Partnet Weighs In on Federal IT Consolidation Plan

Februrary 5, 2010

The Obama administration's chief IT executive this week announced a large-scale plan to overhaul and consolidate Federal information technology operations and services. The plan — developed by Federal CIO, Vivek Kundra — calls for "the selection of central IT service providers in civilian agencies; [expanded use] of remote or cloud computing; the consolidation of 1,100 data centers throughout [non-DOD] government; and the use of federal 'EMALLs' to purchase computer hardware." Kundra says restructuring the government's IT assets will allow agencies to focus on delivering new computer services to citizens, and not solely on internal software and hardware management.

Partnet CEO, Don Brown, Ph.D, was among a handful of IT industry experts to comment on Kundra's plan in a feature article from nextgov.com. Dr. Brown supports the plan — specifically highlighting expanded use of EMALLs as a way to reduce costs, implement purchasing controls, and refine Federal sourcing policies.

Partnet developed and currently operates the DOD EMALL for the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), and has leveraged this "Amazon.com approach to Federal purchasing" to save the government over 25% on the items it sources.

Kundra developed the Federal IT consolidation plan as part of President Obama's 2011 FY budget. (See Special Topics / Information Technology.) Click Federal CIO Begins Selling Huge IT Consolidation Plan to read the full article.

Nextgov.com is a online government-technology publication of National Journal Group, Inc., providing coverage and commentary on IT management in Federal government.

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