin Haisler, joined again by Joe Morris and Jed Pressgrove. And today our special guest is the Senior Vice President of the Center for Digital Government, one of my favorite people, Terri Takai. She's going to be here to tell us everything states and cities need to know about this year's Government Experience Awards. But before we bring out Terri, let's talk about some of the news that caught our eye from the previous week. Our first story this week was reported by Jed. Jed, love for you to give us a rundown on what the infrastructure bill means for broadband funding and how this round funding is different than some of the others that we've talked about.

Okay, so first of all, let's, let's talk about what it was like before the bill. So the majority of the broadband infrastructure dollars were distributed through the Federal Communications Commission, and it was a reverse auction bid, I believe, in the last round. I don't know if it was always done that way, but essentially companies would come to bid Uh, on certain unserved areas. And then if the FCC looked at their application and said, yeah, this, this area is unserved based on our maps— which, by the way, the data from the maps come from the companies— then they would say, okay, we'll give the grant to this company. Um, the issue though, that— and, and it's explored here in this article— is that so many of those places that got the money are not very well connected right now, despite the government subsidizing billions of dollars and giving it to these companies. And so the idea is that with the new infrastructure bill, that the money is going to go through the NTIA instead of FCC, because the NTIA has a closer relationship with the states. And so this system will allow the states to have more of a say in who gets those dollars. The issue though is that will this really overcome the previous limitation of the FCC programs? In other words, Will the big companies who usually got the grant dollars before, will they just end up getting them again? And so this article explores that topic, explores that fear that some people have. And one of my main sources is Christopher Mitchell, who works with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. And so he kind of keeps a watch on what states are doing as far as like imposing limitations on municipal networks. which the Infrastructure Act does not preclude municipalities from applying for the funds, whereas the FCC auction, you could only be a private business. So that's another key difference there. So yeah, that's pretty much the basic breakdown of what we're talking about here.

You know, it's one of the areas of funding that's got a lot of interest in it from the industry community, right? You look at it from the size of money that's there, $65 billion for broadband all in, but, you know, that $42 billion or so for deployment. And we're all kind of still sitting waiting because you got to wait for the maps to be completed in order for these funds to roll out. And the FCC has said roughly about a week ago that they anticipate for the maps to be done by this fall. So maybe we'll start to see some of the funds roll out by the end of the year, if not early next year.

Yeah, I think, Jed, you kind of highlighted the nuances associated with, you know, the funding dynamics. So I think this is a great piece that exposes some of those complexities and that, you know, just having a big bucket of money doesn't always mean that innovation is going to take place and that we really need to think, you know, about this. And I think, you know, with broadband itself too, we also have to think about some of the new technologies that may actually help us connect rural America. And some of these limitations are going to be, you know, prohibitive of, you know, agencies being able to do that. And some of these new, you know, startups that are kind of emerging and, you know, even companies like Starlink from being able to kind of take advantage of some of this to deal with the last mile and some of the other nuances here.

So a great piece.

Another important topic we'll be following. Our next story is related to this week's subway shooting in Brooklyn. On Tuesday, a gunman opened fire on a Brooklyn subway train, firing 33 times and injuring 10 people. Thankfully, no one was killed and police have the suspect in custody. But this incident is only the latest in New York, which has seen a 68% increase in crime in subways over this time last year, now according to NYPD. So why are we talking about this as well? Well, New York is currently piloting Evolv screening systems in the Bronx. 'Cause unlike a metal detector, it doesn't require folks to empty their pockets when screened. If it senses, if it detects a weapon, it sends an alert and a photo to a nearby security guard, according to city officials. Tech like this has only just entered the conversation related to subway safety. So our topic of conversation for our last story is, you know, what are your thoughts on this? I mean, as we look at some of these emerging new use cases, we know that many state and local agencies have kind of preempted legislation and rules on banning facial recognition and technology that's considered invasive or that violates the, you know, digital rights of individuals. So where do we draw that line, and what do you think of this new technology?

You know, the new technology itself is pretty cool, pretty interesting, but I think you look at the rise of violence across the US. It wasn't just too long ago here where Jed and I are based in Sacramento, we unfortunately had a mass shooting event, right? And I think when you look at these events in Sacramento and New York City, that you get this reaction with how can we make our communities safer? What can we do? What can we leverage at scale? And you see the opportunity for emerging tech to come in. But routinely in our surveys, you find that there's some challenges around leveraging emerging tech in public safety. We saw that around facial recognition. We've seen that in artificial intelligence, and it gives rise to these privacy concerns, right? And you saw that in that same article. Is there also this negative impact for unnecessary searches because the machine or the sensor thinks there's a weapon when there's not? And all of a sudden now you've got higher caseloads and you're targeting individuals unfairly. So I think it's gonna be a balancing act, but I do think that community leaders across the country are gonna be looking at ways to try and make their communities safer. And they may look to investigate and pilot emerging tech as one of the many responses.

Jed, what are your thoughts on this?

Hey, if you ever wanna get emerging tech into a system, just wait for a violent event because that's when it gets people really start to, you know, that's when people really start to consider it. You know, you think about 9/11, And how that changed everything as far as our airport experience is concerned. And by the way, recently I went through the airport and I went through the metal detection system. They didn't find anything and they decided to pat me down after that. And honestly, I took, I took offense to that, but that's just the reality that we live in now. Obviously, if you're trying to get on a subway train in New York City, you don't want to be slowed down at all. I mean, anyone who has ever been in New York City is extremely fast-paced. Everyone has something to do, and they're trying to get to where they're needing to go. So that's where this technology comes into play. It seems that people could just pass through it; they wouldn't have to put their arms up or anything like that. But like Joe just alluded to, there are concerns that this could misidentify a weapon, for example, and then pull someone out from the crowd. And what if they miss a train just because of that? I mean, that might be the least concern that they have, but. They could miss a train. Of course, they might feel violated, especially if they have nothing on them. And so this is something that really just speaks to a problem that we have in society that goes beyond technology. You know, there's a rise in violence. I feel like the society is almost morally discombobulated. It's like we're not all on the same page on what's right and wrong. And so sometimes we panic and we feel like technology can be the answer, but we should always ask the question, is it really the answer?

Yeah, and I think the key in all of this that we've seen is that, you know, the reason why people ban emerging technologies is a lack of understanding. I mean, in some of the use cases that are not documented, of course there's a bad use case and a good use case for everything. So I think in all of this, it really shows that state and local agencies have to have transparency in the emerging uses of some of these. If they're piloting it, that's great, but you know, share that with the public, share the results of that, let them kind of understand that use case and how their data is being used and, you know, put a human in the loop on it so that, you know, no one is kind of, you know, taken out unless they're Jed going through airport security. So, all right. So without further ado, let's bring in our guest. She's the Senior Vice President of the Center for Digital Government, a former CIO for California, Michigan, and DOD. She has her own Wikipedia page as well. Welcome to the fold, Terri.

Thank you.

Again, thanks for joining us.

Hi, Dustin and Joe, it's great to see you.

All right, so, you know, for the past 2 years there's been a lot of changes in how governments interface with citizens, providing digital services and approaching, you know, government and the way they deliver services digitally. Now, for 5 years, the Center for Digital Government has recognized state and local governments for the progress they've made online with government experience, and our awards process for that is opening up Nominations are now open for this year's awards, so I'd love for you to maybe break down a little bit more about what you're looking for from nominees this year.

Well, first of all, Dustin, let me just kick off by saying we just spent a day and a half with the top cities and counties in the nation, and this digital experience and, and really the citizen experience is at the top of their list, and it's actually driving many of the changes that they're looking to do from a total innovation standpoint. But one of the things that's really changing in the program and has changed over time, as Dustin well remembers, when he started this program, it was about websites. It is no longer about websites. It's really about that overall citizen experience. It's an omnichannel experience, and what we are looking for And many of the cities and counties and states are still working on it, is how do they ensure, for instance, that you can start a process on the website and then be able to finish it on the mobile site and then actually be able to get delivery of that service also on your mobile device. So we're looking much more broadly than the websites. We're also looking at how they're using social media. And also looking at how they're using all of the different channels to be able to reach their constituents and actually be able to provide increased services.

You know, Terry, you're right. I remember all the way going back to, you know, our Best of the Web days and looking at the state and local government portals and government experiences about a lot more than just an online service. What you're really looking for is what you identified, this next-level transformation of the government experience. Can you share with us some examples of previous winners to kind of Inspire those to apply?

Absolutely, Joe. I'll just give you some examples. For instance, starting with chatbots. I mean, chatbots just exploded, given the— particularly around the pandemic and the need to actually be able to get citizen services more quickly and more effectively. So for instance, last year, the Arkansas.gov chatbot conducted more than 48,000 automated conversations. And it not only served the citizens, but it actually compensated, if you will, for the need to hire additional staff. And it meant that staff wasn't so much tied up with answering calls, and they could be out actually doing some of the more difficult work. In St. Louis County, Missouri, there's a chatbot that they named Bernard. And with the data analytics that went with it, they were actually able to get some great feedback on their website. We also have federal projects, and the IRS actually launched its first virtual assistant to really help with their secure access registration and authentication. Then finally, I'll give you the city of San Leandro, California developed what they call City Chat. Which was a geofence-based multilingual mobile chatbot app. And it really gave real-time information around 911, 311, permits, parks and recreation, all that were within a mile of the citizen's location. So I think that's a great example when we talk about the expansion beyond websites, I think that City Chat is a great, great example of that.

Terri, thanks again for coming on the show and talking with us about this. You know, for our aspiring or new government leaders out there, when they look at some of the projects from previous winners, they might think that some of this stuff looks intimidating. So for those who are coming up through the ranks in government, or perhaps those who are thinking about switching gears and joining government, What advice would you give them for kicking off and undertaking ambitious government experience-focused projects?

Well, you know, Jed, I'm really going to also focus on the second part of your question because, you know, we're really thinking more and more about how do we get people interested in joining government. And these government experience projects are the best example because you don't need deep technology experience. There are those that can assist with that, and there are tools now that really give you the way to actually implement. So we're looking for people who, number one, have some marketing experience, perhaps have been in sales, are looking at things like user experience, digital experience, that can sort of envision how to bring a commercial kind of retail experience To the citizens. And that's what we find is really, really innovative. The second thing I'd say is we're looking for people that are interested in the business of government. How does Health and Human Services deliver services? How does unemployment deliver services? And what are some ideas to make that better? So we think that these projects that we're looking for with government experience actually provide excitement around what government can do and are an excellent opportunity for those that are getting started in government to think about how they can bring innovative solutions.

Yeah, in other words, you're saying that these projects can kind of open up the conversation for people who are new to government.

Okay, very good. Exactly. And I think what we want to do is take away this stigma that you have to be a programmer or you have to be deeply embedded in the technology to make a difference. These projects, not at all. Not only that, there are many partners out there that really want to help deliver these solutions. Just great opportunity for folks to really get engaged and to feel really good about themselves in terms of what they can do for the citizens and constituents who are many times their neighbors.

Yeah, that's a very astute point. Very, very well said. So this year's winners will be announced at our GovX Summit, which is taking place on September 15th later this year. But the GovX Summit is more than just an award show. What else can people expect at the event?

Well, you know, Jed, last year with Dustin, we renamed that event our Academy. Because what we like to do, back to your earlier point about how do people get engaged, we like to share those success stories. Because very often it'll get somebody thinking about, wow, if somebody's doing that over here, how in fact might I do something similar? So we go through the overall results and then we bring on the winners. And Dustin interviews them to talk about what are the great things they're doing, what are the great things they're planning to do, which gives everyone just a great opportunity to think forward into what they want to do next.

All right.

Lastly, what are some of the need-to-knows about this year's nomination process and the GovX Summit? Who's eligible and where can our audience go to learn a little bit more about it?

All right, so first of all, we have our overall, what we call our overall awards, and that is for a city, a county, or a state. And we actually judge across all of the elements of their omnichannel experience. We want to hear their strategy, how they're getting customer feedback. So that's the overall awards. And one thing that's really important is that if you have technology partners that you're working with, they can certainly help you, but we want the submission to actually come from a government person. Now, one other thing I'll say about our overall awards is if you are a county, some of the questions in the government experience you actually have answered in your county survey. So you can just lift those and bring them over. If you're a state, same thing, depending on where you are in our digital state survey process. For the city folks, if they fill out the government experience awards, they'll be able to use those data when they answer our digital cities awards. So that was something we did this year to streamline the process, but also be able to make sure it's complete. The second category of awards is our project awards. And we encourage this for, by the way, not only cities, counties, and states, but also the federal government. And here we're looking for individual projects that the jurisdiction really feels stands out. And so you don't have to submit to the overall to submit projects, and you can also submit projects if you submit to the overall. So it gives you an opportunity to reward your teams that worked really hard on a particular area and a particular area of actual constituent benefit. Now, I will also say that that includes any of the COVID-19 response, anything that you did around vaccines. We had a separate category for that when we started, but now we've molded that right in. Then just some vital statistics, Dustin. The survey closes on May 19th, and so we'd encourage everybody to start working on your submissions now. You can go out, as you see here, to www.govtech.com/cdg. It has all of our awards programs there, our Digital Counties, our Government Experience, our Digital States, For those of you that are in the cities, the city survey is going to be coming later in the year. That's also where you'll find that survey.

Well, that's great, Terry. Before we go, we'd like to give you an opportunity to speak about what you're working on at the moment, what's caught your attention, what you're reading. What's on your mind lately?

Well, I think that one of the things that is really still out there, Joe, is different approaches and different ways to think about this question of getting adequate staffing and how that effectively is the CIO's biggest challenge. And a part of that is not only how do you look at new and innovative ways to be able to attract and retain folks, similar to what Jed was talking about in terms of how do you get people engaged, but also how do you make sure that you have a diverse workforce workforce? And then also, how do you make sure that everything you do is accessible? And that really means that you need to have some of those other views from a diversity perspective. The next is in the cybersecurity area. Clearly, while everybody's talking about zero trust, it's really around what does it take to implement? So identity management, multifactor authentication, how is everyone really, really looking at that. And so those are just a couple that actually, Joe, came out of our digital communities effort. The last one I'd give you is that the CIOs are feeling enormous pressure now. They've got money, but they've got— they really have to deliver, and the staffing is, you know, a lot of pressure on them. But I think that sense of urgency to get innovative technologies out into the hands of the business will only continue to accelerate.

So those are some, some pretty big items on the list. So thank you for sharing. Well, that's all the time that we have for today. We want to thank Terri for joining us and taking time out of your schedule to do that. And we want to thank you all for watching. Tune in next week at 12:00 Pacific on LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter For more In Case You Missed It. Have a wonderful weekend.