Digital Discourse / Archives for procurement

SIIA Applauds House Effort to Reform IT Procurement, Submits Comments on Cloud Brokerage

September 20, 2012 By

SIIA applauds House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) for his recognition that there needs to be a substantial improvement to federal IT procurement practices to keep pace with evolving technology. Today, Rep. Issa posted a discussion draft of IT procurement reform legislation. As SIIA has said previously, we share the goal of developing a cadre of specialized IT acquisition personnel and are pleased that the bill acknowledges that cloud computing is becoming mainstream in the federal government.

On a related note, SIIA submitted comments today to the General Services Administration (GSA) in response to the Cloud Brokerage RFI, an area that is addressed in the bill, and we encourage those comments to be considered by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform as they look at that area of the legislation. We look forward to working with Chairman Issa and the Committee as they move forward to craft a final bill that serves to improve IT acquisition practices to the benefit of vendors and the federal government.

Michael Hettinger is VP for the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG) at SIIA. Follow his PSIG tweets at @SIIAPSIG.

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Filed Under: Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, PSIG Tagged With: , , ,

Mark your Calendar: Key Spring Federal Cloud Computing Dates

March 26, 2012 By

Now that Spring has arrived, it’s time for cloud providers and tech companies that do business with the federal government to mark their calendars with the season’s key cloud dates, opportunities and deadlines.

March: Progress on Shared First
This month’s targets include agency assessment of the current state of shared services, identification of two commodity IT areas to be shared, and incorporation of current and future shared service areas into the EA transition plan.

Mid-April: Cloud First/FedRAMP Deadline
First 3rd Party Assessment Organizations (3PAOs) to be approved

May: Shared First Target
Develop a roadmap to improve quality

June 5-7: NIST Cloud Computing Workshop V
The forum and workshop, held at the Department of Commerce, “calibrates the NIST Cloud Computing program and USG Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap initiative with external stakeholders” and “features panels focusing on Federal and private sector topics of interest and showcases work completed through NIST chaired public working groups.”

June 8: Cloud First 18 Month Deliverables Due

  • Create a government-wide marketplace for data center availability
  • ScaleIT program management career path
  • EnableIT program manager mobility across government and industry
  • Reduce barriers to entry for small innovative technology companies
  • Roll out the  “TechStat” model at the bureau level

Want to stay up to date on key Federal cloud dates? Get involved with the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG), a new division of SIIA comprised of innovative software and IT services firms seeking to take advantage of the evolving Federal investment in cloud-related technologies. The PSIG builds off the themes of SIIA’s annual Cloud/Gov Conference that has tracked the transformation of Government IT procurement over the past six years.

Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Government, Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, PSIG, Software Tagged With: , , ,

SIIA Launches Public Sector Innovation Group to Address Changes to the IT Acquisition Environment

March 15, 2012 By

SIIA today announced the launch of a new membership group to help technology firms take advantage of the evolving Federal investment in cloud-related technologies. SIIA also announced that it has brought on Mike Hettinger, a Capitol Hill veteran and leading expert on public sector management, to direct the new division.

Called the Public Sector Innovation Group (PSIG), this new membership division will help cloud service providers and Third Party Assessment Organizations (3PAO) take advantage of the evolving Federal investment in cloud-related technologies. PSIG is the only organization of its kind to serve this innovative segment of the public sector technology market. While SIIA been a leader for years in guiding tech companies in the government procurement process, the formation of PSIG reflects the dramatically changed government marketplace.

The move to the cloud is an enormous opportunity for many government contractors. The creation of PSIG will help SIIA members understand the changing landscape, seize upon new government initiatives, and generally be better positioned for success with Federal IT procurement.

SIIA has been guiding our members through this process for six years, with our annual Cloud/Gov conference at the centerpiece. When the Federal government issued its ‘Cloud First’ policy last year and adopted the FedRAMP Concept of Operations, we knew it was time to do more to help our members understand the impact of changes to the IT acquisition environment.

Hettinger most recently served as Executive Director overseeing Strategic Planning and Market Development in Grant Thornton’s Global Public Sector Practice, where he was responsible for firm-wide strategic business planning, federal marketing, and external relations. Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Hettinger was the staff director of the House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform, Subcommittee on Government Management, Finance and Accountability. Hettinger also has an extensive background in public affairs, having served as a Public Policy Counselor at Patton Boggs LLP, where he oversaw large-scale lobbying and public affairs campaigns. Prior to joining Patton Boggs, Hettinger was Chief of Staff to Representative Tom Davis of Virginia.

Read more about PSIG in today’s Government Computer News feature.

Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Government, Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, PSIG, SIIA News, Software Tagged With: , , ,

Cloud/GOV CIO Panel Announcement

February 3, 2011 By

In this session you will hear leading government CIOs share their perspectives of cloud in government and what it means for their respective agencies. We will discuss the state of procurements (current and future) for which the agencies are seeking cloud/saas capabilities, their primary goals and objectives for each agency’s cloud initiative, and the metrics for evaluating the ROI.

Moderator:
Michael Binko, President and CEO, kloudtrack

Panelists:
Thomas Bayer, Chief Information Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission
Henry Sienkiewicz, Chief Information Officer, DISA
Kevin Smith, Deputy Chief Information Officer, United States Patent & Trademark
Keith Trippie, Executive Director of Enterprise System Development , Department of Homeland Security
Stephen Warren, Deputy CIO, Department of Veterans Affairs

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