OMB wants more information and data about government IT purchases

The Office of Management and Budget is asking federal IT leaders to provide more information about what they buy and collect more data about those purchases from the private sector.

A Tuesday memo mandates certain agency chief information officers both provide OMB with monthly updates on contracts that they or their subordinates approve, as well as require vendors to provide details about pricing and agency use of those services. 

“It’s time to put all the cards on the table,” Federal CIO Greg Barbaccia said in a video about the memo posted to LinkedIn. “At the end of the day, this is about using taxpayer’s dollars responsibly, buying smarter, and making sure the government is actually getting value from the technology it depends on.”

The Trump administration has already made moves to consolidate IT contracting under the General Services Administration and, more broadly, collect and share better data about federal acquisitions. The new memo appears to bring specific actions to achieve those policies directly to CIOs.

The policy, which was signed by OMB Director Russell Vought, points to a statutory requirement that CIOs in Chief Financial Officers Act agencies — a cohort of roughly two dozen larger government departments and entities — must sign off on IT contracts and agreements. That requirement is the premise for the first new task for CIOs.

Starting in May, CIOs within CFO Act agencies other than the Department of Defense will have to provide OMB with all IT contracts and agreements that they personally approved, as well as any approvals from a delegee of the CIO on contracts and agreements that “directly enable or facilitate interaction between the public and the Federal Government through digital services.”

Those reports are due no later than the 10th of each month and will be the responsibility of the CIO. Per the memo, a template is forthcoming. The requirement will sunset in October after agencies have submitted six reports, unless OMB says otherwise.

The second section on acquisition data, meanwhile, applies to all agencies — excluding national security systems. Under that requirement, agencies must request information about their own “utilization rates and prices paid” for IT products and services, and include provisions on future contracts to require disclosure of that information to the government, including other agencies.

That information must be shared with OMB and GSA in a machine-readable format. GSA will head up support on that element, providing templates and best practices, as appropriate, per the memo.

Immediate reactions to the memo from former government leaders included concerns that the memo repeats past efforts and doesn’t include public disclosure.

“The memo won’t move the needle,” Ann Dunkin, former CIO of the Department of Energy, told FedScoop in a written comment. 

Dunkin said the monthly disclosure on approved contracts repeats past reporting under FITARA (the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act). “That didn’t change behavior and this won’t either,” Dunkin said.

While CIOs will continue to report, they won’t have control over the decisions, she said. “In fact, in many cases when the department CIOs approve a contract directly, they don’t really have room to say no,” she said.

The second element on acquisition data, meanwhile, could provide some information to CIOs, but if they don’t know or can’t get that information on their own, Dunkin said, “it’s unlikely that the organization is going to be open to change.” 

What would be interesting: If OMB “took an interest in the information in a collaborative way,” she said.

Dave Zvenyach, former director of GSA’s Technology Transformation Services, told FedScoop that he’s “happy to see OMB flexing its muscle to collect and use data to better inform the procurement process for IT” but urged public disclosure.

“I hope they don’t stop at just collecting and using that data, but also making it publicly available so that taxpayers and industry can better understand how agencies are buying and using technology,” Zvenyach said. 

Nick Hart, president and CEO of the Data Foundation, told FedScoop that requiring agencies to collect data on IT pricing and utilization, in machine-readable formats, is a “smart, overdue step.” But sharing that data with OMB and GSA is only “half a solution.”

“If the goal is genuine accountability for taxpayer spending on technology, that information should be publicly available,” Hart said. “Transparency that stops at the agency door doesn’t fulfill the promise of the OPEN Government Data Act — or the public’s reasonable expectation that government spending on technology is visible and verifiable.”

This story was updated on April 1 with additional comments from Dunkin and Zvenyach, and again on April 2 with comments from Hart.