TechAmerica Supports Addition of FITARA to Defense Bill

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Dec 05, 2014, 10:12 ET

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "TechAmerica supports the limited version of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) that is attached to the FY'15 Defense Authorization Act," stated Elizabeth Hyman, executive vice president, TechAmerica, powered by CompTIA, today. "We believe that this is an important first step toward increasing the participation of IT experts and managers in the IT acquisition process. We applaud the efforts of Chairman Issa (R-CA) and others who worked with their Armed Services colleagues to have FITARA included in the NDAA."

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Hyman continued, "Providing CIOs with a significant role in programming, budgeting, management – and especially governance – can move the government toward more effective IT solutions. Our members are optimistic that the increased CIO role mandated by FITARA will lead to better IT acquisitions that more closely meet the government's needs and arrive on budget."

Acknowledging that the government needs more internal personnel resources, Hyman said, "We're particularly happy to see provisions that call for the hiring and training of more specialized IT acquisition and program manager experts. While this won't happen overnight, reversing the federal 'brain drain' trend is important if the government is to be both a smart buyer and smart user of IT solutions. Properly implemented, these solutions can improve government functions in all mission areas."

Acknowledging that the NDAA version of FITARA addresses only some elements of the original legislation, Hyman stated "Certainly our members would have preferred a more extensive bill that addressed more areas of IT, specifically things like insuring agile IT acquisition even with new review processes, pilot programs to allow for innovative ways to obtain IT solutions more quickly, and a reduction in the non-commercial terms and conditions that have increasingly crept into commercial solution IT contracts."

"We look forward to working with new House and Senate leadership in the next Congress to keep the momentum for acquisition reform that this measure starts," Hyman said. We have high expectations that the next Congress will build on this reform, especially as it applies to DOD's acquisition of IT."

About TechAmerica
TechAmerica is the public sector and public policy department of CompTIA, advocating before decision-makers at the state, federal and international levels of government. Representing technology companies of all sizes, TechAmerica is committed to expanding market opportunities and driving the competitiveness of the U.S. technology industry around the world. With offices on Capitol Hill and in Northern Virginia, Silicon Valley and Europe, as well as regional offices around the U.S., we deliver our members top-tier business intelligence and networking opportunities on a global scale. Learn more about TechAmerica at www.techamerica.org or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Learn more about CompTIA, the ICT industry trade association, at www.comptia.org.

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SOURCE TechAmerica