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United States · Bill · HR

H.R. 1232 (113th)

Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act

openUnited States· United States Congress· EN

Introduced

18 March 2013

Last action

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Status

Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 577.

Sponsors

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Subjects

Discovery layer

Source updated

7 April 2025

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Summary

Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act - Modifies the current framework governing the management of information technology (IT) within the federal government to: (1) require presidential appointment or designation of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) in 16 specified federal agencies (thereby providing consistency with the presidential appointment or designation of Chief Financial Officers for such agencies, but specifically excludes the Department of Defense [DOD] and provides for the heads of other agencies to continue to designate an agency CIO), (2) designate the Chief Information Officers Council as the lead interagency forum for improving agency coordination information resources investment, and (3) require the Comptroller General (GAO) to examine the effectiveness of the Council. Directs such CIOs to report directly to the head of the agency. Sets forth authorities relating to budget planning and the hiring of IT personnel. Requires each agency to have only one CIO but permits offices within an agency to designate a deputy, associate, or assistant CIO. Requires the Federal Chief Information Officer (FCIO) (defined as the Administrator of the Office of Electronic Government in the Office of Management and Budget [OMB]) to develop and implement an initiative to be known as the Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative to optimize the usage and efficiency of federal data centers. Sets forth permitted methods for agencies to consolidate data centers and achieve maximum server utilization and energy efficiency. Requires agencies to track costs resulting from implementation of the Initiative within the agency and submit an annual report on such costs to the FCIO. Requires the OMB Director to: (1) develop a plan for conducting a government-wide inventory of IT assets, and (2) assess all publicly available websites of federal agencies and require agencies to eliminate or consolidate any duplicate or overlapping websites. Expresses the sense of Congress that transition to cloud computing offers significant potential benefits for the the implementation of federal IT projects. Permits CIOs to establish cloud service working capital funds. Prohibits an executive agency from issuing a solicitation for certain covered contract vehicles unless the agency performs a business case analysis and obtains approval from the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy (FPP). Directs the OMB Director to: (1) establish a Federal Infrastructure and Common Application Collaboration Center to serve as a focal point for coordinated program management practices and to develop and maintain requirements for the acquisition of IT infrastructure and applications commonly used by federal agencies, and (2) designate Assisted Acquisition Centers of Excellence (AACEs) to develop areas of specialized acquisition expertise within various executive agencies. Sets forth authority for AACEs to implement best practices, assist agencies in expedient and low-cost interagency acquistions by engaging in repeated and frequent acquisition of similar IT requirements, and assist with recruitment and training. Requires the OMB Director to submit to Congress: (1) a five-year strategic plan to develop, strengthen, and solidify IT acquisition cadres; and (2) a plan for improving management of IT programs and projects. Directs the FPP Administrator to prescribe regulations requiring a comparative value analysis to be included in the contract file when the federal government purchases services and supplies offered under the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative from sources outside such Initiative. Permits executive agencies to state in solicitations that awards will be made using a fixed price technical competition under which all offerors compete solely on nonprice factors and the fixed award price is pre-announced in the solicitation. Requires additional information concerning blanket purchase agreements and IT investments to be made available to the public. Establishes guidance with respect to the validity of open source software as a procurement option required to receive full consideration alongside other options (in merit-based requirements development and evaluation processes promoting choices based on performance and value) in a manner free of preconceived preferences based on how technology is developed, licensed, or distributed within the federal government. Prohibits such guidance from modifying the federal policy of following technology-neutral principles when selecting and acquiring information technology. Requires federal computer standards to include guidelines necessary to enable effective adoption of open source software. Directs the OMB Director to issue guidance for the use and collaborative development of open source software within the federal government.

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Documents

13 official files

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