The New Administration Takes Immediate Executive Action on Federal Technology
Published: January 22, 2025
Federal Market AnalysisArtificial Intelligence/Machine LearningFirst 100 DaysInformation TechnologyPolicy and LegislationPresident Trump
The new Trump Administration signed an executive order to align U.S. technology services with the DOGE’s agenda, revoked Biden’s regulatory AI executive order, and announced an investment approach to AI which relies heavily on private sector funding.
The newly installed Trump Administration is wasting little time carrying out an agenda on a plethora of issues, including federal technology.
The DOGE
On his first day in office, President Trump signed the Establishing and Implementing the President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” executive order (EO), creating the awaited “DOGE” organization led by Elon Musk. In addition to laying out the framework of the DOGE, the EO aims to, “modernize federal technology and software to maximize government efficiency and productivity,” according to the document.
In essence, the EO rebrands the United States Digital Service (USDS) to the United States DOGE Service, which will report to the White House Chief of Staff within the Executive Office of the President. As a reminder, the USDS hires termed professionals to work alongside the federal workforce to address critical technology needs. USDS objectives include improving government services, building public sector technical talent, scaling digital best practices, and innovating government purchase of digital services.
The latest EO installs a U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization within the USDS to help align and advance President Trump’s 18-month DOGE agenda. The EO directs the USDS Administrator to commence a software modernization initiative to, “improve the quality and efficiency of government-wide software, network infrastructure, and information technology (IT) systems. Among other things, the USDS Administrator shall work with Agency Heads to promote inter-operability between agency networks and systems, ensure data integrity, and facilitate responsible data collection and synchronization.”
The EO also directs agencies to install DOGE teams, consisting of at least four employees at each agency: a DOGE Team Lead, an engineer, a human resources specialist, and an attorney. The teams will coordinate work with USDS and inform federal agency leaders on implementing President Trump's DOGE agenda.
Given the DOGE’s mission to modernize technology to bolster government efficiency, federal IT contractors are likely to see opportunities appear as a ripple effect from the DOGE’s influence at federal agencies. Forthcoming modernization efforts may put contractors in cloud computing, cybersecurity, data management and analytics, system integrators, and software developers in high demand. Though with that same token, the DOGE may also look for ways to streamline federal IT contract spending that may challenge contractors, including potentially shifting focus back on the use of LPTA practices and commoditization, as my colleague points out.
Artificial Intelligence
One federal technology sector particularly capturing President Trump’s attention is artificial intelligence. As expected, President Trump revoked Biden’s executive order 14110 (Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence). Among other things, Biden’s AI EO outlined regulations surrounding the implementation of AI, which the new administration is seeking to reduce in favor of accelerating AI innovation. It is unclear what impacts the revocation will have on established agency AI use cases, AI governance at federal departments, and other AI initiatives created by the Biden AI EO.
On the campaign trail, President Trump indicated an increased private sector role in U.S. implementation of artificial intelligence. Last night’s announcement by the president of a $500B AI infrastructure project proved just that. At a press conference joined by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison, President Trump introduced Stargate, a joint venture by the three entities and backed by several investors, to build numerous U.S. AI data centers. Construction for 10 colossal AI data centers is underway in Texas to support the technology’s advancements, with plans to expand to 20 data centers in other states and locations. An initial investment of $100B for Stargate, with the remaining funds taking place over the next four years, will help “keep it [AI] in this country,” according to the president.
President Trump also vowed at the press conference to enact emergency declarations to supply the electricity needed, even if it meant joint venture entities choosing their own power plants, to swiftly build the physical and virtual infrastructure of U.S. AI.
According to Oracle Chairman, Larry Ellison, Stargate’s AI applications will first center on healthcare, especially with regards to electronic health record maintenance, providing support for both providers and patients, creating interoperability among providers, and curing diseases at an accelerated rate. OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, stated that he looks forward to Stargate not only supporting the development of Artificial General Intelligence, but also Artificial Super Intelligence in the future to solve the most complex of problems.
The announced $500B AI infrastructure initiative indicates the federal government’s limited involvement in the advancement of AI under the new administration – in line with early stances from the first Trump Administration to shift early-stage research and sciences funding away from federal agencies and unto the private sector. However, well into Trump’s first term, the president committed to increasing funds for nondefense AI R&D. It seems now, the pendulum is swinging back to the private sector to fund advancements in the transformative technology. Contractors can likely expect that the new Trump Administration will continue to remove barriers to private sector AI development and implementation to achieve U.S. AI dominance over China.
When asked at the press conference if he would revoke last week’s Biden AI Infrastructure EO, which advises agencies to lease federal lands for AI data center development, President Trump acknowledged that the EO seemed like something he would support. The president again emphasized his desire to take every action needed to make it as easy as possible for AI innovation to stay in the U.S. Thus, contractors can also likely expect continuity in the approach to lease federal land to build AI technology infrastructure. However, the portions of the January 14th EO which discuss the use of clean energy to power data centers are not likely to gain traction under the new administration.