7/27/23: Stretching modernization dollars at the IRS; end of an era for a federal employee leader; solving one of the government’s biggest culture problems

The Internal Revenue Service will award a procurement worth up to $1.7 billion to modernize its Integrated Enterprise Portals platform. The agency says that platform “served over 11.4 billion page views to 660 million site visitors globally.” Richard Spires, principal at Richard A. Spires Consulting and former Chief Information Officer at the Department of Homeland Security and the Internal Revenue Service, tells you how the IRS can maximize the money it will spend on its modernization.Richard’s first book: Success in the Technology FieldNew book coming soon: Government Can DeliverThe National Treasury Employee Union will have a new leader soon. That transition will happen next month. Tony Reardon is the outgoing President of the National Treasury Employees Union. I asked him about the current state of the civil service and the employees that make it up, and what he sees ahead for his successor and other federal employee leaders.Sexual harassment complaints are down 92% aboard research vessels the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration operates. NOAA’s Deputy Undersecretary for Operations, Benjamin Friedman, says that change required transforming “the whole operation and its culture.” Rear Admiral Nancy Hann, Director of NOAA’s Commissioned Corps and Director of the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, is a finalist for a Service to America Medal in the Management Excellence category. She told me how she and the NOAA team built a structure, and a culture, that’s cutting the harassment numbers, and serving employees better.Photo: NOAA’s RADM Nancy Hann (Image credit: NOAA/Lt. Kevin Doreums)