White House budget documentation accompanying its fiscal 2012 request said an emphasis would be placed on operational metrics in 2012 to support a drive toward greater efficiency through policies on managing spending on commodity IT and a renewed emphasis on shared services.
It’s banking on improvements to the IT management system interfaces in its IT Dashboard to help lead to better oversight and data quality as well.
In commenting on the White House budget request, federal CIO Steven Van Roekel said agencies should expect in 2012 the release of a shared services strategy for IT, the launch of government-wide portfolio reviews, as well as the implementation of contracting vehicles for cloud computing and commodity IT services – including FedRAMP, a program to help agencies acquire cloud services and resources.
Van Roekel also announced plans to accelerate the use of face-to-face, evidence-based “TechStat” review sessions and to expand their use to the bureau level.
The administration feels these reviews encourage earlier intervention with troubled projects to turn them around or scrap them altogether, an increasingly likely prospect given budget constraints.
