How Agencies Can Maintain Accountability While Optimizing
The major difference between FITARA and the IT optimization laws that preceded it is the level of accountability involved, said Carol Harris, director of IT and cybersecurity issues at the Government Accountability Office.
“One of the main reasons FITARA was successful was because of the scorecard and the hearings that were held,” Harris said. “These are such effective tools to keep agencies accountable. People want to get the best grade possible. I think that accountability encourages agencies to accelerate their plans to get them the best possible grade with each release of the scorecards.
“It’s changing the landscape of IT modernization,” Harris added. “Agencies have more internal control now, and they’re more disciplined in how they approach software development. They get better results. It’s a good news story.”
Harris sees most of the cost savings achieved by agencies as a result of PortfolioStat, a tool for agencies to assess the current maturity of their IT portfolios and eliminate redundancy in their environment.
Launched in 2012 by the Office of Management and Budget, PortfolioStat is actually the predecessor to FITARA; however, Harris says the law provides a measure of accountability to ensure agencies actually use the tool.
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“I strongly believe that regular hearings and scorecards are very effective in ensuring that agencies continue with these initiatives,” he said. “It’s about consolidating IT products across the agency — HR systems, financial systems, network infrastructure, email systems — things that can be shared across the organization.”
FITARA has been so successful that Harris said there has been talk of removing some categories from the scorecard, simply because they are no longer needed.
For example, each agency earned an A grade for data center consolidation, leading some to question whether the category has exceeded its purpose.
“Since 2010, the government has closed about 6,800 data centers, resulting in a savings of $6.6 billion,” Harris said. “The rate of consolidation has slowed, and it will continue to decline.”
Looking ahead, Harris said, Congress could tweak the FITARA scorecard to add more weight to areas like cybersecurity, employee training and change management. “Agencies are still struggling to change their culture,” he said. “Technological change is much easier than changing the culture of an organization.”
