Homeland Security CIO pushes to consolidate IT procurement

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-The Homeland Security Department's chief information officer on Friday outlined the department's new procurement needs for information technology.

Speaking via videoconference to people at an Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) briefing here, Steven Cooper noted that procurement processes that had been separate for the different agencies that now comprise Homeland Security soon will fall under the auspices of the department. He sketched the overall IT structure for the department and touched on how that structure will affect procurement for both government agencies and private companies.

In recent months, Cooper repeatedly has voiced the need for Homeland Security to integrate the existing systems of its 22 agencies to better manage the flow of data among federal, state and local agencies. He repeated that theme on Friday, stressing the need for greater consolidation, particularly as it relates to procurement.

"Rather than addressing application-specific types of work and procurement, what if we reached out and used the groupings at large program areas," Cooper said. "The [department] aims to reach out and group those procurement procedures. In order for us to move very rapidly to one [department], we're not going to get there in the time frame that we need to get there if we continue business as usual."

To that end, Cooper said his IT leadership team has been meeting weekly since last August, assessing and documenting technology solutions for all of the agencies and reclassifying each according to one of three categories: mission-space assets, enterprise solutions and infrastructure.

Cooper defined mission-space assets as those that are used only in the original boundaries of the agencies that comprise the department's five directorates. Enterprise solutions are technology applications that cross agency boundaries-including everything from financial management tools and e-government initiatives to Microsoft Office software and e-mail. And infrastructure encompasses the department's entire network across all agencies.

"Previously, alerts and warnings were restricted to [agencies]," Cooper said, noting that they are now being repositioned department-wide. "Many things that were once thought of solely in the mission space of one agency or bureau are in fact enterprise solutions." He also announced that the department will treat its infrastructure "as a single, integrated environment."

Cooper noted that the new policy will impact suppliers to specific agencies within the department and that there will be private-sector "winners and losers" in the transition. However, he noted that consolidation procedures will result in many new opportunities for technology vendors and encouraged vendors to contact his department with solutions and ideas.

Secure Computing CEO John McNulty, a speaker at the event, noted the difficulty and opportunities that lay ahead for department and industry. "The task that Steve Cooper is undertaking I think of as the Manhattan Project that will never end," he said in reference to the research that led to the making of the first atomic bombs. "This challenge that is homeland security must be addressed by technology."