HUD’s Phase 2 IT modernization is centered on two main areas: customer experience and cloud adoption, delivered through the Centers of Excellence (CoE) model in partnership with GSA. 1. Customer experience CoE
HUD awarded a contract to Booz Allen Hamilton to build a centralized customer experience capability under a new Office of Customer Experience. The work is designed to:

• Create a clear, shared vision for how HUD serves public housing agencies, grantees, and other stakeholders.
• Coordinate and streamline operations across programs.
• Develop standards for measuring customer experience (CX).
• Reduce costs through centralized planning.
• Identify customer issues early, before they become widespread.
• Improve employee retention and recruitment by supporting a more customer-focused culture.
• Implement changes in service delivery that measurably improve customer and citizen satisfaction.

HUD’s CFO has emphasized that this CoE is expected to improve service delivery for public housing agencies, grantees, and other stakeholders. 2. Cloud adoption CoE
HUD awarded a second contract to Systems Engineering Solutions Corp. to accelerate cloud adoption and modernize electronic records management. Key goals include:

• Stopping the intake of millions of paper forms that require manual data entry.
• Implementing an electronic records management (ERM) capability.
• Developing an open API to support modular integrations with existing and custom services.
• Rolling out ERM by individual program areas, leading to enterprise-wide adoption.
• Deploying proofs of concept using artificial intelligence, forms-as-a-service, and modern records management.

HUD’s CIO has framed this as a way to transform business processes, not just upgrade technology. HUD is only the second agency, after the Agriculture Department, to move into Phase 2 of the CoE initiative, which combines technology expertise with business process reengineering support from GSA’s Technology Transformation Service.

The Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) program, run by GSA, is a key vehicle for network and telecommunications modernization across federal agencies. A recent ACT-IAC case study, developed with GSA, OMB, and federal executives, highlights how early adopters are using EIS to rethink their infrastructure strategies. 1. Agencies leading the way
Several “first-mover” agencies have already made significant awards under EIS, including:

• Department of the Interior
• Department of Justice
• Department of Veterans Affairs
• NASA
• Social Security Administration

These organizations are providing practical examples of how to plan and execute modernization using EIS. 2. Modernization patterns and statistics
GSA reported that, among 109 solicitations that completed scope review:

• 79 included the move or expansion of Ethernet or Voice over IP (VoIP).
• 27 included software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) capabilities.

Even though SD-WAN is not yet a defined service offering on EIS, agencies are using the contract’s flexible services to incorporate it into their solicitations. 3. Key modernization trends under EIS
The case study points to several common modernization themes:

• Data center consolidation.
• Managed network services.
• Managed unified communications.
• Ethernet services and network consolidation.
• SD-WAN adoption.
• Exploration of zero trust security and micro-segmentation, enabled by TIC 3.0 and EIS.

4. Lessons learned from early adopters
While many lessons are familiar—such as partnering closely with industry, planning for modernization from the outset, and leveraging emerging technologies—the case study underscores that there are positive outcomes even where public discussion has focused on missed deadlines. Large awards and concrete modernization steps show that EIS is helping agencies reimagine their network and security architectures. One open question the case study raises is how to speed up the release and award of EIS fair opportunity solicitations. One suggestion is to tie EIS progress to the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard, using grades to highlight which agencies are succeeding and why.

Several themes emerge from HUD’s Centers of Excellence (CoE) journey and the ACT-IAC EIS case study about why federal IT modernization can be slow and uneven. 1. Long timelines from recognition to execution
HUD’s experience illustrates how modernization can lag behind intent:

• HUD entered the CoE discovery phase in September 2018.
• It released RFIs for implementation in May 2019.
• Phase 2 awards for customer experience and cloud adoption came more than a year after HUD began planning for that phase.

Commentary in the source notes that, given HUD recognized the need for IT modernization nearly two years earlier, the process “took way too long” to reach Phase 2. This suggests that governance, procurement, and coordination can slow down even well-supported initiatives. 2. Complexity of multi-stakeholder programs
Both CoE and EIS efforts involve multiple players:

• Agencies (like HUD) that own the mission and systems.
• GSA’s Technology Transformation Service and EIS program office.
• Industry partners (e.g., Booz Allen Hamilton, Systems Engineering Solutions Corp.).
• Oversight bodies such as OMB, GAO, and Congress.

Aligning these stakeholders on priorities, requirements, and risk tolerance can extend timelines, even when the technical path is clear. 3. Uneven progress across agencies
The EIS case study shows that some agencies are further along than others. While there has been negative attention on slipped EIS deadlines, the study also surfaces “good news stories” where agencies have made large awards and are actively modernizing. This unevenness raises questions about how to encourage lagging agencies to move faster. 4. Limited incentives to accelerate
One idea raised in the case study is to link EIS progress to the FITARA scorecard. By grading agencies on their EIS performance, Congress and GAO could:

• Increase transparency around who is progressing and who is not.
• Highlight the practices of agencies earning As and Bs, so others can learn from them.
• Create reputational incentives to move solicitations and awards forward more quickly.

5. Balancing short-term pressures with long-term strategy
The pandemic created a short-term push for IT modernization, but the text notes that agencies still need a long-term vision. For example, Sen. Maggie Hassan’s letters to 10 agencies asking for their IT modernization strategies and priorities underscore the need to look beyond immediate fixes and plan for sustained change. In combination, these factors show that federal IT modernization is not just a technology challenge—it is also about pacing, governance, incentives, and the ability to coordinate complex, multi-year efforts while keeping mission delivery front and center.