5 Takeaways from the 2026 Federal IT Efficiency Summit

U.S. DOGE Service Administrator and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Strategic Advisor Amy Gleason said outdated procurement models and aging legacy systems remain major barriers to improving government efficiency and delivering modern digital services. Agencies must move away from acquisition processes designed for “ships and paper” and adopt faster, more agile methods for buying software and technology services.

Gleason said the U.S. DOGE Service is focused on improving public-facing services, recruiting technical talent, modernizing legacy systems and increasing accountability across government programs. She pointed to streamlined FAFSA applications, online passport renewals and new Veterans Affairs disability claims tools as examples of how human-centered design and modern technology can improve citizen services.

“If it takes you a year to buy something, that’s a year that it took you to not do your project and not deliver on something. And so we really need to find modern practices to help people get the modern tools they need, and to fix our processes,” Gleason said.

The next phase of General Services Administration’s OneGov initiative will focus on extending discounted software agreements and deepening direct partnerships with technology vendors as agencies continue modernizing procurement and adopting AI tools. Officials said the initiative is evolving from limited-time agreements into longer-term acquisition relationships designed to improve pricing, transparency and access to emerging technologies.

The program has already enabled nearly 3.4 million AI users and generated more than $1 billion in federal savings. Officials said agency feedback will continue shaping future phases of the program as OneGov expands beyond software procurement and increases collaboration across government.

“We knew they were going to end at some point, so we’ve gone back to those particular original equipment manufacturers to get those deals while we’re still in talks with them to become direct contractors on the multiple award schedules program,” said Warren Blankenship, director of the Category Management Service Center within the Office of Acquisition Solutions Development at GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service.

Federal officials said workforce readiness remains one of the biggest barriers to achieving efficiency gains through AI adoption. Leaders emphasized that agencies must build AI literacy, establish trust and help employees understand how AI will reshape workflows and daily operations.

Officials highlighted the importance of creating environments where employees can experiment with AI tools, share success stories and learn how to validate AI-generated outputs responsibly. Leaders from NASA, the Labor Department and the Marine Corps said culture change and workforce education will be essential as agencies continue expanding AI use cases across government.

“[Someone once] said 99% of all technical problems are between the laptop and the chair. And I think that’s the same way with AI. It’s a people problem,” said Marine Corps Service Data Officer Colin Crosby. “We need our workforce to understand AI is not a direct replacement.”

Federal agencies are rapidly advancing multi-cloud modernization efforts as leaders look to improve resilience, scalability and mission performance across classified and unclassified environments.

Officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said agencies are increasingly moving beyond cloud strategy discussions and actively operationalizing complex multi-cloud ecosystems. They added successful modernization requires balancing security, performance and operational flexibility while building environments that can support future AI and mission needs.

“We can talk about multi-cloud all day and talk about the theory and hypotheticals all day, but actually doing is something we’ve had a lot of success on,” said Wade Zarriello, acting director of infrastructure and user services at CMS.

Federal agencies are shifting away from large-scale “big bang” modernization efforts in favor of phased strategies designed to reduce risk, improve cybersecurity and better manage costs. Officials said outdated systems continue to create operational and workforce challenges, particularly as agencies struggle to maintain aging infrastructure built on legacy programming languages like COBOL.

Leaders from the Government Accountability Office, Labor Department and Transportation Department said successful modernization depends on long-term planning, continuous improvement and strong data migration strategies. Officials added that agencies are increasingly leveraging emerging technologies like AI to help document and reverse engineer older systems while reducing operational disruptions during modernization efforts.

“Your new system is not going to like your old data, and you can’t do it in the last minute,” said Labor Department CIO and Chief AI Officer Mangala Kuppa.