Tag Archives: Budget

FITARA is Evolving and Agencies are Keeping Up

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The ninth Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) Scorecard, released in December, showed promising progress in meeting goals and in holding agencies accountable for their modernization efforts. For the first time, three different agencies earned an "A" or higher. The General Services Administration and Department of Education both received an "A+" and The United States Agency for International Development got an "A." This scorecard was the only time a failing grade was not handed out. Overall, agencies have upped their scores from a "D" average on the first scorecard in 2015 to a current "C+" average.

Scores are not the only thing that has increased. What is being measured has also grown. The first scorecard only measured four areas -- data center consolidation, IT portfolio review savings, incremental development, and risk assessment transparency. The latest version has nine subcategories that include measuring progress against recently enacted legislation.

Big gains in scores were found in regard to compliance with the Megabyte Act, legislation that aims to improve the way agencies manage their software licenses. Gains were also found in giving CIOs more authority. In fact, the reporting found that 22 agencies had permanent CIOs, two had acting CIOs and, of those, 16 reported directly to leadership.

Progress on data center consolidation also continues, though not without controversy. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) voiced concern with the Office of Management and Budget's latest guidance on data center consolidation that changes the language to "optimization" and not "consolidation." He argued that consolidation is what frees up capital and drives cost savings, an area where agencies still struggle. Continue reading →

The Why and How of Federal Event Attendance

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Market Connections recently conducted a survey to understand how federal decisions makers view and use events as part of their professional development and daily work. The survey included input from technology decision-makers across defense and civilian agencies and aimed to find out how they make decisions about what events to attend and what they expect when they are there.

The survey found that the topic is the main driver for event attendance with 85% citing that as the key reason they decide whether to attend an event. Price and location also play a big role in the decision to attend an event or not. Interestingly, while the topic is important, who delivers that topic is not as critical. Keynote speakers did not rank high on the list of deciding factors. Similarly, while event planners may push the opportunity for networking, that is a "nice to have" for attendees rather than a reason to spend time and money attending an event.

With the topic being so key to attendance, the survey looked at what people are interested in learning about at events. Cybersecurity was the number one topic of interest in the survey. This mirrors what we see in terms of events on our site; cybersecurity typically has the most events listed year after year. The other topics in the top five were cloud services, digital government, AI/Machine Learning, and budget/cost control/fiscal management. Continue reading →

Acquiring Knowledge on Government Acquisition

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For those of us in the government market, October is the time to break out the Happy New Year noisemakers and celebrate the new government fiscal year (GFY). Each August and September is a frantic race for agencies to spend their remaining budget, which poses opportunity but a lot of hard work for the vendors that want to earn some of this end-of-year shopping spree money. In recent years, the turning of the new fiscal year has also meant uncertainty. From shut downs to continuing resolutions, the switch from one year to the next has not been as smooth as flipping a calendar page.

A group of senators has come forth to raise concerns about this annual end-of-year frenzy. A recent report found that the last week of the fiscal year accounts for 12.3 percent of spending [on IT]. Numerous other reports over the years have found similar statistics. In 2017 this equated to $11 billion in the final week of the year -- almost five times more than the average weekly spending for that year. This spending happens because agencies are afraid if they do not use all the money they are allocated, their budgets will go down in the future. This group of senators, as well as others in government, are looking at options for reforming the system to eliminate the potential waste resulting from this fast spending. Continue reading →

Thoroughly Modern Government

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The Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act was passed in late 2017 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. MGT creates working capital funds for IT projects that will "improve service delivery to the public, secure sensitive systems and data, and save taxpayer dollars."

This $228 million fund allows agencies to borrow money to transition to new technologies. It can also serve as the start-up for working capital funds for ongoing IT projects. Agencies must submit proposals to an interagency board in order to receive money from the general fund. This Technology Modernization Board will be responsible for approving certain projects and making funding recommendations to the General Services Administration, which administers the funds.

This money is intended to fund critical efforts including replacing infrastructure and applications that pose a high cybersecurity risk, legacy systems that are costly to operate, and IT that can support citizen service goals as laid out in the President's Management Agenda. The goal of MGT is to jump start projects that will generate future savings for agencies, but repayment is not contingent upon agencies actually seeing those savings, the loan must be repaid regardless of project results or savings.

MGT is really a proof of concept, or a new way of funding IT within government. As OMB and GSA work to provide guidance and administer the funds, agencies are looking for ways to present their projects in the best light to not only receive funding but also achieve efficiency goals. Luckily, there are a number of events where agencies can share modernization experiences and best practices as well as discuss how best to use MGT funds. Here are a few events that will focus on modernization as a key goal within government.

  • Defense Systems Summit (July 11; Arlington, VA) - With a theme of IT Everywhere: Technology's Role in Tomorrow's Military, this 1105 Media event will bring together the DoD community to discuss how IT teams manage operations by maintaining legacy systems alongside emerging technology. With a focus on weaving in modern technologies, the event will include discussion on AI, defense cyber tools, IoT, and more.
  • Beyond Telework. IT Modernization Strategies for Competing in the Full Employment Era (July 24; Washington, DC) - This event is focused on how the federal government can compete to secure the best and brightest talent. With enthusiasm for teleworking tempering within government (and it being so widely used in the private sector), agencies need to look to other IT modernization strategies to create a flexible, next-gen workplace.
  • Cyber Excellence: Modern, Secure, Resilient (August 2; Washington. DC) - Looking at modernization through the reality of MGT funding, this event looks to explain how to use the guidance and funding coming from the executive branch to accelerate progress. Discussion will focus on key cyber strategies that will improve security postures today while paving the road to a more dynamic, high performance government.
  • IT Modernization Conference @930gov (August 28; Washington, DC) - This event will look at the current state of the Executive Office's 'Comprehensive Plan for Reforming the Federal Government' initiative and address what lies ahead for FY'19 and beyond. Sessions will address the strategies, tactics and policies around the modernization efforts.
  • 2018 Public Sector Innovation Summit (December 4; Washington, DC) - Attendees will explore how technology-driven innovation is advancing government. Top technology innovators and influencers across the public and private sectors will converge to discuss what's shaping the future of digital government.

We'd love to hear from you. Where are you learning about how best to apply for and use MGT funds? Share your thoughts in the comments.

What’s an Event Worth?

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There is no magic formula for what an organization should spend on producing events, but there are some facts and trends that can be used to better calculate the event line item in 2018 budgets. Beyond venue rental fees and food and beverage purchases, there are many more elements that factor into the cost (and eventual ROI) of an event.[Tweet "There are many elements that factor into the cost of an event. #GovEventsBlog"]

We've pulled together a couple of guidelines from industry research as well as advice from our organizer members, to help with budget allocations for events. Continue reading →