The Office of Management and Budget unveiled its guidance for IT modernization, which includes four implementation phases for agencies.
The Treasury Department's Bureau of Fiscal Service merged five legacy IT systems together to develop a new, modern post-payment application. With data consolidated in one place, the Fiscal Service helped the department's inspector general uncover $20-30 million in improper payments.
Dawn Leaf, the former chief information officer of the Labor Department who retired on Sept. 30, said the agency is working toward a more centralized and consolidated technology oversight and management structure.
David Bray, the Federal Communications Commission’s chief information officer, said the agency has moved toward the concept of IT as a shared responsibility across all senior executives and that has helped it reduce spending on old technology.
The 26th annual survey CIOs by Grant Thornton and the Professional Services Council found cloud computing moved into the top five priorities, but several obstacles still remain.
As the federal government moves steadily, if not quickly, toward IT modernization and data-driven solutions, executives from fields other than IT are looking at how new technologies, like simulations, can benefit their missions.
The Modernization Government Technology Act received approval from the Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Sept. 15 and will likely get voted on by the full House on Sept. 20.
Rafael Diaz, the chief information officer of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said by enforcing standards and a portfolio management approach, he now can better manage systems and network spending and modernization efforts.
Mav Turner, the director of Product Strategy for SolarWinds, details three strategies to help federal chief information officers be more successful as they move off legacy systems.
Christina Handley, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s chief information officer, said the agency recently upgraded parts of its network backbone, and will look to the cloud for other future modernization efforts.
Rob Klopp, the SSA chief information officer, and Rob Thomas, the deputy assistant secretary and principal deputy CIO in VA’s Office of Information and Technology, both are focusing on workforce training to move off legacy systems.
The Social Security Administration has a new plan to modernize five major IT systems, to the tune of $300 million. SSA Chief Information Officer Robert Klopp said the agency could make headway on the plan within a year, as long as it gets the funding it needs from Congress. The House, however, is poised to cut SSA's budget by $250 million this year.
Federal CIOs say when it comes to modernizing government IT systems, most of the workforce welcomes the change. But if the government truly wants to modernize, it will have to do more than try to catch up to the technology curve.
COBOL itself, while expensive and increasingly difficult to maintain, stands as the proxy for the actual modernization difficulties.
The Office of Personnel Management posted a job announcement June 1 for a new chief information officer.