Grant Thornton’s Robert Shea on Need for Technology in Response to Public Health Emergency

Robert Shea, a Grant Thornton principal, told Government Matters in an interview posted Tuesday about the challenges and the need for technology in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

He said people “need to find out who is in charge and listen to what they are saying” amid duplicative and overlapping functions involved in response to the public health emergency. He believes individuals should listen to the Federal Emergency Management Agency director as the country deals with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shea talked about the need to avoid overlap in emergency response and how the pandemic has prompted federal agencies to try and test their telework capabilities.

He also responded to a question on what agencies should be learning from the current health emergency. “One of the things I think we’ve learned is that we need to be pretty practised at what flexibilities agencies need to offer to their federal and contractor workforces,” he said. “Technology is a key enabler and will need to be in place in the future.”