Page 5 - FCW, August 15, 2016

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An alternative to ITMF?
$5.8B could be saved by implementing Federal
The Obama administration has been pushing for a $3.1 billion government- wide IT Modernization Fund, but alter- native legislation introduced in mid-July might have a better chance of making it through Congress, according to sources close to the effort.
The Modernizing Outdated and Vulnerable Equipment and Informa- tion Technology (MOVE IT) Act of 2016, introduced by Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.), could pass this Congress, even given the lim- ited time lawmakers have left when they return in September, a Moran aide told FCW.
“This is really part of Sens. Moran and Udall’s broader efforts to bring IT into the 21st century, and we view it as a natural follow-on to” the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act, the staffer said.
“I think there is a fighting chance,” Rich Beutel, a former House Oversight and Government Reform Committee staffer and a key drafter of FITARA, told FCW.
The bipartisan, bicameral legislation has gained positive industry feedback so far. In a July 14 statement, the IT Alliance for Public Sector said, “This bill creates an opportunity for agencies to effectively fund their IT needs for cloud computing, IT modernization, cyberse-
curity and future IT development. We thank \[Rep. Will\] Hurd and Senators Udall and Moran and their co-sponsors for their leadership and urge their col- leagues to support the MOVE IT Act.”
The Professional Services Council also backed the measure. “Before Con- gress adjourns for the year, we hope that all of these ideas to improve fed- eral IT can be drawn upon and a com-
IT COST Commission recommendations, according to the group
Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) introduced a bill based on the White House proposal for a revolving IT fund. The bill has 20 co-sponsors but just one Republi- can — FITARA architect Darrell Issa of California.
Industry groups have generally been supportive of the idea of a government- wide fund, but some companies have expressed concern that the administra-
prehensive bill enacted into law,” PSC President David Berteau said.
Under the act, agencies would be empowered to create their own work- ing capital funds for IT modernization. No new funding would accompany that autonomy, however. The idea is for agencies to bank their savings from cloud transitions and other updates, and reprogram funds that otherwise would go to operating and maintaining legacy systems.
In contrast, the Obama administra- tion’s proposal takes a governmentwide funding approach. House Minority Whip
tion’s plan would centralize too much control at the General Services Admin- istration, which would manage the fund.
Hoyer stands by his legislation, how- ever. “The MOVE IT Act is unfunded and would only be a meager step toward modernizing our government technol- ogy, which is far short of what is urgent- ly needed,” Hoyer said in a statement. “My IT Modernization Act is the only proposal on the table that has a realistic chance of upgrading many of our most vulnerable and costly legacy systems in a short time frame.”
— Aisha Chowdhry
“The MOVE IT Act is unfunded and would only be a meager step toward modernizing our government technology, which is
far short of what is urgently needed.”
— HOUSE MINORITY WHIP STENY HOYER
FCW CALENDAR
8/18 DevOps
EPA CIO Ann Dunkin, USCIS CIO Mark Schwartz and USDS
Software Engineer Joe Crobak are scheduled to participate in ATARC’s summit on DevOps and agile’s influence in government. Washington, D.C. fedsummits.com/devops
8/24 Cybersecurity
Speakers at this FCW summit on resilience and
comprehensive cyber strategies include the Commerce Department’s Rod Turk and the Office of Personnel Management’s Clifton Triplett. Washington, D.C.
fcw.com/security
9/13 Acquisition
The Office of Federal Procurement Policy’s Lesley Field,
GSA’s Casey Kelley, NOAA’s Mitchell Ross and the FCC’s John Skudlarek will speak at ACT-IAC’s Mythbusters Forum.
Washington, D.C.
is.gd/FCW_myth2016
August 15, 2016 FCW.COM 3
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