Weekly Roundup: Dec. 9-13, 2019

FITARA Scorecard.  Federal Times reports: “ The ninth version the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard, released Dec. 11, rates agencies in several modernization categories, including data center closure, cybersecurity and CIO support from leadership. Overall, nine agencies improved their scores, with 11 remaining stagnant and four receiving lower grades than FITARA 8.0.”

Reflections.  Jeff Neal reflects on his career via a column for Federal News Network: “I started working for the federal government in 1978, spent 31 years as a career employee, then “burrowed out” into a political appointment during the Obama administration. After a total of 33 years as a fed, I retired from the government and went to work in the private sector, for a company called ICF. . . . Next week, I am going to retire. . . . With this transition looming, I thought this might be a good time to reflect on a few things I learned — sometimes the hard way — in all of those years in government and in the private sector.

Not Just a Landlord.  Federal News Network interviewed career staff on the General Service Administration’s Public Building Service about the Service’s changing role over time wherein: “. . . advances in technology and data analytics have given the agency better insight into its real property portfolio, and have helped the agency maximize the efficiency of its buildings.”

Program Management Improves.  The Government Accountability Office released a new report: “The Program Management Improvement Accountability Act of 2016 requires the Office of Management and Budget to develop government-wide standards for program management. . . . We found that OMB has begun to do so, but further efforts are needed to fully implement this act. For example, OMB does not have an adequate governance structure for this effort—i.e., a system to develop, oversee, and maintain these standards over time.”