4: Service Oriented Government (SOG)

Describe how SOG is the predominant paradigm for delivering/receiving future government services

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The federal government currently consists of many “stove-piped” programs embedded within deeply hierarchical agencies. While each of these programs may be effective for its specific function, the collection of programs across government is neither efficient nor effective. Service Oriented Government (SOG) leverages technology and architecture to streamline government, remove ambiguity and redundancy, and simplify government services that support Life Cycle Events and other interactions with the government. These value chains, registered for use by any citizen, business, or other stakeholder, express the execution of process steps and the associated data exchanges that may cross government agency boundaries to deliver services to citizens and constituents – the true goal of CEOG. While many value chains exist today in government, most consumers identify and access the government services from various agencies. Service Oriented Government is the glue that holds CEOG together. SOG enables the vertical integration of core mission segments (connecting federal, state, tribal, and local government agencies under a common information sharing framework) and horizontal integration of shared business segments (enabling back office functions) to reduce organizational complexity, remove cultural barriers and create Virtual Government. Value is created and sustained through the flow of real-time information among organizations that specialize in satisfying a given business need. SOG process flows may be sequential or dynamic. Partners in the value chain are continually measured and monitored based on Service Level Agreements (SLAs). There are many small- and large-scale change initiatives in government today that embrace the value chain approach, including patent application processing, grants applications and military recruitment processing. There is growing official interest in promoting the approach. The Defense Information Security Agency has shown strong leadership for the Defense Department in this area. GSA could do the same for civilian agencies. The White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) might also promote the concept in its budget proposals. The General Services Administration (GSA) could provide a tactical structure to support moves toward the Service Oriented Government as well as establish a Services Center of Excellence (SCOE) focused around Communities of Service, described in Chapter 1, and modeled after SCOEs in commercial organizations and a few federal agencies. The SCOE could take the lead for establishing standards (methodologies, tools, metadata, information sharing profiles, etc.) and creating a common environment for shared services. GSA might take responsibility for maintaining the federal services registry/repository (and associated service classifications), establishing a training program to ensure consistency across agency service initiatives, and certifying services as meeting a set of common criteria.

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