Interagency for Improving Federal IT Acquisitions


Contributed by: National Performance Review
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Establish an interagency team to develop a plan for improving federal
information technology (IT) acquisitions.

By December 1993, the Administrator, General Services Administration
(GSA), should establish an interagency team to develop a governmentwide
approach to improve management of IT acquisitions. This effort should
operate within the overall context of IT reinvention activities within
the federal government. The team should function as a subelement of the
Government Information Technology Services Working Group.9 The team
should:

-- review agency IT program plans, goals, and objectives by March 1994,
and recommend specific delegations;

-- act on behalf of all agencies with the goal of obtaining their
agreement to work within the team's recommendations;

-- be chaired by an agency team member who will report the team's
findings and recommendations to the Administrator, GSA;

-- be composed primarily of senior agency management officials able to
consult with IT officials, private sector experts, Congress, and central
management agencies (OMB, OFPP, NIST, etc.) to analyze issues and
develop guiding principles, best practices, and performance measures for
a streamlined, wellmanaged IT acquisition process;

-- develop an interagency team approach for managing those IT
procurements that have potential effects beyond a single agency;

-- review GSA's ongoing role in IT with the goal of placing maximum
accountability for IT with agency heads and emphasizing GSA's role and
capability of being a "center of expertise," providing acquisition
consultation and management services consistent with current law; and

-- examine the issue of commodities to define better the boundary
between acquisitions that do and do not need special authority and
oversight in the law and the FIRMR. This includes advising the
Administrator, GSA, prior to January 1994, regarding the pilot
identified in action item 4, below.

By April 1994, the Administrator, GSA, should provide the Vice President
with the team's findings, recommendations, and plans for implementation.

Endnote

9. See "IT01: Provide Clear, Strong Leadership to Integrate Information
Technology into the Business of Government," National Performance Review
Accompanying Report, Reengineering Through Information Technology
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. GPO, September 1993).
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