The Introduction of a Procurement Category
The current categories made sense for the previous technological age, but for our federal digital environment to advance, FITARA must add procurement as a new category and focal point for agencies. To continue making progress toward IT modernization, agencies must explore alternative procurement methods that can streamline timelines and support the implementation and adoption of emerging technologies such as cloud and artificial intelligence.
While the Federal Acquisition Regulation remains essential, it's increasingly clear that traditional procurement processes are too slow to keep pace with modern technology needs. Agencies are turning to alternative procurement mechanisms such as the Other Transaction Authorities and Cooperative Research and Development Agreements to accelerate the acquisition and architecture development process.
These methods allow more flexibility, enabling agencies to quickly bring in new technologies that support evolving mission requirements. By reducing procurement bottlenecks, agencies can adopt and integrate cutting-edge solutions faster, ensuring their IT infrastructure remains secure, modern and capable of meeting operational demands.
Streamlining procurement timelines is essential to making sure the government can respond to technological advancements and emerging threats. The introduction of a new FITARA scorecard category that looks at procurement would be a step in the right direction for facilitating new procurement methods.
DISCOVER: Agencies should take these steps to buy secure software.
Making Modifying the FITARA Scorecard Easy
As the FITARA scorecard continues to evolve, it remains a crucial tool for promoting IT modernization and accountability in agencies. The discussion around new categories signals a forward-looking approach that aligns with emerging technologies and security concerns in government IT management.
The impressive results of the FITARA 18, coupled with the anticipation of new categories, underscore the ongoing importance of this review in driving federal IT excellence. As agencies continue to adapt and improve, the scorecard will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in shaping the future of government technology infrastructure and management.
This tool of measurement must remain agile and flexible; the ability to modify, add categories and remove categories should be simple, and these changes should be timely. This will ensure that the scoring criteria and evaluation methods stay in line with where agencies are in their modernization journeys.
