Introduction

Only 13 percent of large government technology projects succeed.^[1] The majority of these projects fail to deliver working software that meets the needs of agency staff or the public who must use it.

Why? Agencies at all levels of government face common challenges at every phase of a project. These include, for instance, the difficulty of choosing a software approach to serve needs that are often complex and unique, tension between bureaucratic processes and modern software development practices, and lacking in-house knowledge to assess the quality of code.

This guide was written to give government tools to lower the high risk of failure for technology projects. It addresses two main challenges — how to choose a software solution and how to work with a vendor to build quality custom software quickly — in four main sections. Building one upon the other, this guidance can help agency staff make and explain choices that can improve a project’s chances of success.

What’s in this guide

What’s not in this guide

This guide can’t address every question or situation that comes up in a government technology project, or every law or regulation that may apply to a specific project. The guide offers guidelines, models, and good practices to lower the risk of project failure by helping you understand what goes into building working software, and how to keep a custom software project on track.

We’ve tried to make the recommendations broadly applicable and useful for people working at any level of government. As laws and regulations differ across levels and across states and localities, we get into specifics only when they are relevant to procurement at a particular level of government.

The guide is focused on the full life cycle of acquisition activities from writing a solicitation to evaluating bids, building a positive relationship with a vendor to managing conflict. But it doesn’t touch on every aspect of these stages. Where we can link to a resource for further information, we do.

Who’s the guide for?

• Government staff at the federal or state level who are directly involved in the procurement and/or post-award phases of technology acquisition
• Government product owners and program or technical staff who want to understand how the buying process affects product delivery
• Government employees involved in planning, reviewing, budgeting for, and approving technology projects

Who are we? Why trust us?

We’re federal employees who work for 18F, a group within Technology Transformation Services at the General Services Administration. Since 2014, 18F teams have partnered with federal and state agencies to help them acquire human-centered technology systems and services, as well as build and update systems, processes, and culture. We’re contracting officers, technologists, researchers, designers, engineers, and product managers.

Next: Understanding and choosing a software solution