There are many changes in place regarding how federal agencies procure technologies. One of these is a move to federal IT services. But if the federal government is going to overhaul its IT infrastructure and invest billions of dollars on integrating new capabilities into its operations, one key part of the acquisition process that needs to be changed is the role of procurement officials.
That is one suggestion offered by a panel of government executives at the Brocade Federal Forum on June 17 in Washington, DC.
“I’ve long held that the best approach to working with your contracting officer is planning — strategic planning — and discussions early and often about what we’re thinking about doing,” said Soraya Correa, Chief Procurement Officer at the Homeland Security Department. “Luke [McCormack, the CIO] and I probably talk two or three times a week…I’m giving him ideas on how we can engage with industry.”
Steve Cooper, CIO for the Department of Commerce, agreed with Correa. “We do our best to work with our acquisition counterparts,” Cooper said, but “at Commerce, the bureaus are very uneven.”
Richard McKinney, the Department of Transportation CIO, said that FITARA – the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act – has had a positive impact on the relationships in his agency.
“One of the great outcomes of FITARA has been that now the budget office and acquisition and human capital and my office, when we sit down and realize collectively we’re responsible for information protection,” McKinney said. “Each of us has a role to play in having a successful outcome. My three counterparts [and I], we’re trying to figure out how to make this work, not why.”
In the U.S. Army Information Technology Agency (USAITA), the emphasis is more on the user, said Greg Garcia, the executive director.
“[The user] is who I have my most interactions with,” Garcia said. “My major focus is having a discussion with the customer – what are they looking to achieve? In USAITA, we are successful if they meet their mission.”
He said it’s important to share the user with the vendor. “They have to understand what the customer is trying to [accomplish].”
Correa suggested the evolution in acquiring and using new IT is not “as complex as we try to make it out to be. It’s all about figuring out what we’re trying to do, [and] when we don’t know, going out to industry…and learning from them what they’ve done, what’s possible.”