Page 10 - FCW, September 15, 2016

Trending
GSA assists
agencies with
data center
consolidation
In August, U.S. CIO Tony Scott unveiled the Data Center Optimiza- tion Initiative — the successor to the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative.
The new initiative seeks to bring data center guidance in line with the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act with the goals of strengthening CIO authority over data center-related bud- geting and management decisions, and increasing the use of the cloud and interagency shared services.
Denise Turner Roth, administra- tor of the General Services Admin- istration, said her agency’s Office of Government-wide Policy would be managing partner with OMB on the initiative.
Within 60 days of the Aug. 1 release of Scott’s memo, each agency must publish strategic plans describing its consolidation and optimization strat- egy for the next three fiscal years. An OGP spokesman said the agency is working with OMB to align its desig- nation process for interagency shared services providers with the strategic plan timeline to help agencies with those plans.
In an Aug. 10 blog post, Dominic Sale, deputy associate administrator in OGP’s Office of Information, Integ- rity and Access, said OGP will focus on three primary objectives in its sup- port for the initiative: encouraging the best-equipped federal data centers to extend their services to other agen- cies; fostering internal markets for federal data center services; and chart- ing a clear path agencies can follow to the cloud and away from dependence on their own physical infrastructures.
— Mark Rockwell
73 cloud services were FedRAMP authorized at press time, according to GSA’s new dashboard. Four more were ”FedRAMP Ready.”
Is Will Hurd in trouble?
One of the leading voices on IT issues is embroiled in a close reelection bid that is a rematch of the race that brought him to Capitol Hill.
Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) — chair- man of the House Oversight and Government Reform Com-
mittee’s IT Subcommit-
tricts who are more vulnerable. In other words, vulnerability is all relative.”
Hurd has a few things going for him, though. His campaign has raised significant money to defend his seat. Geoffrey Skelley, a political analyst at
the University of Virginia, said Hurd has twice as much cash as Gallego.
But with voting less than two months away, Skelley said the National Republican Congres- sional Committee has strong incentives to invest in Hurd’s reelection.
tee, former CIA agent and cybersecurity expert — is in a toss-up race with former Rep. Pete Gallego to repre- sent Texas’ sprawling 23rd congressional district.
Rep. Will Hurd
Hurd’s leading problem is Republican nominee Donald Trump, who is wildly unpopular with Hispanics nationally and lagging behind Democrat Hillary Clinton with Texas’ Latino vot- ers. More than half of Hurd’s district is Hispanic.
Gallego represented the district from 2013 to 2015, and he is using the Trump candidacy to his advantage. Further- more, Democrats will be fighting hard to help him win the most competitive seat in Texas.
“Hurd is certainly vulnerable,” Sim- one Pathe, a politics reporter at CQ Roll Call, told FCW. Nevertheless, Hurd did not make that publication’s list of most vulnerable freshman lawmakers. “There are simply many more freshman Repub- licans in more Democratic-leaning dis-
“With his CIA background, he’s brought a voice — and a diverse face — to the GOP conference that Republi- cans will fight to keep,” Pathe said. “But Texas’ 23rd district remains one of the most competitive districts in the coun- try — certainly a must-win for Demo- crats that they’re targeting heavily.”
Hurd’s campaign stresses the work he has done on Capitol Hill for his con- stituents and will sell that aggressively on the campaign trail. He has had four bills signed, assumed a leadership role on IT and cybersecurity issues and was given the chairmanship of a subcom- mittee with an oversight portfolio that includes $80 billion in annual federal IT spending.
— Aisha Chowdhry
Deloitte Gov
@DeloitteGov
How can leaders keep exiting feds
on point during the transition? http://deloi.tt/2b9dTd2 via @FCWnow
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10 September 15, 2016 FCW.COM