Senate Bill Would Make Data Consolidation the Law
A bill approved by the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee would put the power of legislation behind the Obama administration’s push to close and consolidate federal data centers.
The bill, initially introduced by Sen. Michael Bennett, D-Colo., would require the 24 federal agencies included in the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative to report to the White House annually on their plans and progress to cut the government’s data center footprint, said NextGov.
The bill will now proceed to the Senate floor.
In March, federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel rolled the government’s data center consolidation initiative in with a separate initiative known as PortfolioStat to streamline how the government buys and manages information technology, said NextGov.
A recent GAO report found that agencies were also failing to meet PortfolioStat benchmarks.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., introduced legislation that would put Congress’ mandate behind the White House’s data center initiative in 2012 but the bill did not reach the House floor before the close of the last Congress, said NextGov. A version of that bill was included in the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act, which passed the House in June.
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