All posts by : Shamima A

The Army Corps of Engineers delivers critical public and military engineering services, whether it’s managing the waterways that keep the nation’s economy moving, restoring critical infrastructure when disaster strikes,  building military facilities, or protecting wetlands and wildlife habitats. The Corps also delivers a wide range of IT services and capabilities to support its diverse missions.

The Corps manages thousands of software applications that support their mission customers. Dovarius Peoples, the corps’ former chief information officer who now serves as the General Services Administration’s deputy CIO, said the organization is in the midst of modernizing its major business systems, including its project management system, its financial management system, and its real estate management system.

“That’s just a few of the many systems that we’re modernizing, and they’re on the cloud journey,” said Peoples.

The Corps currently operates two main data centers—one in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and the other in Portland, Oregon—which house the Corps’ IT infrastructure and support its various operations. These data centers, however, experience frequent damage to physical cables due to car accidents and construction work, resulting in lost connectivity or degraded performance.

To address these challenges, the Corps is relocating these data centers to more optimal locations at Equinix data centers in San Jose, California, and Ashburn, Virginia. The move will centralize data operations and improve the Corps’ connectivity and resilience by positioning them closer to major cloud providers such as AWS and Microsoft Azure.

“From a Corps of Engineers perspective, we’re going through the various aspects of data center consolidation. We’re also going through app assessment as well as app rationalization, and we’re going through modernization. We are implementing various aspects of zero trust inside of our hybrid concept, and we’re focusing on that end state of being that of data but allowing our mission partners as well as our customers to be able to control some of that end state as well,” said Peoples.

The Corps plans to to complete its hybrid cloud implementation by the end of the fiscal 2025. Peoples said they expect to have their financial management system functioning within this new cloud environment by that time as well.

The transition to a hybrid cloud is in full swing, but the organization is carefully considering its data costs, specifically its expenses related to uploading and retrieving its data. The goal is to ensure the information is accessible when it’s needed while optimizing storage costs and keeping expenses under control.

“As we continue to evolve in our modernization journey, we’re applying those aspects as lessons learned to not repeat some of those things as it pertains to app refactoring, app migration, app assessment, as well as the data aspect from a storage perspective,” said Peoples.

Transitioning to a hybrid environment

From a mission readiness standpoint, moving to the cloud has allowed the Crops to have backup systems in place to ensure continuous operation in case of a failure.

It has also allowed the organization to avoid costs associated with hardware purchases through shifting to Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions where applicable.

As for the long-term strategy, however, Peoples said the Corps is considering whether there will ever be a need to shift back to on-premises solutions in the future.

“One of the things we’re keeping in mind as we begin to look at this, the question that a lot of technicians should be asking themselves is, how long will the cloud in a major cloud capability continue to be prevalent? Will we ever go back to this on-prem aspects of things?” said Peoples.

“From a Corps of Engineers perspective, that’s why we evolved. And we looked at this from a hybrid concept because there’s going to be a significant time where you’re going to have to bring those resources back on-prem. So from a budgeting perspective, we’re also looking at when that will happen or when that requirement will come into play. To avoid that, we’re taking a streamlined approach to identifying what can really be hosted inside of a pure cloud environment without any mission impacts, disruptions, or the requirement to bring those back on-prem at a certain point.”

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Tom Temin And just give us the brief background on the Recompete Pilot Program. These are recompeting for pilots to do what?

Rachael Sun So the Recompete program at its core is a program that’s designed to invest grant funding into economically distressed communities across the country. Really, the goal here is to tackle this distress with a focus on jobs. So of the six awardees we were very excited to announce last month, really, And most of them focus on one of two things. So either a strategy to create jobs in communities that either no longer have them or have been historically underinvested in, or to perhaps invest in communities where there are access to good jobs. But certain parts of the community have been left out of the access. So in those communities, it might be certain barriers that leave people out of the economy, whether that’s workforce training, access to wraparound services, things like that. But really, at its core, this program is a jobs program with a focus on places that have been historically left behind across the country.

Tom Temin And the release describes this as finalists, these six areas as finalists. So there was a first round in which many more communities got sort of seed funding.

Rachael Sun Yep. Great question. So maybe just going backwards about a year. I can give a bit of context on the program origin and how we got to this point. But the recompete program was authorized as part of the 2022 Chips and Science Act. So we received authorization for appropriations up to $1 billion. We were very lucky to receive $200 million in appropriations in fiscal 2023 to really pilot the first round of the competition. And so backtracking about a year, we launched the notice of funding opportunity as a two phase competition to your question. So in the first phase, really, we asked applicants to come to us and say, Hey, at the highest level, what is the concept for your plan to address economic distress for your community? In that phase, we received 565 applications. So this was the highest subscribed competition we’ve ever run at the Economic Development Administration. Really speaking to the level of demand across the country. That 565 at the end of phase 1 became 22. So we selected 22 finalists. President Biden announced them in December of last year. And those 22 finalists really represented the top 10% of the country in terms of plans that we really believed in, that we thought this is a real strategy to address economic distress, really improve employment in these communities that have been so left behind. So that was phase one to phase two. And then phase two or to announcement, which is what you just referenced. So the 22 became six. We were able to award those six anywhere from $20 million to $40 million each in grant funding to really then move forward and implement the strategies that they had proposed. And then in parallel, we also awarded over the past year about 24 strategy development grants. So those grants are about half $1 million each, really intended to help teams continue to refine their strategies as we know this stuff takes time, and we really want to see the work go forward.

Tom Temin And you mentioned the money originally came from the Chips and Science Act. Are these grants, do they have anything to do with semiconductor production or manufacturing in any way what the strategies are?

Rachael Sun Great question. So it was authorized through the Chips and Science Act, but the specific activities of focus for recompete are as related to direct some conductor investments. Really, the activities that we’re funding are within the spectrum of what EDA would generally fund, and we’re quite flexible on that. So we’re funding anything from workforce training programs to small business supports to building infrastructure to coordination and governance dollars within these communities. But I do want to take a step back and put it in context of why it was authorized through chips. So while we could be as a program focused on distressed communities, we know broadly that here at the EDA, our mission is to prepare American regions for competitiveness on the global stage and to be really competitive and secure in this global economy. And so we can get to role within that as we know that it’s impossible to do this while we know that many parts of the country continue to be left behind. And so through programs like recompete, we can bring those left behind communities and really invest in them so that they can achieve economies that work for both their local residents but also thrive within the global economy.

Tom Temin We are speaking with Rachael Sun. She’s acting director of the Recompete Pilot Program, part of the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration. And just two of the areas that I know a little bit about Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Birmingham, Alabama. Those are places that used to be wealthy in the metalworking and metal processing, steel and so on, which has mostly fled almost all of the United States. Just describe for us briefly those two areas. What did they do and what will they be doing with this grant money?

Rachael Sun Yeah, totally. Thanks for bringing this up, Tom. So on Allentown exactly speaking to what you just mentioned, what we’re seeing in the Allentown community and more broadly within the Lehigh Valley region is a resurgence in manufacturing. So as you said, historically, steel focus, historically industrial. Now seeing actually growth in manufacturing sectors above the national average. And so that’s kind of what the team said to us. Hey, we’re seeing all this regional growth, but there are three specific neighborhoods within the city of Allentown that have not really been seeing the benefits of this growth. And so we see residents there, about 70% of the community there is Hispanic or Latino, where we actually do see really high unemployment. And so we see poverty rates at about 34% in those communities. We see that the number of working age adults in those communities significantly lags the national average rate. And so they said, Hey, we’re really going to take this opportunity to zone in and take a highly targeted approach, and propose a plan that really gets residents in this communities to those good jobs that are in the surrounding region.

Rachael Sun So to speak a bit more to that. We just awarded them $20 million to implement a series of eight different projects. Those projects fall into a couple of categories. So they have a workforce development training program that’s intended to reach those residents. They have some work focused on child care. We know across the board that child care continues to be a barrier for residents to access good jobs and even participate in training. So part of the funding will be to bridge those gaps and also to increase the supply of child care in that community. Another bucket of funding for them will go towards improving transportation access. So how are you expected to continue to retain a job or retain training without affordable, easy transportation to those locations? And then the last piece is focused on continuing to invest in local manufacturing, continue to invest in the infrastructure needed to bring small businesses and jobs into the community. And so we’re really excited about this program, because as you can tell we have a pretty broad funding remit to give flexible funding towards communities in a locally driven way. And that’s what we’re seeing happening in Allentown and excited to kick off that grant over the next few months.

Tom Temin And by the way, what do they make now in the Lehigh Valley? Do we have any sense of what’s driving that manufacturing resurgence?

Rachael Sun It’s a great question. So I think there’s a lot of tradition in the Lehigh Valley, and especially we were just in Allentown last Monday doing high customization, low volume manufacturing. So the strategy really isn’t to choose a specific sector per se, but you have all of these manufacturing business owners who are able to say, Hey, we can take you end to end on a product development and really be able to customize this product. So it really varies across the spectrum. Anything from water sanitation products to thinking about industrial manufacturing to other sectors. But really the specialty is being able to customize to the degree possible.

Tom Temin So it’s not motors for electric cars, for example, quite yet.

Rachael Sun Multiple sectors, but yes, focusing on quite a few.

Tom Temin And what about Birmingham?

Rachael Sun Yeah, totally. So in Birmingham, this is also one of our places where you see that the strategy is there are actually quite a lot of good jobs. But again, people really can’t get to those jobs. So they’re focused on four neighborhoods on the northwestern side of Birmingham, and these are four neighborhoods that have been historically redlined predominantly black, have seen the effects of multiple decades of disinvestment. And so really in Birmingham, there’s a focus here on employer commitments that we saw above and beyond in the competition. This team was able to bring in employer commitments of nearly 4,000 plus jobs, where over the course of the year that they participated in this competition, the team went around to the Coca-Cola Bottling Company. They went around to the local pipe fitting company, to the local Birmingham utility company and say, Hey, we are applying for federal funding up to 20 to $50 million. And what we’d like to do is ask you to say, Hey, if we get this funding, will you commit to hiring residents from these communities, even though we know that there’s some cost to you. And so they were actually able to secure again 4,000 plus commitments to hire from these companies, which is really exciting. And then similarly, our funding is going towards workforce training led by a local HBCU, similarly going towards a black business entrepreneurship center. So a center that brings together a lot of entrepreneurship support orgs in the region to be able to bring folks into the economy, not just to train and get a job, but in some cases start their own business. And then similarly, transportation, childcare, things that we see as common barriers to attaining employment.

Tom Temin And just a final question on some of those issues that you hope are helped by these grants, including childcare and transportation, those are ongoing issues for families. Do the strategies include a way to make those sustaining locally in the community? Because if federal dollars for, say, paying for childcare run out, then what? People are back where they started in some sense.

Rachael Sun Absolutely. It’s a great question and something that we often discuss with our grantees, especially now that we’ve asked the competition stage and now we have to implement. So the push that we’ve given and what the grantees shared with us is, we’re not just providing stopgap funding for these wraparound services, we’re actually increasing the supply overall or making investments that are intended to increase supply, such that we’re not saying here’s a voucher to go get childcare for the training program, which is part of the scope. But in addition to that, we’re saying, Hey, what does this child care operator or this child care provider actually need to do to increase and improve its business model so that it can be sustainable long term even when funding dries up? I do think broadly, it’s a great point that you raise. This funding is nowhere near, I think the amount that was needed for the program. We saw such demand across different places in the country. So I do think with more funding we’d be able to continue to pilot different ways to improve the sustainability of these plans. But it’s really a good question and something that’s top of mind for us as well.

Tom Temin And first of all, we should start with the fact that you are a former Fed executive yourself.

Russell Robinson Yes, 22 years of federal service. I started out with the Department of Education in 2000, seven years there, and then went to the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA), five years, then three years at the Veterans Affairs (VA). And then my last eight years was at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a component called Program Support Center, which was a shared service entity within the Office of the Secretary.

Tom Temin All right. So you’ve covered the geography as well the agency stuff. And the Key Executive Leadership Program that’s been a part of the School of Public Service for a long time also.

Russell Robinson Yeah. The Key Executive Leadership Program is in its 49th year, and its mission in civil service, public service, specifically, federal service is to turn ordinary managers into extraordinary leaders. And I’m actually a proud alum of the master’s program there.

Tom Temin All right. And our friend and regular guest, Bob Tobias, ran the Key Executive Leadership Program, and was a professor in it, I think, almost as long as it was.

Russell Robinson Yeah, Bob is one of the most brilliant, I was going to say federal minds, but he is one of the most brilliant minds in the game. And he was the director of the program when I was there. And he handed off the reins to my good friend Patrick Malone. And Patrick has been running, I believe for the last 11 years.

Tom Temin All right. Well, let’s get to what’s new here, and that is the Key Undergraduate Leadership Program that you’re heading up. What is that all about?

Russell Robinson Yeah. So the again, the Key Executive Leadership Program really gets to how do we turn ordinary managers to extraordinary leaders. And we really focus on creating leaders who focus on self-awareness, emotional intelligence, building relationships, as well as delivering results. And as I said, we’ve been doing that for 49 years. And I think a couple of years ago, our provost, Vicki Wilkins, was having a conversation with an undergrad student who was basically saying there’s no room for humility and vulnerability in leadership. And I think they had a meeting of the minds and was like, why are we waiting to teach this outstanding type of leadership to middle age, mid-career senior executives? And they decided to start this at the undergrad level.

Tom Temin So in other words, an undergraduate had said you have to be a dictator to be a leader, essentially. And Vicki said, wait a minute, we got to get to this generation sooner.

Russell Robinson Well, and I think part of that is we have focused so much on with undergraduates on delivering results. And I think Tom, you get older and you realize, well, delivering results are great. But it’s also about connecting and building relationships. And I think that aspect of leadership and also culture wasn’t being stressed. And there’s a gentleman by the name of Howard Husock, who’s with the American Enterprise Institute, and he wrote a position paper basically saying public administration schools across the country aren’t preparing leaders for public administration work. In essence, he was making the argument for the key program and undergraduate program, but he was tasking universities, public administration, schools at the grad level, and we’re doing it at the undergrad level. So I’ve got 23, 18 year olds who just started this semester on this journey of learning this value of leadership that focuses on strategy, agility, connection and self-reflection. Those are our four pillars.

Tom Temin And these 23, 18 year olds aspire to civil service careers.

Russell Robinson They’re amazing. I got a young man who plans to be the president of the United States. I have one who wants to be secretary of state. I also have students who want to go into law, and there are certain policies within public administration that are their passion projects. So there’s this aspect of we created this program to teach a new type of leadership, but we’re also hoping that we are going to create a pipeline for this young talent, this young Gen Z talent, into public administration. And I’ll be honest, it would be great if it was at the federal level. But if it can happen at the state or county level or city level, that’s just as fine because I think from a public administration standpoint, that’s where public administration lives and dies is that state and local level.

Tom Temin We’re speaking with Dr. Russell Robinson. He’s a professor in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at American University. And tell us more about your observations of these Generation Z people. They often, I think, get mischaracterized by people that never met any of them as stuck on TikTok and all of this nonsense, which some of them are, frankly. But that’s not universal, is it?

Russell Robinson No, I’m blown away by their passion to want to serve public administration. This isn’t the group that says, I want to get into government, and I’m going to get a SES and get my high three so I can do X, Y and Z. They’re committed to individual passions, whether it is the environment. We have one who wants to go into government law to change policies toward violence, towards sexual abuse victims. Very strong, but it’s interesting. Last academic year between, I’m still a professor in the Key Executive Leadership Program, and last year my student age range was 20-62. And in my my classes with my Gen Zs and millennials, I said, Hey, what do the the federal leaders my age, Gen X and the baby boomers need to know about what you want from leadership in public service. And then I went to my key certificate classes where I’m teaching Gen Xs and baby boomers saying, Hey, what did the Gen Zs and millennials want from a leadership standpoint to want to be in public administration? And the disconnect is scary. The younger group that we want into public service, we hear all this information from OPM about this retirement cliff and we’ve got to get this younger group in. And I don’t think we’re scratching the surface where they’re even being heard or understood. And they grew up  different. I got a 24 year old trying to convince him of life before dial up internet is a scary thing. So they have a take on things that is different from my take. But at the end of the day, they want to feel heard. They want to feel valued. They want to feel like they belong to a part of a tribe. And that’s the same with everybody.

Tom Temin There’s also the sense that they can thrive and enjoy organizational life, which is a lot of human interaction.

Russell Robinson Yes. And there’s also this aspect of you are a leader, but I go back to results in relationships. It’s also this understanding that at 18 you need to start to understand that to deliver results are great, but oftentimes what gets you in the door or gets you ahead or gets you known is how you build relationships with people. And I don’t think that is something that has been stressed at the undergraduate level. But I teach in the certificate program, and I teach people my age who have not focused on the relationship aspect.

Tom Temin Sure. And as I happen to be one of the last boomers still around in the workforce, I found and you probably found this too, and probably what you teach in the executive leadership panel is that just treat people as human beings, respect them and don’t have a priori expectations for how they’ll think just because of their age.

Russell Robinson So there’s a gentleman by the name of Kevin Oakes, who is the founder of the Institute for Corporate Productivity, and they’re doing a lot of future of work research. And what they are talking about, this future of work is really based on leaders who, one, they’re curious. So they’re always in a learning state. The focus over having the right answer is asking the right question. But that also includes bringing various stakeholders into the conversation. And I think in a post-COVID world, post George Floyd world, if you’re doing if you’re leading based on how you led 15 years ago, you’re not, I think most workers in the workforce at the end of the day are really articulating this desire to feel some sort of human connection and to be treated with dignity in the workforce. And I think this program, again, we’re starting with 18 year olds and giving them a leadership foundation that really leans in toward a future of work.