The U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) mission is to provide policy leadership and expertly managed space, supplies, services, and IT solutions, at the best value, to enable federal agencies to accomplish their missions.

The Office of Technology Strategy mission is to develop, coordinate, and define ways that electronic and information technology business strategies, broadly defined, will assist the Federal Government to operate more effectively and efficiently, and deliver improved services to citizens. It provides consultation and advisory assistance on issues pertaining to electronic business and technology; plans, develops and directs Governmentwide activities to support the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), interagency committees and other Federal agencies; improves the application and management of information technology and telecommunications resources within the Federal Government; participates in the development, analysis and evaluation of Governmentwide technology issues, policies and legislation, and reviews and evaluates management policies and objectives related to E-Government and information technology.

Today’s government-wide policy development emphasizes collaborative development among federal agencies, the private sector, key stakeholders and other interested parties. The goal is to ensure that government-wide policies and guidance allow and encourage agencies to develop and utilize the best, most cost effective management practices for the conduct of their specific programs. The Office of Technology Strategy assists agencies and OMB by coordinating and defining ways that electronic information technology can enhance access and delivery of information and services to citizens, business partners, employees, agencies, and government entities. It also works with other GSA components to align service offerings with evolving IT policy. Our principles are to assist OMB in the leadership of information technology to:

• Deliver customer-centric approaches rather than stove-piped Agency-centric processes
• Require and assist agencies to achieve technical and procedural interoperability across government and with industry partners.
• Provide common access to Government services and information via government-wide portals that are organized around the needs of communities of customers.
• Build strong privacy protection, confidentiality, and trust.
• Influence industry technology development to meet government needs, and adopt commercial products, practices, and standards.
• Foster strong interagency, inter-organizational, and cross sector leadership to promote the sharing of information and leading practices.
• Re-engineer paper-based processes to produce results that will dramatically improve service and responsiveness while reducing costs.

The Technology Strategy office also supports various interagency committees involved in technology policy and implementation, including the Chief Information Officers Council, Chief Acquisition Officer’s Council, Chief Financial Officers Council and the Federal Identity Credentialing Committee (FICC). The FICC addresses internal government identity credentialing directives and provides a policy, governance, technical, and architectural framework for strong authentication of identity. It has been instrumental in developing and providing detailed implementation tools for agency and industry use, standardization of technical guidance, and a common acquisition strategy that calls for agencies to implement federally approved products. The FICC also makes recommendations to OMB regarding establishment, demonstration, and operation of the Federal Identity Credentialing component of the Federal Enterprise Architecture.

The Technology Strategy office works with government and non-government partners to ensure privacy laws and principles are adhered to and individual privacy is protected in the development and implementation of all federal electronic applications.

Websites:
· E-Authentication - http://www.cio.gov/eauthentication
· Federal Bridge Certification Authority - http://www.cio.gov/fbca
· Federal Identity Credentialing Committee - http://www.cio.gov/ficc
· Federal PKI Policy Authority - http://www.cio.gov/fpkipa
· Federal PKI Steering Committee - http://www.cio.gov/fpkisc
· Federal Smart Card - http://www.smartcard.gov