Bottom Line Up Front: The “Digital Transformation” is a series of reforms the Government has been undertaking the last few years, and it rewrites all of Government acquisition to make it friendlier to new businesses.
The Digital Transformation?
Yes, take a look at this recent job listing for the Smithsonian:
“Head of Digital Transformation”? What is “Digital Transformation”?
Up until very recently, becoming a Government supplier was a nightmare because it involved mountains of red tape. The process was so nightmarishly cumbersome, it kept out a huge part of the commercial world out. It just wasn’t worth the bureaucratic headaches! But it turns out that over the past six years, the Federal Government has been reforming the way it buys things; it has been rewriting the rules and regulations from the ground up.
About six years ago, President Obama brought in some Silicon Valley friends to help teach the Feds how to do software “the Silicon Valley way.” As they began to overhaul the Government’s software regulations, they realized it couldn’t be done without overhauling, well, everything. Although the original intent had been to fix software acquisition and development, they ended up fixing the entirety of Government acquisition. All of it. The original name stuck, so that’s why it’s called the “Digital Transformation.”
One thing the Feds realized is that only a tiny fraction of businesses were willing to go through the preposterous process of becoming Government suppliers. Which meant the majority of American innovation was passing them by. Cool new technology was coming out all the time, but those companies had no interest in putting themselves through the wringer to sell to the Government.
So the Government decided to scrap the entirety of acquisition regulations and rewrite them again from the ground up, this time with the intent of making it more friendly and welcoming of American businesses large and small. They lowered the barriers of entry, and made it easier to sell your products and services without the mountain of red tape you previously had to deal with in the past.
Great. What’s It Got To Do With Me?
If you are a medium or small businesses, the Federal Government has rolled out the red carpet for you!
Not only have they scrapped the cumbersome old rules, they have also launched a heap of small-business initiatives! They have set up business incubators, tech accelerators, small-business outreach offices, and a ton of other things! The amount of things they’re doing with this Digital Transformation is so huge, it’s going to take me months to tell you all about them!
But the bottom line is that the Feds want to hear from your small businesses, and it’s never been a better time to knock on their door!