Chief technology officer calls U.S. procurement a disaster

The federal government’s procurement process makes it nearly impossible to develop software applications quickly and cheaply, the nation’s chief technology officer said Friday.

Speaking at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York City, Aneesh Chopra discussed the recently launched Community Health Data initiative, which aims to open up government health data to software developers and the public. He said the data had inspired the launch of 20 applications at no cost to the taxpayer — a contrast to the approach of the government’s traditional buying process.

“Imagine if those 20 apps were built by government [requests for proposal]?” Chopra said. “It would be a disaster.” He said the administration is aware of the problem and is trying to reform the system.

Chopra said a large part of his job is “seeding entrepreneurial talent across the agencies,” which involves recruiting successful private-sector employees into government service. He said there is increasing interest in wanting to join the public sector, citing Todd Park, co-founder of athenahealth, as an example.

Chopra said releasing data is one of the quickest, easiest ways agencies can improve their own performance and get public feedback. He argued that the low marginal cost of releasing data is almost always justified by the potential public benefit.

Asked about the rise of social media and keeping official records of all White House communications, Chopra said the administration is planning to ease restrictions on popular services but is moving slowly to ensure it complies with the law. The White House has already reprimanded deputy CTO and former Google employee Andrew McLaughlin for communicating with former colleagues via his personal e-mail address.

“That’s why we’re not as bullish or all-in on these tools,” he said.

Chopra said he doesn’t have access to social networking in his own office, often forcing him to wait hours to check messages or content sent by his friends.