Page 10 - FCW, April 30, 2016

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Audit faults
Peace Corps
email pilot
The General Services Administration was one of the first federal agencies to adopt a cloud-based service enter- prisewide, and it has urged other agencies to do the same. In 2014, that proselytizing took the form of provid- ing cloud-based email services to the Peace Corps at no cost.
However, GSA did not receive the Office of Management and Budget approval necessary for all interagen- cy services and provided the Peace Corps with six months of service — over two separate three-month stints — without an active memorandum of understanding between the two agencies, according to a March 22 report from GSA’s Office of Inspec- tor General.
Additionally, the report states that the Economy Act of 1932 — the legis- lative authority the two agencies cited to permit GSA to provide services to the Peace Corps — requires payment for those services. The improper arrangement effectively augmented the Peace Corps’ budget by $24,777.
In developing the pilot program without OMB’s approval, GSA cir- cumvented protocol and provided the Peace Corps with upwards of 500 cloud-based computing licenses that were not intended for interagency use, the OIG concluded.
Among other things, GSA’s OIG recommended that the agency take steps to ensure future compliance with federal policy and guidelines; seek approval from senior leaders, GSA’s Office of General Counsel and OMB before commencing interagency work; and enact an official agreement before any shared services are pro- vided. GSA officials concurred with the recommendations.
568 DOD data centers were closed by the end of fiscal 2015 — fewer than half
of the stated goal
White House pushes Congress to pass $3.1B IT modernization fund
The White House is preparing to send Congress new legislation that dives deeper into the revolving $3.1 billion IT modernization fund.
The Obama administration pro- posed the fund to serve as a mecha- nism for agencies to
upgrade legacy IT to
those funds will come out, and you need to really make sure Congress is on board with what they are being used for,” said David Powner, director of IT management issues at the Government Accountability Office.
more modern, cloud- based systems. Sav- ings agencies achieve on the back end would be repaid into the fund.
Sens. Jerry Moran and Tom Udall are revising cloud legislation that would help the federal CIO establish funds for IT modernization.
As OMB proceeds with its guidance on the fund, Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) are refreshing the lan- guage in their Cloud Infrastructure Transi- tion Act of 2015. The legislation would give new authority to the
The fund recently
failed to pass as an
amendment to the fis-
cal 2017 budget resolu-
tion in the House Budget Committee. Lawmakers have raised concerns about the amount of money that has already been allocated for IT modernization efforts and have questioned why an additional $3 billion is needed.
Federal Risk and Authorization Manage- ment Program to speed accreditation of commercial cloud providers, establish a framework for the federal CIO to set up working capital funds for IT mod- ernization and impose strict reporting requirements designed to expose agen- cies’ reliance on obsolete technology.
— Aisha Chowdhry
“You need to look at each agency individually, and you also need to look at those funds and ensure the way that
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8 April 30, 2016 FCW.COM
— Chase Gunter