In the News

Tajha Chappellet-Lanier

The Congressional Budget Office released a cost estimate for the House version of the FITARA Enhancement Act on Friday, concluding that “there would be no significant additional cost or savings to continue those efforts under H.R. 3243.”

The FITARA Enhancement Act, first introduced by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., July 14, would amend the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act of 2015 to extend deadlines on some provisions that are set to expire. “Specifically,” the CBO report states, “the bill would extend the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI), PortfolioStat reviews, and the information technology (IT) dashboard.”

The proposed legislation aims to eliminate the sunsets on PortfolioState reviews, which CBO describes as “face-to-face meeting between each agency’s IT officers and the Office of Management and Budget,” and on the IT dashboard, a one-stop shop for “online details of federal information technology spending.” The bill also extends the sunset period for the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative.

“Enacting the bill could affect direct spending by agencies not funded through annual appropriations; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply,” the CBO reports. “CBO estimates, however, that any net increase in spending by those agencies would not be significant. Enacting H.R. 3243 would not affect revenues.”

In a statement emailed to FedScoop, Connolly called the CBO report “an important step forward in making the FITARA Enhancement Act reality and in our efforts to realize the full potential of FITARA.”

“The bipartisan bicameral support to extend the DCOI provisions for another two years sends a clear message to agencies that they cannot run out the clock on taking the necessary steps to consolidate and optimize their data centers,” Connolly said. It’s cosponsors include Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., and Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill.

The Senate version of the bill, which is identical to H.R. 3243, was introduced Sept. 26 by Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., with Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Mark Warner, D-Va., serving as cosponsors.

Rep. Connolly hopes to pass his legislation as part of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act — it’s currently part of the House version — but that will be decided by the conference committee. Still, a clean CBO score bodes well for the legislation’s future if it doesn’t make the NDAA cut.

https://www.fedscoop.com/house-fitara-enhancement-act-receives-clean-cbo-score/