When Richard McKinney started his job as chief information officer of the Department of Transportation, he didn’t know what its network looked like. “Our network was the child of many hands,” McKinney said. “There was no overarching architectural approach to our network.” […]

he White House released the Data Center Optimization Initiative, which requires agencies to consolidate inefficient infrastructure, update existing facilities, boost security, save money, and transition to cloud services or inter-agency shared services. […]

Transparency is key in demonstrating the value of money spent on information technology, according to the Federal Commission on IT Cost, Opportunity, Strategy, and Transparency. […]

Federal agencies need to adopt a standardized taxonomy for their data, according to authors of the report “Accelerating the Mission: Recommendations for Optimizing Federal Technology Cost and Value in the Age of FITARA.” The report proposes a set of Technology Business Management guidelines that would help agencies communicate with each other, Congress, and the private sector more effectively. […]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture received a C grade on its Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act scorecard, which was released in May. Flip Anderson, acting executive director of FITARA for USDA, was so frustrated with the FITARA grading system that he created his own scorecard to gauge how closely the USDA complies with the act’s mandates. […]

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., outlines the many dangers facing the government’s effort to modernize its aging IT infrastructure. But the time to act is now, he said. […]

Time may be running out on the Federal government’s plan to replace and modernize billions of dollars’ worth of legacy IT systems—some of which date back more than 40 years and control critical programs, including the U.S. military’s nuclear arsenal. […]

Federal agencies 18F and the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) are desirable in theory but confusing and misdirected in practice, according to members and witnesses at the House Oversight Committee hearing on Friday. […]

Proponents of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA) worry that a change in presidential administration could derail the progress made to release Federal financial data to the public. […]

Politics and blame stand in the way of Federal IT modernization, according to comments made at the House Oversight Committee’s hearing on legacy IT systems. Congressmen said they were disappointed and baffled over the degree of outdated technology in Federal agencies, some in mission critical systems. […]

NASA’s progress meeting the requirements of FITARA has been anything but out of this world. Members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voiced disappointment at the mediocre progress made by most agency chief information officers, but NASA, arguably the most high-tech of all Federal agencies, was the only one to receive an F. […]

Most Federal agencies received slightly better grades for their progress under the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act, according to the annual scorecard released ahead of a hearing on Capitol Hill. […]

Food and Drug Administration CIO Todd Simpson is working toward a new tech-savvy agency by creating programs specifically aimed at technological innovation. “I created a separate, stand-alone innovations office that speeds new technologies into the CTO shop once they’re approved,” he said. These technologies include various Apple and Android phones, applications, and tablets. […]

The key to data center consolidation success is communicating and committing to an aggressive plan, according to Department of Justice CIO Joseph Klimavicz. […]

Dave Powner, director of IT issues at the Government Accountability Office, profiled the upcoming agency scorecard on FITARA and discussed the Federal government’s continuing difficulties with data center consolidation and legacy IT modernization. […]

If you are wondering what it’s going to take to get your agency in line with the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act, known as FITARA, look no further. Joyce Hunter, the deputy chief information officer for policy and planning at the Department of Agriculture, has been there and has done that. […]

The Agriculture Department’s Flip Anderson is the only known agency-level FITARA director–an indicator of both the level of importance USDA has assigned to the new law and the resources necessary to manage the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act compliance correctly. […]

For FITARA to reach its full potential, Federal agencies must dissect the real problems and attract stronger CIOs, Dave Powner, Director of IT Issues at the Government Accountability Office, told MeriTalk’s FITARA Forum in Washington, D.C. […]

Just 11 percent of Federal IT managers say their data centers are fully equipped to meet their agency’s current mission demands, according to a report by MeriTalk. The report, titled “Flash Forward–The Future of the Federal Data Center” and underwritten by Pure Storage, asked 150 Federal IT/data center professionals to predict and examine the future […]

The White House on Wednesday called on all Federal agencies to establish so-called acquisition innovation labs to improve how the government purchases information technology products and services. […]

To drive down Federal spending and waste, the Office of Management and Budget has released its official Data Center Policy, designed to streamline the process of reducing the number of Federal data centers. By 2018, 52 percent of Federal data centers will close. […]

Now that Donna Seymour is out as chief information officer at the Office of Personnel Management, OPM insiders and analysts interviewed by MeriTalk agree that her successor will need to be a different breed of CIO. […]

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department has begun its search for a new Chief Information Officer, two months after HHS lost its previous CIO, Frank Baitman, who worked to establish HHS within the 2014 FITARA guidelines. […]

With the deadline looming for Federal agencies to submit final implementation plans for FITARA, the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act, it’s a good time to look back at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s scorecard, released in November. With no As in sight, what does success look like? […]

Congressman says the one-year old IT acquisition law is a good start, and now Congress will issue its controversial scorecards twice a year to ensure Federal agencies are implementing FITARA appropriately. […]

Federal chief information officers (CIOs) should take full advantage of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) to cut costs and transform their agencies, according to panelists at the second MeriTalk FITARA Forum. “We’ve got to seize the moment,” said Steve Harris, vice president and general manager of Dell Federal Systems. “The initial momentum […]

The Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) will allow agencies to run and look like private sector organizations, panelists at MeriTalk’s FITARA Forum said. And that’s a good thing. “I think it’s wonderful that the government and the industry are collaborating and that the government is looking a lot more” like industry, said Jean […]

Members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday outlined numerous shortcomings in efforts by Federal agencies to implement reforms in the bipartisan Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA). The committee issued F and D letter grades to 17 agencies because of missed opportunities to cut costs and meet other benchmarks. The […]

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s hearing on the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) produced some good commentary from members of Congress and witnesses alike. Here are five comments from testimony and the subsequent discussion that provide perspective on the hearing. “I am so grateful to this committee for FITARA. I think […]

The Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) aimed to empower agency CIOs and improve federal IT management. Now comes the hard part: putting those ideas into practice. […]