Bryan Sastokas is chief information officer at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (L.A. Metro), a position he has held since April 9, 2018. Previously, he was CIO and head of Technology and Innovation at the city of Long Beach for nearly three years; and before that, he was CIO of the city of Oakland from January 2014-June 2015.
Sastokas did his undergraduate work in computer engineering at Penn State University and holds a master’s of science in management from Cambridge College. He did graduate work in software engineering at Harvard University and post-graduate work in senior executive leadership at Georgetown University. The CIO, who was named one of Government Technology’s* Top 25 Doers, Dreamers & Drivers of 2015 when he was CIO in Oakland, joined an online Techwire Member Briefing earlier this year, where he discussed what has changed at his agency since the advent of COVID-19.
“Now’s the time for us not to lose focus, and one of the things we’ve got to really do is maintain that connectivity with everyone. Now, more than ever, our soft skills, not our technical skills, are what’s really being put to the test,” he told Techwire more recently.
Techwire: As CIO of your organization, how do you describe your role; and how have the role and responsibilities of the CIO changed in recent years?
Sastokas: My role is the chief of the IT division. And what’s unique, I find, working in a special district versus … the private sector or the public sector, we are focused on pretty much one thing. We have tons of work — from construction projects and everything we do. But we focus on transportation. That’s really what we do here, unlike in the public sector where we’re providing everything from public safety to utilities and business licensing and so forth. Here, we’re focused on transit. And for us from a technical standpoint, our role is to figure out how we can make transit more integrated within our community.
We talk about technology as a service, other areas as a service — you know, transportation is almost “as a service.” We’re providing ways for people to go about their livelihood. And that’s it at its core. And from a technical standpoint, we’re trying to improve that customer experience. How do we make transit more convenient, how do we make transit more accessible? We’re applying fundamental technologies to make that system more secure, more safe, more reliable. We do these major construction projects — L.A. Metro has the largest construction portfolio right now of any transit agency in the country. It’s huge, the amount of work we’re trying to do just between now and 2028 (the Los Angeles Olympics), it’s just immense. And we move a lot of people. (Ridership was) over 1.3 million people per day, pre-COVID of course — ridership is down about 50 percent right now. But that’s still people that are trying to move.
And the culture of L.A., unlike some of the other areas of California, they love to drive here in L.A. And we are a car culture. So, how do we make technology improve services, tap into the partnerships … and try to meet demands of what ridership is asking for? Even though we are providing day-to-day technology services for the people that work in the office and so forth, for us, it’s really trying to improve that experience and what solutions are out there; and how do we leverage partnerships, technology and just people to do that.
Techwire: How big a role do you personally play in writing your organization’s strategic plan?
Sastokas: Well, any head of a department is accountable for how that is established and deployed. We rely a lot on the people that we bring on board and hire, mentor, train to really be the facilitators of that. But as the chief in the organization, it’s imperative that I make sure that we have the appropriate relationships. As we become more of an executive — as someone who looks to “How will I ever become a CIO,” or “Where do I want to improve my career?” — we start to slightly become removed from a lot of the technology deployment. But we have that experience interwoven in our skill set and in our toolbox. But we’re looking at how do we make those partnerships also internally, not just with our vendors but with the other chiefs and the agencies, my CFO, my COO. And in those partnerships is part of driving our strategic plan. What are the needs of my internal customers is no different than the needs of the consumers of our services outside of the agency.
The majority of my role is making sure and communicating what our initiatives are, what we’re targeting here, how that’s going to improve our internal operations; and then, in the end, how does that improve the service to the end user? So, it’s a lot of meetings, a lot of talking, it’s a lot of conversation and very clear dialogue on what we’re trying to do and deploying those plans. Yes, I’m accountable for it. My staff will help drive what our needs are in partnership with the other departments and then we sell it. I don’t like to use the word “evangelize,” because we don’t need to do it. I don’t need to convince anybody anymore. Maybe 20 years ago, we had to convince people of the value of IT and what it meant. Now, everybody understands it — it’s how much more can we do? It’s really setting those expectations, tempering needs, really showing value and delivering value. And that’s been my role through any strategic plan here and the initiatives we’re trying to set forth.
Techwire: What big initiatives or projects are coming in 2021? What sorts of RFPs should we be watching for in the next six to 12 months?
Sastokas: There are certain areas that I would say are always still critical for us. Cybersecurity is still, regardless of any construction initiative or even a customer service initiative, that is something we’re always concerned with. We are continually looking at new services. In fact, we’re in the process of trying to assist people, not just in their physical security when they ride Metro, but making sure we offer more of these conveniences like free Wi-Fi. And other trip planning-type services, so that we can ensure that they are being protected when they use those access points. So, we partner with other vendors to try to provide some applications that we’re going to go live with that will allow people to make sure they have a secure (access point). We also just completed one that is dealing with our handicapped and hearing and visually impaired ridership. We did a very large beaconing project for them to be able to find their way around Union Station. They can tune in (and) with a hearing aid, they can find out how close they are to certain platforms, how to navigate around those areas.
We’re doing more digital displays. Having this real-time information, having the ability to know when the next train or bus is going to arrive and what, maybe, the ridership count is … that’s something we have been partnering with other folks on as well. That’s a project that is halfway completed. We have all new cellular service that was just done and continues to grow as we dig more tunnels and provide more service, so making sure connectivity for our customers is there. And a big one for us is, we have a huge asset management application that we are in the process of finalizing. We’re working with a proposed vendor (on) asset inventory (to) see the life cycle of not just technology pieces, but pieces on a train, on a bus. Every asset that you can imagine, to make sure that we’re constantly in a state of good repair. So, there’s some major tech projects as well as improvements within the construction projects that we are doing here at L.A. County.
Techwire: How do you define “digital transformation,” and how far along is your organization in that process? How will you know when it’s finished?
Sastokas: Well, one thing is for sure, I doubt you ever know when digital or any type of transformation is finished. Once you feel that you’ve completed what your goal is that you have set out, things have evolved. And so, we’re constantly improving. To me, digital transformation is no different than just that constant improvement on providing those services. And those are some of the areas that we’re looking at. What we’ve done is, we have a new next-gen bus plan that we’ve just released and have been improving. And we’ve leveraged a lot of technology around that. The way people use bus service now isn’t always, “Oh, do I really need to walk another 10 blocks to get to a bus stop?” Things are more on-demand. So, we’re looking at ways and we’ve leveraged our GIS mapping and the way we roll out buses and the services that are there to make sure it’s more in line with the way people travel. This improvement, this new way of providing bus services, shows us we’re able to move people long-range. But people are going much more short routes. They’re doing things more frequently and on off-peak hours. So, in this digital transformation, we’re applying tools now so that people can say “Hey, I might (use) this micro-transit service that is covering me in a smaller radius … .” Rather than them having to drive to a Metro station. … Now, we’re saying, “OK, well, how do we plan trip planning and how do we tie in that you need a mobile, on-demand pickup, or maybe you’re green and you want to bike.” We’re transforming the way mobility is. And so, even though that might not look like it’s a technology transformation, it is a transformation of our service that we’re leveraging tools, whether, again, it’s partnerships in the mobile space on micro-transit, or partnering with a bike-share program. … It’s more of a consumption of a transit offering on-demand and that’s currently what we’re going through in our transformation of that. Once that’s done, we have new services that we need to provide that are going beyond transit. We’re looking at how metro plays a role in the community. We’re establishing a school in Inglewood for people who want to develop transportation careers. We’re transforming Metro to provide services that aren’t always just solely transportation.
Techwire: What is your estimated IT budget and how many employees do you have? What is the overall budget?
Sastokas: We have around 170 employees within our IT organization. We … overall employ around 12,000 within Metro.
Editor’s note: Sastokas said via email that his current annual IT budget is around $100 million. Metro’s 2021 Fiscal Year budget is $6 billion. The population of its IT organization includes around 150 full-time employees and 20 contract/part-time workers and interns.
Techwire: How do you prefer to be contacted by vendors, including via social media such as LinkedIn? How might vendors best educate themselves before meeting with you?
Sastokas: Well, everything’s online for us and, in fact, I try to keep up (on) not just work-related things but others through social media and so forth. But what’s unique about Metro, that we’ve just done through our Office of Extraordinary Innovation, … is what we call our unsolicited proposal. And this was to try to take away some of the bureaucracy for people who have ideas that (they) want to try to get in front of Metro. … Then, if there’s merit to that .. we work with the vendor, we try to pilot something. It doesn’t preclude us from having to eventually do a proper RFP and selection process on it. And this process kind of formalizes a way for people to reach out to us and have that type of engagement there.
Techwire: In your tenure in this position, which project or achievement are you most proud of?
Sastokas: I say it’s probably the one we’re currently doing right now. It’s not necessarily a specific project, but it’s the way we look at projects. And to leverage data in how we’re using technology. … We’re looking at it from an equity platform and to me, that’s something that is much needed because there’s sometimes this misunderstanding between equity and equality. … A lot of transit initiatives and projects, do they provide equity to everybody? So, we are now looking at ways that we manage and … deploy initiatives and we put that within an equity framework that we have, that allows us to make sure that we’re meeting the needs of those most needing transit. And so, we compile a ton of data, we look at our ridership, we look at the demographics that are there. What this does is, it’s showing us where we have the most impact in the delivery of these solutions. That is something that we just initiated for this budget cycle. Our CEO has established a department based on equity to make sure that this is really actionable. And so, the technology we’re putting behind that, whether it is, again, mapping, putting out proper data, analyzing that data, collecting ridership information to make sure we’re doing things where they’re most needed.
(Additionally), are we looking at the development of businesses and other people that can provide services to Metro, whether they are a minority-run business, a small business, bringing in these diverse programs for those folks that are … small shops that can’t provide these services. So, leveraging our equity platform through our vendor selection process, through our project implementation process and … our performance evaluation. We’re really pushing out a lot of data to make sure Metro does the most impactful solutions with the money we’re entrusted to deploy with.
Techwire: If you could change one thing about IT procurement, what would it be?
Sastokas: You know, I think for us, at least for me, the biggest thing is having very clear and concise submissions when we deal with procurement. And that means, to me, doing a lot of homework. Whether it’s us, then, putting out an appropriate RFP, or our potential solution providers submitting on an RFP. A lot of times, we’re off the mark on either what we’re asking for or what’s being presented to us. And it takes a lot of effort to really get clear on what we’re looking to provide or receive. And for me, what I would change is just making sure we have enough diligence in providing more clarity … around these requests and our RFPs. Sometimes they get very overburdened and I think the bigger and larger these things are, the more complex and harder it is to make an appropriate selection and solution. So, for me, it would be all around transparency and clarity in doing this. And having our vendors take the time to really research what those needs are. I think the unsolicited-proposal process helps remediate a lot of that because it gives us the opportunity to look at solutions that may not have been on our radar and can help educate us as well on what solutions are out there when we go to try to write these big proposals and these large procurements.
Techwire: What do you read to stay abreast of developments in the gov tech/SLED sector?
Sastokas: Anything is great. It’s so hard to keep up with the plethora of information that’s out there. I wouldn’t say necessarily it’s something that … I read; it’s more dialogue and conversations. Having these webinars, whether it’s something from e.Republic* or … any of those. It’s not so much reading, but it’s more the peer networking. When there’s something that someone is talking about and how it had an experience to them — being engaged on those webinars and staying abreast of things that have some real merit that someone has had — “Hey, this is how it impacted my business or how I looked at implementing this type of solution.” That’s really more beneficial than a “For Dummies”-type approach to something where I’ve just got to read a book that’s more subjective. Engaging in those peer networks, working out with other conversations that we have, whether it’s through user groups — that’s really, to me, the best quick hit in staying current for really anybody.
Techwire: What are your hobbies, and what do you enjoy reading?
Sastokas: Well, again, for me, we’re stuck at home more often than not. I’ve always loved cooking. Trying out new recipes, doing something there, even making a new cocktail, something that’s there to really take (away) the captivity that you may experience because you can’t always go out to eat. I’m also big in scouting. My kids all do scouting. … We still do virtual stuff. The boys and girls still get together. We’re still working on merit badges and Eagle projects that we have. … A lot of those are now gearing towards assistance around homelessness and other areas to keep people healthy and safe. Even out of a bad pandemic, some of our youth are really — it’s concerning to them. They have a harder time dealing with this than we do. To me, I think taking a step back, when we’re not worried about work and trying to make your home something that is not really home. Turn it into a restaurant, have a little movie theater, try to make it more virtual than what it is. I think that goes a long way for people to get out of that monotony. To me, that’s been keeping me sane.
Editor’s note: This interview has been lightly edited for style and brevity.
*e.Republic is the parent company of Techwire and its sister publication Government Technology magazine.
