FITARA Will Solve Some, But Not All, Federal Tech Management Issues

It appears that the first major overhaul to federal IT management in a decade may make it through both branches of congress this year. In May, the House again passed the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act, or FITARA, which, among other changes, would limit each federal agency to a single CIO and give that person authority over the agency's IT spending. This time, the legislation was attached as an amendment to the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, a bill widely considered to be must-pass legislation. The Senate is now considering similar legislation. FITARA will go a long way toward improving federal tech management, but the new federal CIOs will have to make further reforms to culture and governance before agencies can fully embrace the age of the citizen.