Transforming Federal Lending Program Operations (Part 3 of 3)

Federal credit programs are under mounting pressure to modernize—to replace aging systems and to improve audit readiness, strengthen oversight, and reduce operational risk created by decades of manual workarounds. In Episodes 1 and 2 of this series, we explored why technical debt persists in federal credit programs and why domain expertise remains essential even as agencies adopt more advanced tools.

In Episode 3, host Kate Lynch Machado, Director of Strategic Growth, turns to the practical implications of modernization. The conversation focuses on how agencies can move from legacy, code-owned systems to cloud-based platforms while maintaining control, transparency, and accountability. The discussion features Summit federal credit modernization experts, Christine Shaughnessy (Senior Manager), Anthony Curcio (Senior Partner), and Samuel Seong (Partner).

The panel is clear that modernization is not about replacing spreadsheets with newer code. It requires rethinking how federal credit programs design, maintain, audit, and evolve their systems over time. When implemented appropriately, cloud-based platforms do not reduce agency control. Instead, they replace fragile, highly customized models with configurable and scalable environments that are easier to govern, audit, and maintain.

The bottom line: Expertise is not optional; it’s essential. Modern tools can improve speed, transparency, and efficiency, but they cannot replace the contextual knowledge needed to design federal credit models, ensure compliance standards, or guide policymaking.

Beyond the Spreadsheet: Rethinking Procurement and Audit in a Cloud Era

What This Episode Covers

•    Common misconceptions about cloud-based credit platforms
•    Why “owning the code” often increases risk and stifles innovation
•    How cloud environments improve audit readiness and traceability
•    What contracting officers should rethink when drafting statements of work
•    Why software and domain expertise must be procured together
•    How standardized data infrastructure lowers long-term costs across programs

Dispelling the Myth of Model Ownership

One of the most persistent misconceptions in federal credit programs is that owning in-house code guarantees control and lowers costs. As Anthony explains, this belief has driven decades of investment in bespoke models that quickly become expensive to maintain, difficult to update, and risky to operate.

Models are always evolving. Security requirements change. Software environments evolve. Policy updates require frequent recalibration. Cloud-based platforms offer a different approach. Agencies retain ownership of what matters most—their mission, policy decisions, and data—while shared infrastructure supports maintenance, upgrades, and scalability. This approach enables continuous improvement rather than episodic, crisis-driven fixes.

Audit Readiness Built in, Not Bolted On

Audit readiness is another area where cloud-native systems offer a step change. Rather than responding reactively to auditors with ad hoc briefings and manual documentation, cloud platforms can produce standardized, auditable outputs by design.

Christine highlights how access controls, activity logs, version control, and documented approval workflows can be embedded directly into the system. Every change is traceable. Every assumption is recorded. Outputs can be reproduced and reviewed without chasing emails or attachments. For auditors, this improves consistency and transparency. For agencies, it reduces the time spent assembling evidence and allows greater focus on substantive policy and risk issues.

Rethinking Procurement for Modern Credit Platforms

Modernization also has implications for procurement. Many existing statements of work were written for labor-based development of custom code rather than platform-based solutions delivered as ongoing services.

Cloud-based credit platforms require procurement approaches that define required capabilities, address security and availability, and integrate software access with domain expertise. Separating technology from the people who understand federal credit programs has consistently proven ineffective.

Episode 3 reinforces a central theme of this series: successful modernization is not about eliminating human judgment; it’s about amplifying it. Cloud platforms reduce friction and improve transparency, but expert insight remains essential to interpreting results, adapting to policy change, and maintaining public trust.

Meet Summit’s Federal Credit Experts

Christine Shaughnessy, Senior Manager, has more than a decade of experience designing and implementing models across all stages of the federal credit program life cycle. She is known for translating complex, cloud-based modeling requirements into accessible, effective solutions.

Anthony Curcio, Senior Partner, is a seasoned leader in federal credit policy and budgeting. He is recognized for simplifying complex federal financial systems and has served as an underwriting instructor for multiple federal infrastructure programs.

Samuel Seong, Partner, brings experience across the full life cycle of federal credit programs. He is widely known for helping agencies stand up new credit programs, with expertise spanning credit subsidy, modeling, program operations, organizational design, and change management.