Washington, D.C. -On Wednesday, June 26, 2019, Rep. Gerry Connolly, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, will hold a hearing to assess implementation of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) and other information technology (IT) laws.
WHERE: 2154 Rayburn House Office Building
WHEN: Wednesday, June 26, 2019
TIME: 2:00 p.m.
The hearing will be broadcast here.
PURPOSE
The hearing will examine: (1) whether Office of Management and Budget (OMB) policies are in compliance with FITARA; (2) agency implementation with FITARA and other IT laws; (3) the importance of a direct line of reporting from an agency’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) to the head or deputy of the agency; and (4) cost savings that could be realized through data center consolidation.
BACKGROUND
* FITARA was passed in 2014 to modernize the Federal Government’s IT. Since the law’s implementation, the Committee and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have worked together to release a scorecard that assesses agencies’ FITARA implementation efforts every six months. The eighth scorecard will be released at the hearing.
* Agency FITARA grades typically reflect GAO’s analysis of how agencies are performing in the following FITARA-related categories:
1. incremental development;
2. risk reporting;
3. portfolio management;
4. data center consolidation;
5. software licensing;
6. and modernizing government technology.
The latest scorecard adds a new category relating to the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2014 (FISMA).
* In addition, agencies’ grades are given a “+" or “-" based on whether the CIO reports directly to the head of the agencies. An indirect reporting structure lowers the overall grades by a full letter grade for agencies where CIOs do not report to either the head or deputy head of the agency.
WITNESSES
Suzette Kent
Federal Chief Information Officer
Office of Management and Budget
Carol Harris
Director, IT Management Issues
Government Accountability Office
Panel Two
Gary Washington
Chief Information Officer
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Jason Gray
Chief Information Officer
U.S. Department of Education
Eric Olson
Chief Information Officer
U.S. Department of the Treasury
