Destiny’s Child, or How the ACT got its Trunk

The Federation of Government Information Processing Councils (FGIPC) was formed in 1979 because it was necessary. It was an early Social Network, before LinkedIn and all the others furnished a way for professionals to forge connections and share information.

In the 1970’s, you could count the number of computers owned by the government. Quite literally – Ken Allen has a book in his office from the late Sixties than lists all 600 or so government computers. Every computer tended to be a little bit different. You might have the identical make and model as a system in another agency, but the parts would be somewhat different, and the baseline software probably had a different level of release and patches. But it was always advantageous to know someone who had the same ostensible configuration – perhaps to consult on the costs and advantages of installing new software or peripherals, or to help troubleshoot some balky issue. A series of local associations of government ADPE - Automated Data Processing Equipment – professionals sprang up in local areas and regions to facilitate information sharing, and were generally across agencies within a metropolitan area or region. The ADP Council of the Southeast, the Southern California Technology Council, the New England ADP Council, and others, totaling fifteen or twenty regional and a couple of vertical Councils.

The Federation – FGIPC – was launched from a vision of extending the collegial sharing beyond regional and onto a national basis. FGIPC provided an annual conference – the Management of Change – and used its meager funds to support scholarships for federal IT students. It was a shoestring operation, with no paid staff but intense support from several motivated elected officers. It was actually subsidized by the home agencies of those officers in time and travel. It had nominal support from OMB and GSA. FGIPC provided a valuable forum for meeting technology managers beyond the home agency or local region. In 2003, FGIPC elected to re-brand itself as the American Council for Technology, and ACT as we know it presently was born.

While this is a pretty desiccated recitation of yesteryear, it is consequential to comprehend why ACT was originated and the value that it delivered in order to appreciate some of the later events and some of the current challenges. In subsequent blogs, we will delve into some of the less savory practices and events of FGIPC that represent lessons for today.