With the IRS collecting more than $4.9 trillion in Federal taxes for fiscal year 2022 – totaling 96 percent of all government funding for that year – it’s more important than ever for the agency to speed the development of modernized services for taxpayers and more efficient tax collection for government.
Central to the agency’s ongoing modernization efforts is Acting Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Kaschit Pandya, who has been hard at work on helping to engineer IRS’ biggest technology face-lift in two decades.
MeriTalk sat down recently with the acting CIO – who will continue as the agency’s CTO when IRS welcomes Rajiv Uppal as CIO early next year – for the latest snapshot on the continuing modernization work at the agency.
MeriTalk: Can you tell us about the work that your office has been doing at IRS and some of the larger tech priorities?
Pandya: I’m thrilled that I am able to be the one who gets to shine the light on how we are modernizing the IRS with the intent of accomplishing, enhancing, and improving the experience for the American people.
Our primary focus is providing better service and ensuring we have strong cybersecurity protections in place. And then of course, it being December, getting ready for the next tax filing season. Each of those critical areas are our primary focus for the time being, in addition to many other things that we’re actively working on.
I believe everyone should know the IRS and our role in collecting Federal taxes. But what’s not often realized is the scale and scope of what we’re doing to modernize the agency’s technological infrastructure. Honestly, it is truly impressive, and we have a lot to celebrate about what we’ve been able to accomplish and what we’re on path to accomplishing, and the impact it’s going to have on taxpayers.
We’ve gone from antiquated networks and dated hardware to now meeting industry standards in many cases. And that success with modernization is important because technology is really the backbone of what makes our nation function.
MeriTalk: How has it been balancing the current duties of acting CIO, and then also as CTO?
Pandya: I’m currently the acting chief information officer at IRS, and I’m also the chief technology officer at the agency.
As you know, the role of a chief information officer is quite broad and expansive. In each Federal agency, the CIO is accountable for effective implementation of technology and the management responsibilities associated with it, and the IRS is no different in that way.
The IRS’ information technology organization is a 24/7 team that is focused on how and what we can do to enhance and improve the experience of our taxpayers and the American people while looking for and executing on opportunities to continue to modernize and improve our service, further strengthen how we protect our data for the taxpayers, and of course look for opportunities to create efficiencies.
Earlier this year, the IRS announced a new strategic operating plan that highlights the importance of technology. Taken as a whole, that plan provides a vision for the future of Federal tax administration, and most of that centers around technology. Technology is the backbone that is needed to ensure that the business is able to provide the best services for the taxpayers.
My goal as the acting CIO is to ensure that the IRS delivers on those tech-enabled improvements to make a positive difference for the American people and to protect the nation’s tax system from cyber threats to the best of our abilities.
It’s been a fantastic job. The CIO role really is one of the most interesting jobs that a technologist can have in the government and I’m honored to have been able to have this role especially at such a critical time for the IRS. In early 2024, we are going to welcome our new CIO, who is currently the CIO for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
MeriTalk: We know that Federal agencies are competing hard to attract the best technology workforce, how is IRS approaching that task?
Pandya: Let me start by saying that IRS is a fantastic place to work, and a great place to build your career regardless of where in your career journey you are. There are opportunities to really contribute from day one.
I’ve been here at the IRS for more than 10 years since I left private industry. I have stayed here 10 years – and that’s more than double my tenure of where I was at any company in private industry. The reason for that is because of the people – our people’s dedication to serving the country is unparalleled compared to any place I’ve ever seen. And it’s the people that are the true heart of the IRS.
When we think of these modernization initiatives, we make it an even better place to work. We have the hope of making a positive impact in terms of both recruiting and retention because of what we are tasked with doing for the nation, and with our ability to execute on that.
Our people are the true drivers behind all of these accomplishments that I’ve talked about, and they’re the ones who are going to be executing on our future state.
First, our tech training is one of those key components for employees that is going to be the biggest part of this transformation. We want to make sure that IRS employees have the skills they need to succeed in a digital environment, which is so critical and crucial for where we are headed.
Second, the IRS is investing in tech platforms that will improve our training processes and the overall employee experience. We recognize that as we modernize across the board, we are going to be leveraging more and more of the technologies that are industry-leading. We want to bring our workforce along with us in the technology space but also in the skillset space, and we want to do so by providing them all the right sets of tools and access that they need to be successful for their own career journeys and for the agency as a whole.
We want to provide our employees at all levels with high-quality, consistent training that supports their career development and gives them the knowledge they need to perform their jobs – and also to use those skillsets to help continue to accelerate modernization at the agency.
MeriTalk: Has technology always been a natural interest for you, or was it something that you acquired along the way?
Pandya: Technology is something I have naturally gravitated towards. Technology has always interested me from high school onwards and I focused on it in my undergrad when I was doing that degree. I came out of college and immediately had access and opportunity to pursue this further by being an IT consultant, and what that did is it gave me the opportunity to touch every single technology component in a stack.
I was responsible for everything from networks to messaging to data and workstations and servers, and it just further reinforced my love for technology. I further pursued my education by doing my MBA with a heavy technology focus, and along the way I have received so many opportunities to be able to enhance and hone my skills from a technology perspective.
As I ventured into the management side of the world, it really helped that I had a solid technology foundation, which has been critical for me to be able to guide us as an agency and be able to accelerate and develop. That’s exactly what we’re doing at IRS presently, we’re undergoing a very rapid tech transformation, especially in the online services digital transformation and in the cybersecurity workspace.
So it has been a key contributor, as I see it, to be able to provide the agency with my skillset and my background and be part of something as transformative as what we’re undergoing and doing now.
MeriTalk: Is there anything that you like to do in “real life” that has nothing at all to do with technology?
Pandya: I live, breathe, and dream of technology. What I really enjoy doing outside of work and outside of those times where I’m not reading about or learning about something new in the technology space or management of technology is, of course, spending time with the family. I have two young kids, and I try to find as much time as I can to be an active participant in their lives whenever possible, wherever possible.
I also enjoy running, and running marathons. I know it might sound odd to people to hear about somebody running for 26 miles, but it’s a way for me to really hone in and focus on whatever it is that might be troubling me, or I want to think through.
Running has provided me that avenue to think through, and that’s why I truly enjoy it. It shuts down the noise of the world around me and lets me truly focus. Running marathons, you … have the ultimate finish line. At each mile marker, we are celebrating a success.
That’s how I’ve been equating running to work. While there may not necessarily be a true finish line in the public service and modernization space, there are mile markers along the way that we can pause and reflect and celebrate and still know what lies ahead. That’s why running has helped me quite a bit in both my personal and professional life.
MeriTalk: Any final thoughts?
Pandya: It is all about public service – what is it that I can do that I’ve learned and developed as an individual in my professional career today, and how can I best contribute to improving the taxpayer experience and the taxpayer service while ensuring that we are keeping our data secure and keeping those guards up to protect all taxpayers? For me, the opportunity that I’ve been given along the way in the last 10 years have been nothing short of remarkable.
I appreciate working here and working with all the incredible people I work with day in and day out, they are just incredible and amazing individuals who have such a strong dedication for the mission of the IRS. Regardless of what gets thrown in the way, they persevere, they are resilient, and they overcome any and all challenges. Being able to be part of a group like that is more than I could have ever imagined when I was thinking about my career many years ago.
