Federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel released the White House’s Information Technology Shared Services Strategy on Wednesday that will arm agencies with new tools to eliminate waste and duplication and update their services.
“When the Shared-First approach is implemented in concert with PortfolioStat investment reviews, standardized architecture methods, and Digital Government planning concepts, agencies will have a stronger set of tools by which to innovate with less,” VanRoekel said. “The Federal IT Shared Services Strategy is an enduring concept, which must be ingrained in agency management cultures to ensure that mission success continues during times of tight budgets.”
The strategy was first outlined in the 25-Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal IT Management authored by then Federal CIO Vivek Kundra and then Office of Management and Budget Chief Performance Officer Jeffery Zients.
VanRoekel said the strategy covers the entire spectrum of IT shared service opportunities throughout the federal government and promotes the use of existing and new strategic sourcing methods where agencies can combine their buying power for similar IT needs and get lower prices and improved service in the process.
“Leveraged with existing policy on TechStat and PortfolioStat, agencies will use this strategy to assess the maturity of their IT portfolio management process, make decisions on eliminating duplication, and consolidate commodity IT systems, services, and related contracts in order to maximize the return on IT investments across the portfolio,” VanRoekel said.
