What IT Budget Authority Really Means for CIOs

Federal CIOs got an early Christmas gift from Congress in 2014: explicit authority to plan and approve their department’s information technology budgets.

Under the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA), which Congress passed as an amendment to the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, CIOs are responsible for reviewing and approving department IT contracts. Department CIOs will also play a more direct role in the hiring of any bureau-level CIOs. The new law requires that department CIOs approve those appointments.

“I think this is going to be an interesting time in federal IT because, for the first time, we will see federal CIOs take ownership of the IT landscape in their agencies,” says General Services Administration (GSA) CIO and FedTech must-read IT blogger Sonny Hashmi.

FITARA applies to CIOs at civilian departments.

GSA was an early adopter of the consolidated IT approach, and Hashmi has experienced the benefits and challenges of having the agency’s IT under his authority.

He cautions against the bureaucracy that can bog down organizations with consolidated IT. They can become oversight driven, slow to respond and less innovative if they don’t strike the right balance, Hashmi says.

At GSA, Hashmi and his team are investing in transformative projects while reducing the amount of legacy systems. Most GSA systems are antiquated, and some are a quarter of a century old. While the systems run well, modernizing them would help reduce costs and make systems more flexible to meet emerging technology demands.

Federal Communications Commission CIO David Bray has similar challenges with legacy systems. Bray wants to find an easier way to port legacy systems to cloud-based providers.

-Nicole Blake Johnson, FedTechMagazine.com
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CGI to upgrade FCC financial systems

CGI Federal Inc. will provide new financial management software and other services to the Federal Communications Commission under a 10-year award worth about $25 million.
CGI will replace its existing Federal Financial System software with its Momentum financial management software and Financial Management Line of Business hosting solution. The upgrade is part of FCC’s Core Financial System Replacement initiative.

The contractor will install the Momentum Financials software suite, including Momentum Performance Budgeting and Momentum Data Warehouse. CGI will perform all integration and implementation activities, hosting, application management and ongoing operations and maintenance, company officials said. The financial system application will be housed at CGI’s Phoenix data center.

In addition to providing full financial management services, CGI’s solution has the added benefit of managing FCC’s annual regulatory and application processing fees. The company’s fee calculation, billing, collecting and reporting functions will help the regulatory agency comply with federal financial and regulatory rules as well as improve customer service through consolidated licensee management.

FCC joins the General Services Administration, U.S. Courts, Environmental Protection Agency, National Transportation Safety Board, Broadcasting Board of Governors and the Corporation for National and Community Service, whose financial systems applications are hosted by CGI, company officials said.

Today's GAO Publications

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) today released the following reports and correspondence:

Telecommunications: FCC Needs to Improve Performance Management and Strengthen Oversight of the High-Cost Program.
GAO-08-633, June 13.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-633
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08633high.pdf

Management Report: Opportunities for Improvements in FDIC's Internal Controls and Accounting Procedures.
GAO-08-863R, July 11.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-863R

FCC Releases Financial System Modernization RFQ

Request for Quotation (RFQ) Number RFQ07000021 for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Core Financial System Replacement (CFSR)

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Federal Communications Commission are overseeing the acquisition phase of the Core Financial System Replacement (CFSR) project. FCC’s current financial systems environment is primarily comprised of a suite of CGI Federal solutions hosted by the Department of the Interior’s National Business Center (DOI-NBC), including the mainframe Federal Financial System (FFS) for core financials and the client-server Momentum Financials product for cost accounting (Budget Execution and Management System (BEAMS)). The FCC also operates the Revenue & Accounting Management Information System (RAMIS), based on Digital Systems Group’s (DSG’s) commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) financial system, for receivable, billing and collection activities.

This initiative will be conducted in compliance with all applicable financial systems regulations and guidance. Of particular applicability is the OMB’s Competition Framework for Financial Management Line of Business (FMLoB) Migrations (May 22, 2006) and the Financial Systems Integration Office (FSIO) migration planning guidance.

Please email the Contracting Officer (CO) at Anthony.Wimbush@fcc.gov with any questions regarding this RFQ by 5:00pm Eastern Time on October 9, 2007.

Proposals are due no later than 5:00pm Eastern Time on November 9, 2007.

Get the RFP Here

FCC Seeks Information from Vendors for CFSR

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is conducting market research in order to deter-mine the capabilities of vendors to meet the requirements of the FCC's financial system modernization initiative, which is known as the Core Financial System Replacement (CFSR) Project. The FCC is interested in identifying viable sources and acquisition strategies for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) financial management software, system integration services, and application hosting services.

The FCC plans to acquire all services and software through a single acquisition process that will result in the award of one contract. The FCC plans to acquire the required software and services from an OMB designated federal government shared service provider (SSP) or by placing an order with a commercial vendor. All software and services will be obtained though a single public-private competition that will result in the selection of one SSP or one prime commercial vendor. Selection of the service provider will be con-ducted in accordance with the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) memorandum, Competition Framework for Financial Management Lines of Business Migrations, dated May 22, 2006, the Financial Systems Integration Office (FSIO) FMLoB Migration Planning Guidance [Version 1], dated September 13, 2006, and applicable provisions of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR).

Additional documentation can be found here.