Federal technology managers are always facing new fires. GCN surveyed government officials, contractors and market observers to gauge what will be the hottest issues on this year’s agenda.
Hot Topic: General Services Administration reorganization
At Issue: To address a loss of confidence among customer agencies who felt GSA’s acquisition services were becoming unaccountable and unwieldy, former administrator Stephen Perry consolidated the Federal Supply and Federal Technology services into the Federal Acquisition Service, giving its customers one place to go for their buying needs. The move is contingent on Congress approving the corresponding merger of the General Supply and IT funds into a single fund, legislation allowing the merger is stuck in the Senate.
At Stake: Last year GSA made significant progress on the reorganization, but since Perry and acting FAS commissioner Barbara Shelton both left the agency in late 2005, the plans are in limbo. Although the House signed off on merging the funds, the Senate won’t move until a permanent administrator is named—and few observers are willing to guess when that will happen. In the meantime, GSA must regain the confidence and business it lost from its customers, including the Defense Department.
Heat Index: 4 flames
Hot Topic: Will earned-value management improve project performance?
At Issue: In light of recent IT project failures throughout government—the FBI’s Virtual Case File, GSA Preferred, the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation—the Of-fice of Management and Budget is pushing agencies to adopt EVM to control big projects’ spending and schedules. EVM, in theory, lets project managers track money spent on a project almost in real time and measure that expense against timelines and deadlines.
At Stake: OMB is serious about EVM—agency compliance will be reflected in the E-Government portion of the President’s Management Agenda report card. The CIO Council is working with agencies to build a systematic approach for using EVM on their investments, said Karen Evans, OMB administrator for E-Government and IT. But recent studies indicate that senior managers at many offices are not focusing on the tool right now, and skepticism persists that EVM may be just another buzzword to be replaced with something else when a new administration comes to town in three years.
Digg
De.licio.us
Slashdot
Technorati
