GSA takes lead in effort to develop IT performance standards

The General Services Administration is seeking to establish uniform performance standards that agencies will need to follow in areas such as management of desktop computers as part of a Bush administration drive to make the government's information technology infrastructure more efficient.

Once the fiscal 2007 appropriations process is complete and funds can be collected from agencies, GSA will seek proposals from companies with expertise in developing performance benchmarks and metrics, data collection and data analysis.

The administration had considered waiting until fiscal 2008 to launch the process because of the funding situation, but federal officials working on a task force guiding the initiative went to the Office of Management and Budget and asked for the project to start sooner, GSA officials said.

OMB has estimated the IT infrastructure initiative could save between $18 billion and $29 billion over 10 years. It is one of several initiatives in an effort aimed at consolidating back-office IT systems. But it uses a different approach than many of the other "lines of business" initiatives, which aim to streamline systems by moving agencies to shared service centers in areas such as financial management and human resources.

In September, a governmentwide task force assigned to review opportunities for consolidation in IT infrastructure recommended the adoption of uniform governmentwide standards rather than the creation of shared service centers.

GSA is the logical choice to act as the managing partner because most agencies do or should do their contracting through GSA, said Karen Evans, administrator of e-government and information technology at OMB.

The performance measurements will be established first in desktop computer management. This will be followed by metrics for data centers, and then for data networks. The initiative also will be used to promote the sharing of information and best practices, and the leveraging of aggregate purchases to help agencies meet their targets.

A government official who asked to remain anonymous said the standards risk being vague, and agency officials will not be forced to follow them.

But Bruce McConnell, former OMB chief of information policy and technology and now president of McConnell International, said performance measures could force agencies to meet certain benchmarks, driving down costs.

For instance, if an agency should have 0.7 desktop computers per employee and has 1.5 per employee, OMB could ask the agency to move closer to the standard, McConnell said. "Presumably they will do that through the budget process," he said.

Ray Bjorklund, senior vice president of McLean, Va., Federal Sources Inc., said performance metrics can save money in the long term so long as they are carefully selected and do not lead to inappropriate behavior by IT officials.

"People will do what it takes to meet those goals," Bjorklund said. "They may take short cuts, they may make inappropriate actions."

Alan Balutis, former Commerce Department chief information officer and director of the Internet Business Solutions Group at Cisco Systems, said he expects OMB to have a plan laid out to begin "moving smartly" on the IT infrastructure project because "the clock is running on this administration."

"They need to finish up what is going to be the legacy of the president," Balutis said.