Column: The “Inside Scoop” on IT Opportunities

by Tom Johnson, publisher, Set-Aside Alert

Looking for the inside scoop on information technology projects in federal departments? It’s all there in front of your nose (sort of).

Each agency chief information officer is responsible for developing plans and budgets for both new system architecture and applications, and also for continuing operations of those systems once they are implemented.

An initiative started some years ago by the Office of Management and Budget requires that any major investment in IT be documented and vetted through the Capital Planning and Investment Control process. This process requires comprehensive descriptions of major projects and associated budget estimates for development, implementation and operation of the systems. Once a project has been approved, regular reviews are conducted of status, on-plan and on-budget metrics.

Fortunately, these materials are all available to the public through the government’s IT Dashboard http://itdashboard.gov. But it still takes some digging to find the materials you are seeking.

IT Dashboard

To find information on plans for upcoming IT systems, you must look for IT investments. On the IT Dashboard, go to the bottom right of the home page to see a “Find IT Investments: Search and Filter techniques” option. Click on that.

You also may see an “Investments” under the Portfolio tab at the top of the page. However, clicking on that link was not successful when we tried it recently.

The Search and Filter link brings you to the “Advanced Search” Web page. You can search all agencies, or by single department, agency or bureau. Or you can search for a keyword within the project title or description, or by project cost, schedule or investment evaluation.

Sample search

For example, we searched the keyword “PHIS” for the Public Health Information System developed and operated by the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety & Inspection Service. The link to the Agency Strategic Plan Description takes you to the status page for that investment.

We can see then that the PHIS effort began in June 2009; it has a Green rating for being on schedule and on budget; it is in-progress; and the estimated project life cycle cost is $141.48 million. USDA expects fiscal 2015 spending to be $7.97 million and anticipates that the system will operate through 2024.

Exhibit 300

Key to understanding the PHIS project and its status is the Current Business Case (Exhibit 300), which is a 24-page description of the investment’s goals and benefits, its underlying bases, its expected deployment and year-by-year life cycle costs for remaining development and subsequent rollout and operation.

The Exhibit 300 also identifies any contracts that have been awarded to assist in development and implementation of this project. From that we learn that General Dynamics IT has been awarded task orders under their GSA Schedule 70 contract to provide support, and by checking with USASpending.gov, we learned that $3.8 million was paid to General Dynamics so far in fiscal 2015, and $3.5 million in the last two quarters of fiscal 2014. We also see that DKW Communications, an 8(a)-graduated small business, was awarded a task order under its Alliant Small Business contract, and Customer Value Partners, a now-graduated 8(a) small business, was awarded task orders under its CIO-SP3 Small Business 8(a) contract.

The business case also documents changes and revisions in the plan and expectations for the system. In the last two years, funding levels were increased by over 50% to provide for newly-legislated provisions of the meat inspection act and transfer of functions from other related systems to this one.

Older versions of these documents used to include program managers’ names and contact information, and to name other key managers. It may be advisable to dig around to see if earlier versions of the documents are still available on the Internet.

Investment ratings

The PHIS project is currently rated Green for being on target with expectations. Other ratings are Yellow, for “Needs Attention,” and Red for “Significant Concerns.” Separate ratings also are made for each project based on cost, schedule and investment evaluation.

Any project with a Red rating for three consecutive months must have a mandatory TechStat review, a face-to-face, evidence-based review, resulting in an action plan to address the issues and turn around the project. Projects that are Red may be opportunities to bring in new resources.

Conclusion

The IT Dashboard is another example of the openness or transparency of the federal government procurement process, which one doesn’t find in the commercial sector, so take advantage of it. This trove of information can be sliced and diced by agency, type of project, or type of government service offered. Tying together this information and FBO.gov announcements and USASpending.gov contracts data give you insight on where to spend your precious marketing dollars and where to focus your sales and capture efforts.

Tom Johnson is publisher of Set-Aside Alert and President of Business Research Services in Bethesda MD. He has focused on the Federal contracting market for the past three decades. Contact him at tjohnson@setasidealert.com.

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Column: The “Inside Scoop” on IT Opportunities

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