Often taken for granted in the eight weeks since the coronavirus pandemic struck is one simple but vital truth: the linchpin holding together the Federal government’s ability to provide crucial services is the technology that ties the enterprise together. Federal IT has literally brought us together – as a government, and as a nation. As government IT operations achieve steady-state and look to the next chapter of digital modernization, MeriTalk is chronicling the untold stories – and lessons – of that effort. Today we check in with the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services (TTS) operation…
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TTS Speeds Rapid Response to Agencies – CIO Q&A
If you asked a hundred people on the street what they knew about TTS, you’d be hard-pressed to get a good answer. But if you’re a Federal agency CIO with an eye on IT modernization, the reply might as likely be, “I have them on speed-dial.”
A comparatively small unit of just a few hundred souls, TTS in normal times signs on with agencies to spearhead modernization projects – think cloud, infrastructure, contact centers and so forth. But in these extraordinary times, TTS has been the go-to for pandemic response assistance that had to get done yesterday.
First, the story by the numbers. TTS has thrown in well over 10,000 work-hours – and up to 20 percent of its talent pool – to tackle rapid Federal agency pandemic response. One jewel in that crown is authentication technology to support the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) which has facilitated more than a half trillion (yes, that’s trillion with a T) of funding to keep businesses afloat, with more than 110,000 log-ons.

Another is vital citizen service work with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to set up telehealth.hhs.gov to provide resources to a highly-concerned public – and getting it done in a week. Add to that almost 1,000 FedRAMP reusability requests, work to meet spiking demand on USA.gov to the tune of 2.5 million website hits, and moving contact centers to telework amid a 75 percent increase in call volumes, and you start to get the idea.
So who are you going to call for IT help in a pandemic? It might just be this guy – Anil Cheriyan, Deputy Commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service and Director of TTS. In an exclusive interview with MeriTalk, Cheriyan tells the story of how the organization tossed itself into the middle of the fight. And he offers the biggest lesson for government going forward – now is the time to move faster on digital transformation.
MeriTalk: Can you provide some metrics to illustrate the success of your work during the pandemic that ties to Federal agency missions?
Cheriyan: TTS has spent well over 10,000 work-hours on COVID-19 response. Between our 18F, Centers of Excellence, and Presidential Innovation Fellows organizations we are already tied up in work with numerous agencies, and so naturally we were asked to do a significant amount for agencies on pandemic response. Our platforms, like login.gov and cloud.gov, are in huge demand right now as agencies get more digital adoption.
And then with our FedRAMP systems, we’ve had around 1,000 requests in terms of reusability of FedRAMP that’s coming in from all of the different agencies. And lastly, we’ve got citizen-wide services – things like USA.gov, digital.gov, search.gov, and all of those have really spiked in terms of demand.
MeriTalk: Can you give us specific examples looking at cloud adoption, infrastructure optimization, contact centers, and customer experience?
Cheriyan: There are some examples we can’t talk about yet because we need agencies to give us the approval to do so,