Miatta Myers

When Miatta Myers started working in procurement, she would constantly
ask herself why it took forever for the government to buy technology
and why it went sideways so often.

She’s seen agencies spend months (sometimes years) documenting
requirements for fixed-price contracts while actual needs go
unaddressed, only to discover after signing that “low-code” solutions
require custom programming or that implementation will balloon
timelines and budgets. She’s watched frustrated government workers
stuck with software that doesn’t work for them or the people they
serve.

As a Benefits Futures Fellow with The Aspen Institute and Acquisition
and Procurement Specialist at the New Jersey Innovation Authority,
Miatta is researching how governments can test whether commercial and
low-code/no-code tools actually meet user needs before committing to
full procurements. Drawing on nearly two decades in federal and state
acquisition, she bridges tech and policy to advance procurement
practices that are collaborative, iterative, and user-focused.

Miatta is one of several authors of the 18F De-Risking Government
Technology Guide and lives in the Washington, DC metro area.