Wanted! Technology Modernization Projects

Join us as TMF Executive Director Raylene Yung, tackles some pressing questions about the Technology Modernization Fund. How can agencies access this fund? Who's responsible for green-lighting projects? And who ensures things stay on track? Her insights provide a clearer understanding of TMF's pivotal role in fostering government tech advancements.

Want to know more?

For a deeper dive into the Technology Modernization Fund, look at these resources to learn more.

• Technology Modernization Fund Website
• Getting Started with the TMF

"GSA Does That!?" is the U.S. General Services Administration's first agency-wide podcast, offering listeners an inside look into how GSA and its partners benefit the American people. Hosted by Rob Trubia, the podcast features interviews with GSA leaders, experts, partners, and customers, covering topics such as federal real estate, acquisitions, and technology. The title reflects many's surprise at the scope of GSA's impact. At the same time, the artwork pays homage to President Harry S. Truman, who established GSA in 1949 to improve government efficiency and save taxpayer money. Whether you're a policy wonk or just curious about government operations, you can join the listener community.

For more information about the show visit, gsa.gov/podcast.

Transcript

00;00;06;16 - 00;00;37;26

Rob Trubia

Hey, welcome back to another episode of GSA Does That!? the podcast that uncovers the stories behind the federal agency delivering effective and efficient government. I'm your host, Rob Trubia. And today we're talking about government technology modernization, specifically the Technology Modernization Fund or TMF and our guest for today's episode, the executive director of the TMF. Raylene Yung. The TMF isn't just another bureaucratic term born from the modernizing government Technology Act of 2017.

00;00;37;29 - 00;00;59;03

Rob Trubia

This innovative fund is a game changer. You'll learn it offers agencies new avenues to speed up the conversion to digital services across government and ensure that every taxpayer dollar is spent wisely and efficiently. So how do agencies apply for the fund? And who decides which ideas are approved? And just who ensures these funds are spent right? Get the answers to these questions and more.

00;00;59;06 - 00;01;25;19

Rob Trubia

In our conversation with Raylene So whether you represent an agency with a problem to solve or just someone curious about where your taxpayer dollars are being spent, stay tuned. We're about to enter the world of the TMF and the incredible changes it's bringing to our nation's technology landscape. So we're here with Raylene Yung, the Technology Modernization Fund executive director, and we are excited to have her here as a guest, Raylene

00;01;25;19 - 00;01;27;28

Rob Trubia

thank you for joining us.

00;01;28;00 - 00;01;29;23

Raylene Yung

Thank you so much for having me.

00;01;29;25 - 00;01;52;00

Rob Trubia

So when I get an opportunity to meet somebody new, it's always exciting to me. And if we have time and I think we do right now, I'd like to learn a little bit about you before we launch into questions about TMF. I'm a curious guy, I love people. Tell me a little bit about where you grew up, where you went to school, and how you ended up as the executive director of TMF.

00;01;52;02 - 00;02;12;29

Raylene Yung

Yeah, in some ways it's funny looking back now, it seems maybe more connected than it felt like at the time. But I am from California, born and raised, grew up in Southern California and L.A. County, and I would say even from a young age, was always very interested in math and science, but also public services. I was a library kid, as I like to say.

00;02;12;29 - 00;02;40;22

Raylene Yung

Every weekend I would go to the library, check out a big stack of books and do the same thing the next week. And so I've always been curious about public services, civic engagement and that kind of math and science background. Fast forward many years. I started my career in Silicon Valley as a software engineer and worked on very large scale software platforms and products that quickly grew to serve billions of people and, you know, billions of transactions.

00;02;40;24 - 00;03;12;11

Raylene Yung

And so I got to see firsthand what it looked like to deliver technology effectively at scale. But all of that was happening in, you know, the private sector of private software companies. And so, you know, kind of a decade into that career, I finally got to kind of combine those two things of public services and technology and ended up founding a nonprofit during the COVID pandemic whose aim was to help state and local governments use technology more effectively to deliver services.

00;03;12;13 - 00;03;28;25

Raylene Yung

So I did that starting in 2020 and then 2021 and ended up joining GSA to lead the Technology Modernization Fund. So I feel like it's been really exciting to be here finally kind of connecting those two besides to interests that I've had for a long time.

00;03;29;00 - 00;03;48;15

Rob Trubia

Well, thanks for sharing that. And it's really I find that pretty fascinating what you're talking about sharing with COVID. That could be another podcast in itself. How COVID affected our use of technology and fast forwarded things and learn about your nonprofit. But we're here to talk about the technology modernization fund, which you lead, and a lot of people are not going to even know what that is.

00;03;48;15 - 00;03;54;21

Rob Trubia

So for our guests that don't know anything about it, what can you tell us about it? Give us a brief overview and what does it aim to do?

00;03;54;24 - 00;04;34;01

Raylene Yung

So as far as government programs go, I would say the Technology Modernization Fund is a relatively new program. We're actually entering our sixth year of an active investment in technology, and we're well, something that's very exciting about the program is that every year we have expanded and learned and kind of a bolder approach. But fundamentally, it is a very innovative investment program that sits in the federal government and serves the federal government, and we aim to help federal agencies deliver accessible, secure and people first services to the American public and to use the technology just far more effectively than they were before.

00;04;34;03 - 00;04;59;17

Raylene Yung

Today, we have over $750 million of active investment in federal technology modernization projects, and those are those represent 45 different investments made in 27 federal agencies. So we have quite a large footprint and basically coordinate and provide oversight and support to this quite broad and exciting portfolio of technology projects.

00;04;59;22 - 00;05;11;10

Rob Trubia

I think we all know the future of government services is certainly digital, more and more digital all of the time. How does TMF speed up the modernization of a digital government?

00;05;11;12 - 00;05;40;14

Raylene Yung

So one core tenet of the TMF and I think why we exist, effective technology investment does not really look the same as what a lot of investment and traditional government programs look like. So great example that we like to give is if you think about maybe staff or services that governments provide like buildings or, you know, spaces or vehicles or kind of operations, they have this more annual cycle where you sort of know, we serve this many people.

00;05;40;14 - 00;06;02;26

Raylene Yung

We have this much, you know, these many operations are supporting. You have a budget and you kind of execute on a budget. And every year you sort of repeat that. The big difference for technology is it's not always such a linear type of investment or program. Sometimes you have to spend a significant amount of energy and time to kind of overhaul your system to kind of bring it to the latest technology.

00;06;02;27 - 00;06;22;09

Raylene Yung

Sometimes that can be reactive. You're sort of responding to the latest cybersecurity threats or the kind of state of the world in security. And sometimes it's proactive where you realize that technology has advanced in such a way that you can upgrade what we have today and kind of speed things up, you know, tenfold. If you can make the right investments.

00;06;22;11 - 00;06;43;28

Raylene Yung

So I think what the TMF recognizes is that that technology style of investment and operations is not a one size fits all. It's not a kind of oh, it doesn't always fit perfectly well into the annual appropriations process in government. And so what the TMF provides is a very flexible model. You know, we provide funding that can be deployed within months.

00;06;44;01 - 00;07;07;13

Raylene Yung

The agencies need to address urgent issues like cybersecurity. ones. And we also provide integrated support. So not just funding, but also program management support, subject matter expertise. And we can kind of help support projects as they grow and integrate them and help them learn from other agencies, often tackling very similar problems.

00;07;07;16 - 00;07;26;08

Rob Trubia

So how is it different? Really help me understand how TMF is different than an agency. I'm thinking an agency out there is going, okay, we need to modernize this particular service that we provide to the public. We'll get that done. It's part of our budget we’ll make this happen. It's going to take this long. Where does TMF come in?

00;07;26;09 - 00;07;32;15

Rob Trubia

How is TMF different and how does it serve these agencies to allow them to go much faster?

00;07;32;17 - 00;07;53;17

Raylene Yung

So there are a few principles, I would say, of the TMF approach. I think first is that we very much complement the annual appropriations process so we can provide kind of an additional boost of funding that maybe helps accelerate something that the agency might otherwise have taken a decade to do. We can help achieve that in a few years.

00;07;53;19 - 00;08;14;06

Raylene Yung

I think, as we mention, we can also provide funding that off cycle. So we've been once, instead of waiting, you know, a two year cycle. So I think it's funding when you need it. That's one dimension. I think another piece is what we call our incremental and iterative of funding style. One big challenge and a lot of technology projects have is you have what they follow, what you might call a waterfall approach.

00;08;14;06 - 00;08;37;13

Raylene Yung

So you give them, you know, you say we're going to invest $10 million in this modernization project and hopefully at the end of three or four years of working on it, we'll pop out on the other end with a much better system and everything's going to work great. I think in reality, and this has been borne through a lot of industry data, the vast majority of large software projects that are undertaken in that way tend to fail.

00;08;37;16 - 00;08;56;13

Raylene Yung

And by fail, I mean either they're over budget, they're behind schedule, or they actually don't deliver on the functionality that they set out to do. So what we do instead of that is we really try to take this agile approach and instead of it might be the same kind of idea like $10 million, 3 to 4 years. This is our goal.

00;08;56;15 - 00;09;24;21

Raylene Yung

Instead of just giving all that money up front and kind of hoping that it all works at the end, we divide every investment into what we call milestone based transfers. And we would break that apart. So we might say, here, start off with 1.5 million, and we think that is going to help you achieve some kind of really important first steps like user research to make sure that the problems you think you're trying to solve are actually the problems that our users really need to be solved.

00;09;24;23 - 00;09;44;17

Raylene Yung

And you know, initial results looking at acquisition and procurement. And so what we can do is not only tie that initial transfer funding to specific results, we hope to see on a much sooner timeframe. It can be three months, six months, a year. But we also have the opportunity to take a look holistically and say, Hey, we've spent 1.5 million on this.

00;09;44;23 - 00;10;11;12

Raylene Yung

We thought we would get this out of it. Turns out that approach was wrong or we need to pivot. And we've then kind of really course correct early on rather than just embarked on that entire plan that maybe would have failed. So that's another really important aspect. I would say just one additional one that I alluded to earlier was we do technology often is quite universal, like many federal agencies are tackling very similar problems at the same time.

00;10;11;15 - 00;10;49;08

Raylene Yung

They might be trying to pursue a zero trust architecture or very similar activities across agencies, or even just technologies related to accessibility for websites are very common. So another thing that's really unique about the TMF is as if you're part of the portfolio, we can actually connect you with other agencies that might be tackling the same challenges and you can actually get some economies of scale from advice, but sometimes also just, you know, sharing best practices and maybe speeding up your execution because you can see what another agency has learned and you can maybe avoid pitfalls that they might have already encountered before you.

00;10;49;10 - 00;11;18;20

Rob Trubia

So correct me if I'm wrong, but what I'm hearing or what it sounds like is TMF functions a little bit like technology consultants with an investment portfolio that's making decisions based on need, based on where the most value can be had, and then providing project management, some oversight and some accountability. So these projects really happen. They really happen fast and they really work for the taxpayer.

00;11;18;21 - 00;11;19;18

Rob Trubia

Do I have that right?

00;11;19;22 - 00;11;52;10

Raylene Yung

Yeah, I would say I would say yes. And to that, I think everything you said I would agree with. One thing that I say as we as we sort of make an investment and kind of adopt into the portfolio, our staff really do serve as, you know, these kind of embedded subject matter experts. So for every investment that we've made, we have actual dedicated assigned staff that make it their job to kind of understand what's going on, help, you know, provide feedback or support that they need and kind of help ensure that the project is in fact successful.

00;11;52;12 - 00;12;18;16

Raylene Yung

But I would say I would add a few other dimensions because we really are looking, I think, at a quite long lifecycle across the fund. So one part that we haven't talked about as much is how the fund makes chooses to make investments. And so my staff also provides kind of that evaluation function where we're looking at proposals and analyzing what might make for a good or bad proposal and kind of working with the board to make new investment decisions.

00;12;18;21 - 00;12;49;08

Raylene Yung

So it's sort of that upfront, more like analysis, kind of piece that our team provides. And then the other piece would also be oversight. So, you know, while we are directly very much invested in our investment projects, in our agency success, we also have we do keep in mind that oversight idea. So kind of the example I give, if a project is off track or it seems like the intention of the investment has kind of drifted or it's maybe not set up to have as much impact as we hoped.

00;12;49;11 - 00;13;01;20

Raylene Yung

My team is also responsible for keeping up on that and kind of surfacing concerns to the agencies, to the board, and kind of ensuring that we can course correct and try to get maximized impact as much as possible.

00;13;01;22 - 00;13;10;26

Rob Trubia

So I think I'm starting to get a good picture of it. But I think what might help me the most and maybe our listeners, can you take us through the process, take us through an example project. How does it work?

00;13;10;28 - 00;13;32;25

Raylene Yung

Yeah, So I would say the first part is really that in a proposal, submission evaluation and sort of pre investment process. And so I think it typically starts at an agency where there is a technology team or program that has some system that they're really hoping to modernize and improve. What we've tried to do on our side is make it easier and easier for agencies to apply.

00;13;32;27 - 00;13;52;04

Raylene Yung

So at this point, there's a very short form that might only take 15 minutes to fill out by an agency where they can share with us. Here's a problem we're trying to solve. Here's the system we're trying to improve. You know, what do you think? And so we kind of enter, I guess, a consultative phase in the very beginning of just trying to understand is there are there there?

00;13;52;05 - 00;14;14;17

Raylene Yung

Is there something kind of worth investing in here? That's a that's a true. But like matches the priorities of the fund. And it is a great technology problem to tackle. So that happens upfront and there's a lot of dialog around how to improve the proposal, how to tease out what the and a core focus areas are kind of to ensure that the investment amounts make sense and repayment amounts.

00;14;14;19 - 00;14;38;12

Raylene Yung

And from there, proposals do get presented to the TMF board and they serve as you know, they're a cross-functional group of senior technology leaders from across the federal government. They're responsible for evaluating proposals and making recommendations for investments that goes through a multi-step process. There we have something called an initial project proposal and a final project proposal or full project proposal proposal.

00;14;38;15 - 00;15;04;20

Raylene Yung

But basically you go through a multi-step process where you do get to pitch, essentially pitch. The TMF board has it ends with a live presentation and a Q&A, live discussion. And from there the board makes a recommendation in termination as to whether to fund and kind of fund it and make it into an investment. From there we say that, you know, you really become part of the portfolio and act as an active investment in the portfolio.

00;15;04;23 - 00;15;23;04

Raylene Yung

You're assigned dedicated staff members, we call them investment managers. We have an operation, an investment manager and a technical investment manager. So we have multiple investment managers that you get assigned and our you know, they know you, you get to know the team and they're really your interface to all things that you need from the TMF going forward.

00;15;23;06 - 00;15;57;00

Raylene Yung

So that can happen and that sort of project execution phase, ongoing discussion at minimum, every quarter, every investment provides an update to the TMF board. It could be highlights of what's gone well, it could be requests for help can also be those challenges that they may run into your course correction that they might need. And then at the very end, we also like to do kind of a closeout process where we try to really capture what the impact was and sort of capture that in the form of case studies and impact stories and advice that we hope to share with any agency looking to tackle a similar problem.

00;15;57;02 - 00;16;18;28

Rob Trubia

So this sounds like it could be a reality TV show where people are are pitching ideas and there's people deciding whether or not it's a good idea or is this a worthy investment and then providing oversight and accountability. And it sounds like there's some mentorship going on here. It's pretty fascinating. Can you share with us a success story?

00;16;19;03 - 00;16;30;09

Rob Trubia

You know, walk us through a real world example of something that's been pitched. You know, you took it on and it's like, yes, that is a great example of TMF in action.

00;16;30;12 - 00;16;54;25

Raylene Yung

Yeah, So happy to share a couple of examples that were some of our earlier investments that we've actually written. Some of these impact stories up that we posted on our website too, and are really proud of the work they've done. So one example is we helped farmers and consumers kind of do their jobs more effectively by streamlining the U.S. Department of Agriculture's produce inspection kind of process.

00;16;54;28 - 00;17;21;14

Raylene Yung

So they have this process that helps safeguard the food supply and actually inspects billions of pounds of food per year, including school lunches and military meals ready to eat. So this is sort of a process that through a TMF investment, USDA was able to kind of meaningfully improve it and bring online a process that previously was done via paper forms and kind of a lot of manual work.

00;17;21;16 - 00;17;50;04

Raylene Yung

Another great example was an investment that we made in the Department of Labor that helped a specific type of laborers use those certifications related to agriculture and tradecraft. And previously they, you know, had a daily limit of just 230 visas. They could process a day. We actually helped them have more than double that sort of throughput there and meaningfully increased that and also sped up the processing time of their every application by two days.

00;17;50;06 - 00;18;22;27

Raylene Yung

And so you can imagine for each person or, you know, farmer or trade craft business sort of we're on those visas, you know, saving days per application. I think you can see how blue translates to a lot of impact kind of benefits in the end user in terms of some of our newer investments that are still underway. One that I'm also really excited about is an investment that investments that we've made in both the National Archives Records Administration and the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs that are related to supporting veterans and their families.

00;18;23;00 - 00;18;53;19

Raylene Yung

So these investments do a few different things, like help create access to digital service records through the National Archives. And you can imagine that really speed things up and helps veterans and their families get the access to the benefits that they are eligible for much more quickly. But we've also worked with the VA to help them kind of modernize their single sign on experience or kind of identity verification and sign on experience that allows veterans again to access services much more quickly.

00;18;53;20 - 00;18;58;04

Raylene Yung

So I think that was, you know, a huge impact for those people and those communities.

00;18;58;12 - 00;19;10;18

Rob Trubia

I'm curious for the agencies out there maybe that are listening right now, how hard is it to get approved? I mean, are you approving one in 100 or one in ten? Is it? Oh, yeah, we really approve them all. It's just we make them go through this process.

00;19;10;21 - 00;19;28;18

Raylene Yung

You know, I think I think one thing I'll say is it is a very selective process in that we really are trying to work with both agencies to ensure that what they're trying to do is set up for success, will have a real impact for the public and kind of aligns with a lot of the core focus areas of the.

00;19;28;18 - 00;19;54;24

Raylene Yung

TMF which include things like help building advanced cybersecurity posture for federal government. One organizing some of the highest priority, most sensitive systems, improving public facing digital services, and really supporting a government wide across government collaboration through shared services. So we really are emphasizing all those things. That said, I think what I would say to agencies is we are here to help.

00;19;54;27 - 00;20;13;05

Raylene Yung

I think we recognize that just even by submitting an application, there is a real important problem behind that, a critical problem that, as you mentioned, I think civil servants are really invested in trying to solve and they're working hard and they maybe are hitting a wall or really would like to use technology more effectively to solve these problems.

00;20;13;08 - 00;20;37;23

Raylene Yung

So what we're going to do is partner as closely as possible as we can. So in cases, we've had a lot of different cases where we've helped the agency actually shape their proposals and kind of make them into a much stronger business case or technology investment case. We have we've had cases where proposals have been rejected and actually sometime later kind of came back with a better focus area, focus and emphasis, and then we're able to secure funding.

00;20;37;23 - 00;20;59;26

Raylene Yung

So we really are here to try to try to help agencies iterate towards something that I think is is a good fit for the fund. We've also heard from some cases that the process of going through the TMF has helped them better advocate for funding within their own agencies. So even if they aren't recipients of TMF investment, they can kind of make a better case at their own outreach department and stick to their own agency leadership.

00;20;59;29 - 00;21;20;28

Raylene Yung

So I think that's also been we were excited to hear that happening as well. We think of that as a success. One thing I'll say just more tactically as well for agencies listening now, we have always we're always trying to make it easier. So we've done everything. I think I mentioned in this short 15 minute form that you can find on our website that we kind of that we call an expression of interest.

00;21;21;00 - 00;21;48;05

Raylene Yung

And it's just on the website. There's a kind of area that just says gets started and helps you kind of access that flow really quickly, including even having a call or conversation with my staff. The other thing we've also been working on is actually even developing what we're kind of calling templates for Pre-filled out project plans, several for topics that we know agencies, many agencies are facing or would like to improve, such as digitizing, you know, public facing forms.

00;21;48;08 - 00;22;11;00

Raylene Yung

So taking those paper forms and making them more accessible and easier to use or improving the accessibility of your websites, we see that those are examples where almost every agency could probably benefit from making those improvements. We've actually developed templates like sample proposal, proposal, you know, documents and plans that you can see. Find out on our website. You can download and make your own and kind of submit that way.

00;22;11;05 - 00;22;22;25

Raylene Yung

And that's a great example. We're just trying to make it easier and easier to help agencies see what a good TMF investment proposal looks like and to just make it easier for the access to the funds.

00;22;22;28 - 00;22;41;04

Rob Trubia

It sounds like you're really providing a lot of help because you want the ideas. You want people to come forward. Well, let me ask you this. What is the dollar threshold? I mean, can I come to you with a project for $10,000, or do I need to be talking about something that's going to cost over a million? What is what's the dollar threshold that we're looking at here for these projects?

00;22;41;06 - 00;23;07;26

Raylene Yung

It's a great question. And I would say in general, the benefit of the TMF is that we can provide multiyear funding broken up into these different milestones and transfers that I mentioned. So I would say there is a little bit of the bigger size helps just sort of ensure that the project that you're tackling is kind of big enough and impactful enough and that it makes sense for our quarterly or quarterly oversight and incremental transfer process.

00;23;07;28 - 00;23;37;29

Raylene Yung

So typically, all of our investments are listed on our website, including the dollar amounts of each one. So you can kind of see the range. I do think our smaller investments have tended to be at least a million or sort of in that million dollar range. But it's a pretty it's a pretty wide bridge for sure. But I would say, given the style of investment, it is one where I would say aim for something that is it's more ambitious and takes, you know, a little bit more money to tackle because I think that's that's where we can help the most.

00;23;38;01 - 00;23;53;07

Rob Trubia

I'm curious about these fund managers and the expertise that they must have, because it sounds like it really has to span a wide gamut from a consultant, a mentor. Maybe they're more like an accountant. I don't know. Where do you find these people? What is their responsibility for these projects?

00;23;53;10 - 00;24;22;13

Raylene Yung

Yeah, So I really love our team. I think it's a really unique and special group that we've built here at GSA to support the TMF We have experts that I think run the gamut. As you mentioned, you have folks who have had more financial operations background. We have others who, you know, been real, been technologists in industry and developed software, and we have others who spent a long time in federal government and have supported modernization projects of their own setting from an agency perspective.

00;24;22;16 - 00;24;50;09

Raylene Yung

So we have a very cross-functional team, I think something that unites our our investment managers and our staff is they're very passionate about this topic. You know, they join the TMF to support agencies because they believe in the mission that we can use technology much more effectively to deliver services well for the public. So they kind of come in with that mission orientation, and they also come in with a desire or two to really be supportive and help agencies.

00;24;50;12 - 00;25;22;01

Raylene Yung

So that's kind of how it looks. As I mentioned, more operations oriented investor manager with a more technical investment manager, so that every investment gets kind of the full range of support. So it can be anything from helping understand how to move the money faster or sort of ensure all the contracts in order to having a technical question and asking about something about zero trust or something about, well, website accessibility will be created our team to cross-functional in that way so that we can be a one stop shop for the agencies that we support.

00;25;22;03 - 00;25;34;20

Rob Trubia

Is there a lot of going back and forth between the fund managers like, Hey, can you help me with this? Because it's not really my lane, but my client really needs this help with this. Is there a lot of that going on or they really kind of work by themselves?

00;25;34;23 - 00;26;04;06

Raylene Yung

Oh, we definitely work across the team, I would say. I think, for example, the entire team of investment managers actually goes through all the proposals together every week and kind of discusses and we actually have a really strong collaboration through peer review culture. So pretty much always you can always phone a friend or ask for help. I would say we also, you know, really want to thank and acknowledge the team board, which is a pretty unique group of people, that there they are, executives from across many different federal agencies.

00;26;04;08 - 00;26;24;19

Raylene Yung

So we also leverage their advice and expertise regularly. So if a question comes in from an agency, certainly we will try to see if we can answer it right away or maybe even the investment managers can sometimes respond directly. But if not, we'll ask each other. We'll actually ask the board sometimes we’ll connect to agency directly with different board members, and they hop on a call to provide advice.

00;26;24;22 - 00;26;33;12

Raylene Yung

So I would say we try very much to use all the resources and people that we can to provide that level of support back to agencies.

00;26;33;14 - 00;26;42;12

Rob Trubia

Are you getting the number of proposals you'd like to be getting? Do you have more than you can handle or are you in advertising mode?

00;26;42;15 - 00;27;01;02

Raylene Yung

I would say, you know, it's a great problem to have. I think we've been at I would say we've had incredible demand for the fund. You know, we've had, you know, over three and a half billion dollars worth of demand for our funding and hundreds of proposals, But we are still open for business, I would say every day.

00;27;01;02 - 00;27;21;08

Raylene Yung

We're still asking agencies keep applying, we have money to invest. We're excited to partner with you. So I think it's kind of a good problem to have. We've seen the demand, but we're also very much open and eager to get proposals in, particularly for the two examples that I mentioned earlier around digitizing public forums and improving website accessibility and zero trust and cybersecurity.

00;27;21;08 - 00;27;27;00

Raylene Yung

These are just areas where we are very much here and excited to receive new proposals.

00;27;27;02 - 00;27;43;15

Rob Trubia

Yeah, it sounds like you're innovating every day. It sounds like a fascinating place to work, honestly, interesting problems and constantly evolving and trying to make the process better and faster and better and faster. I love that. Is that why you think GSA was chosen to run the TMF?

00;27;43;17 - 00;28;18;11

Raylene Yung

Yeah, I think the GSA is a really special agency. Maybe I'm biased on that, but I think that we really sit in that shared services space, like we're an agency that whose mission is to help the federal government and all agencies that we support operate better, get access to economies of scale, expert advice, you know, and whether this is the real estate side or the procurement acquisition side, I think our culture and our emphasis is on supporting other agencies and increasing and I would say government effectiveness, you know, across the board.

00;28;18;15 - 00;28;43;23

Raylene Yung

So I think that makes us a really natural fit. I would say another piece is GSA is also a very technically focused agency. We have, I would say, a great culture of using technology effectively to deliver services, really provide a number of shared services ourselves in technology. And and I think we've also worked we also work very closely with with councils and OMB and CIO Council.

00;28;43;26 - 00;28;57;06

Raylene Yung

So I would say it's both tied to really the DNA of the agency itself. But we also are good at and very much rely on collaboration with other groups and leaders from across the government.

00;28;57;08 - 00;29;08;08

Rob Trubia

So I think my last question for you Raylene is this. If there's an agency out there that's just on the fence, they've got an idea and they're not sure if they should pitch it or not. What would you say to them?

00;29;08;10 - 00;29;32;11

Raylene Yung

I would say, don't be shy. Go to our website. Send us an email. Fill out that five minute form, 15 minute form, and just send it in. I think at minimum, you will probably get an excited, very excited set of people like hop on a call with you and hear about your idea and give you feedback and at best you may end up with the TMF, a full fledged TMF investment, which I think would also be really exciting.

00;29;32;12 - 00;29;42;25

Raylene Yung

So I would say don't be shy, submit, reach out and someone will get in touch with you. And I know that, you know, for us, we love working with agencies and it's always a highlight when we see new ideas come in.

00;29;42;27 - 00;30;06;16

Rob Trubia

Raylene, this is great. I really appreciate this conversation. It sounds like you love your job. It sounds like it's fascinating place to work, and I hope maybe we can catch up with you again sometime in the future and maybe jump into some of these projects and learn a little bit more about how the TMF is modernizing government at the fastest rate possible and the great things that you're doing for taxpayers.

00;30;06;18 - 00;30;09;09

Raylene Yung

Thank you again for having me. A lot of fun.

00;30;09;11 - 00;30;28;22

Rob Trubia

That was Raylene young executive director of the TMF. So helpful to understand the big steps that government is taking with technology and just how it's making things better and more user friendly for all of us. And now, you know, GSA does that. Hey, looking ahead, episode nine will shift our tech discussion to a game changer in transportation. You guessed it, electric vehicles.

00;30;28;24 - 00;30;45;21

Rob Trubia

Learn about GSA's ongoing transition to an EV centric fleet and just how they're making it happen. Well, that wraps up our time for today. We'd love you to follow us. And for more information about the podcast, visit GSA .gov/podcast. And we'd love to hear from you. Maybe you'd like to suggest or topic guest. Send us an email at GSAdoesthat@gsa.gov.

00;30;45;21 - 00;30;57;17

Rob Trubia

I'm your host, Rob Trubia. Our executive producer is the one and only Max Stempora. GSA Does That!? is a production of the U.S. General Services Administration, Office of Strategic Communication.