The House has passed the Federal Information and Technology Acquisition Reform Act as part of the fiscal 2015 defense-spending bill, putting forward a number of IT workforce and acquisition reform proposals.
Among them are to strengthen CIOs, ensure that each department and agency has only one top CIO (there can be deputy or assistant CIOs), and requires agency heads to ensure their CIOs are authorized to participate in technology-related budget planning, and approve the hiring of technology personnel.
The bill, HR-4435, would require OMB to conduct a three-year pilot to test alternative approaches for the management of commonly used IT by executive agencies through a new Federal Infrastructure and Common Application Collaboration Center.
The bill also would set forth authority for assisted acquisition centers of excellence to implement best practices, assist agencies in expedient, strategic, and cost-effective interagency acquisitions by engaging in repeated and frequent acquisition of similar IT requirements, and assist with IT workforce recruitment and training.
