Ann Dunkin

Multiple sources say EPA is moving its CIO so the executive will no longer report directly to the administrator or deputy administrator.

Six former federal IT executives offers opinions and insights about the latest attempt to strengthen the roles of agency CIOs.

A 31 percent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget in fiscal 2018 would force EPA to cut nearly 4,000 full time equivalent employees, begin cost-saving IT modernization projects and reduce the agency’s physical footprint. New budget documents describe funding levels and policy decisions at EPA that would support the President’s 2018 budget request.

Ann Dunkin, the Environmental Protection Agency chief information officer, said changes to the governmentwide capital planning and investment control process is one way that will help agencies better understand their spending on legacy systems.

The latest scorecard for the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act revealed progress and lingering problems for government agencies. Department CIOs say at its heart the law is a good thing, but the scorecard could use some improvement of its own.

Federal IT Dashboard data compiled exclusively for Federal News Radio shows the average time it takes an agency to complete an IT program to is 1,018 days and the average cost is $23.2 million per program. Both of these data points demonstrate the need to change how CIOs and mission owners measure project success.

Mark Schwartz, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services chief information officer, said he’s implementing something called impact mapping to better manage how his agency uses dev/ops to move off legacy systems.

DHS, EPA, 18F and others are developing separate contracts for dev/ops services, creating both a much needed culture change, but possibly also another area where contract proliferation and duplication reign.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s forthcoming agile blanket purchasing agreement could be worth up to $200 million. Last week, the EPA technology shop hosted a standing-room-only vendor day for agile software companies. EPA Chief Information Officer Ann Dunkin joins Federal Drive with Tom Temin with more on the day and the strategy.

Greg Godbout, who co-founded the 18F organization at GSA and was in the initial class of Presidential Innovation Fellows, is leaving government to join cBrain, a Danish software firm.