Agency CIOs must supply top-down IT contract information, OMB memo states

The Office of Management and Budget is set to compile a centralized view of government technology contracts under new guidance released Tuesday. 

The memo, signed by OMB director Russ Vought, directs chief information officers at large agencies to notify OMB of all IT contracts they sign off on for their agency on a monthly basis from May through October. 

In addition to “all contracts or other agreements for IT or IT services,” the guidance directs top-level CIOs to notify OMB of contracts approved by a delegate if those contracts facilitate public-facing digital services. The Pentagon is exempt from the requirements, as are national security systems and smaller agencies.

The federal CIO, Greg Barbaccia, previewed the new guidance for Nextgov/FCW earlier this year, saying that he wanted to ramp up enforcement of the the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Act, or FITARA, a 2014 law that put CIOs in control of their agencies’ IT investments. 

Even with FITARA being in place for over a decade, the power that CIOs have over government IT in practice varies across agencies and has long been a subject of congressional oversight as a result. 

“What we want to do is make sure that CIOs are fully empowered to be there at the beginning of conversations, that they are part of the formulation of budget and policy from liftoff,” Eric Ueland, deputy director for management at OMB, said of the administration’s intentions for CIOs earlier this year.

As for OMB’s desired visibility into IT contracts, getting a top-down view of government spending has long been difficult, as the Government Accountability Office has reported. Even within agencies, a lack of visibility on spending has led to wasted money on duplicative software licenses, the watchdog has found.

"Without collaboration and ongoing oversight, we see overspending on products that aren't used, the same software billed multiple times at different prices, service agreements that don't align with agency missions and ultimately, wasted taxpayer dollars," Barbaccia said in a video announcing the new memo.

OMB’s new memo also directs agencies, including the Pentagon, to ask current vendors for information on each agency’s utilization rates and prices paid for IT products and services — and to require that disclosure moving forward in new solicitations and contracts. Agencies are then to share that information with OMB and the General Services Administration.

“Governmentwide sharing of this information will result in more informed procurement decisions, reducing time and cost burdens for both the Federal workforce and industry,” the memo says, tying the push for contract information to the Trump administration’s efforts to consolidate procurement more broadly. 

"No more on-off buys, no more charging different prices for the same tools, banking on the fact that they won't or can't find out," said Barbaccia.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to include comment from the federal CIO.