FITARA Goes to the Cloud, Grades Come Down to the Ground

The 17th edition of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard featured a revamped list of measurements to illustrate federal agency progress against current modernization goals. This latest scorecard introduced two new categories - Cloud Computing and CIO Investment Evaluation - while dropping the measurement of compliance with data center modernization, something all agencies have completed.

This reshuffling of measurement criteria resulted in lower grades for 11 agencies. Twelve agencies saw their grades unchanged. The Department of Defense (DoD) was the sole group earning a higher grade, rising from a C to a B. These drops are not necessarily a concerning indicator, but rather a re-baselining of where agencies stand in terms of modern digital government goals. Continue reading

FITARA’s Sweet 16 Shows One-Third of Agencies Making Gains in Modernization

Since 2015 the government has bi-annually taken the pulse of IT modernization efforts with the FITARA scorecard. Created as part of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA), the scorecard provides a glance at how agencies are managing seven key IT activities:

  • Agency CIO authority enhancements
  • Transparency and risk management
  • Portfolio review savings
  • Data center consolidation
  • Modernizing government technology (MGT)
  • Cyber
  • Transition off Networx contract

The latest report unveiled at a roundtable event rather than the traditional hearing, showed three agencies achieving As, 16 Bs, and five Cs. Education and Labor received their first overall A score, joining the U.S. Agency for International Development, which had previously scored an A. Of those Bs, six were improvements from Cs - Agriculture, Energy, Homeland Security and Interior, Office of Personnel Management, and Social Security Administration. Continue reading