In December of 2022, ODT published the Leadership Modernization Action Plan (LMAP) to shape the FDA’s future by developing immediate and long-term strategies to grow and modernize leadership capacity across the FDA technology and data ecosystem. Over the next decade, FDA will see a significant rise in regulatory review activities and increasing complexity of scientific decision-making and reliance on primary data sources.

In addition to leading and managing technology services, leaders need the skills and experience to govern and align activities across the FDA. Every employee is empowered and expected to demonstrate leadership. When everyone leads in every moment, the speed of change accelerates. 

The three elements of the LMAP are: 

1. Create an environment where business and IT programs are aligned and collaborate to achieve business priorities and leverage IT opportunities to enhance outcomes.
2. Develop and operationalize an IT strategy that is reflective of business needs. 
3. Develop a leadership pipeline that can maintain strategic continuity through leadership and organizational change. 

Collectively, these efforts will enhance our leadership capabilities while strengthening the alignment between agency-wide strategic objectives, outcomes, and impacts. ODT is developing the next generation of strong leaders who will contribute to business strategy, offer their technical expertise, and exemplify leadership, communication, engagement, and collaboration principles. These leaders embody ODT’s values of accountability, empowerment, and effective execution. The ‘Future CIO’ is a change agent who translates technology potential into business strategy and weight and demonstrates creativity, empathy, and resiliency. By rethinking the traditional leadership paradigm, we are cultivating an organization that trains government leaders equipped to lead modernization and innovation under a unified, sustainable strategy.

ODT Strategic Plan, 2023 - 2025

FDA’s Office of Digital Transformation (ODT) is pleased to announce the release of the ODT Strategic Plan for Fiscal Year 2023 – 2025, to guide our efforts on our modernization journey for the coming years as we continue to implement the Technology, Data, Cybersecurity, Enterprise, and Leadership Modernization in Action Plans. The ODT Strategic Plan encapsulates our goals and objectives, as we focus on the following 7 Strategic Priorities over the next few years: Cloud Forward, Data, Organizational Excellence, Governance, User Experience, Operational Excellence, and Cybersecurity. Guided by alignment with key frameworks and ODT’s vision, mission, and values, we are transforming our operations, capabilities, and organization. 

Through a strategic commitment to our priority areas, we turn challenges into opportunities. We are replacing inconsistency, disconnect, and fragmentation with secure and agile solutions optimized by value-added data strategy and practices, and underpinned by an empowered and modern workforce.

We will collaborate with the agency’s Executive Committee and Center partners to implement the goals and objectives and communicate our progress with internal and external stakeholders. ODT is committed to excellence in delivering data and technology services, and now has a robust plan to sustain the modernization that will advance FDA’s public health mission.

2022 ODT Annual Report

ODT is proud to announce the publication of our 2022 ODT Annual Report. This report summarizes ODT’s accomplishments over the last year, including highlighting FDA’s new modernization action plans in Enterprise, Leadership, and Cybersecurity, our successful “OneODT” campaign to unify disparate teams and invest in our workforce, and showcase tangible results in areas of strategic priority. With our enhanced capability to focus and prioritize, ODT will lead the FDA’s enterprise-wide approach to improving business processes and ensure the agency functions not as a collection of Centers but as an integrated organization getting the most from its investments.

The projects and successes listed throughout this annual report detail the efforts ODT has taken as we remain focused on delivering the safest and very best technology and data services while maximizing our resources and achieving our strategic goals. ODT is proud of its progress over the past year and looks forward to continuing its modernization journey.

OneODT: Our People-Centered Approach to Driving Change at the FDA

The Office of Digital Transformation (ODT) was established in September 2021 and reports directly to the Office of the Commissioner. ODT faced immediate growth and development challenges as a new organization. Historically, we’ve dealt with significant challenges in communications, stakeholder partnerships, customer experience, employee engagement, and morale. There were also longstanding institutional silos that inhibited our ability to share information and collaborate. Internally, ODT’s Executive Officer and the Executive Leadership Team sought to redefine the employee experience, improve communication, and align our collaborative efforts under one clear direction toward achieving ODT strategic priorities.

In January 2022, ODT kicked off the theme of “OneODT” to create networking opportunities, break down barriers and silos, and tell a story that highlights our work to transform and modernize the FDA’s digital landscape. We’ve led the charge with important strategic efforts to modernize a public health agency, and ensure we receive the most from talent, technology, and budget. Within a single year, a new, fragmented organization has become OneODT. 

People and talent are critical to our modernization framework, and by elevating ODT within the FDA, we are strengthening agency-wide collaboration and amplifying our expertise. Over the last year, OneODT efforts have delivered new and updated employee services, including talent acquisition and retention, teambuilding events, knowledge sharing and learning opportunities, leadership coaching, performance management, and other services that benefit our staff.

This month, ODT released our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Action Plan 2023 that outlines seven key objectives, strategies, and key performance indicators that will serve as our roadmap to guide the efforts of all ODT offices in advancing FDA’s DEIA Strategic Plan. DEIA is a key component to successful inclusion and staff engagement under a unifying strategic theme like OneODT. Our DEIA efforts strive to ensure that our workforce is diverse, engaged, and working in an environment that supports authenticity and belonging.

OneODT helped us establish our organizational identity and culture. Much of our work is shifting fast, and we need to be ready. We are moving from an initial start-up phase to address early growth challenges – OneODT – to a broader FDA enterprise transformation we’re calling “All FDA.” Our model for excellence is grounded in our shared values and will serve as the roadmap to building the leading technology, data, and cybersecurity organization in government. Together, we will cultivate a federal model of a world-class people-centered organization. The journey continues, and we are ready!

To learn more, please read our OneODT White Paper.