Before proceeding with a discussion of the potential benefits offered to the federal government through the use of cloud computing, it is essential that we gain some basic understanding of some of the possible drivers for cloud adoption. As previously highlighted, the Cloud Strategy characterized the federal government’s IT ment as: low asset utilization, fragmented demand and duplicative systems, environ-ments which are difficult to manage, and long procurement lead times [1]. This characterization was largely the result of the way the federal government has acquired and operated over the years in independent silos.46 “Federal IT change efforts are typically managed in isolation from business operations, so those working on long-term solutions are too often not concerned with, or even aware of, the evolution of day-to-day business considerations” [11]. These silos have led to the continued decentralization of the federal IT environment, mostly because the federal agencies have developed overlapping, duplicative, and, in many instances, fragmented pro-grams that are not always shared across the federal government or community boundaries. However, these are not necessarily new issues. The scope of federal IT may have changed (i.e., size and complexity of programs, services, and systems), but
46A self-contained organizational structure that can operate independent of others within the larger organization.
NOTE
• In May 2002, OMB identified ten potentially redundant systems across the federal government that related to the rule making process.47 As a result, OMB focused on
“consolidating redundant IT systems relating to the President’s on-line rulemaking initiative” [12].
• The GAO reported in May 2004, “the duplicative and stovepiped nature of DOD’s [US Department of Defense] systems environment is illustrated by the numerous systems it has in the same functional areas. For example, DOD reported that it has over 200 inventory systems. These systems are not integrated and thus have multiple points of data entry, which can result in data integrity problems” [13].
• In a March 2011 GAO report, “Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars, and Enhance Revenue,” the GAO “identified 81 areas for consideration—34 areas of potential duplication, overlap, or fragmentation as well as 47 additional cost-saving and revenue-enhancing areas” [14]. Although not all specifically related to the duplication of IT resources, since IT plays a critical role in supporting most government programs and mission-specific operations, many areas of duplication would include the underlying IT capabilities.
47Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget. Regulation Information Frequently Asked Questions [cited 2011 Jul 27]. Available from: http://www.reginfo.gov/public/jsp/
Utilities/faq.jsp. Federal regulations are created through a process known as “rulemaking,” which is governed by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) (5 U.S.C. Chapter 5).
21 Cloud Computing: Drivers in Federal IT Transformation
the lack of strategic alignment and functional integration48 between federal agencies has existed long before the Cloud Strategy. This misalignment has led to expensive and overly redundant development and maintenance costs. Across the federal gov-ernment, multiple instances of similar shared services49 have been developed, IT
48From Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The Common Approach to Federal Enterprise Architecture. Washington, DC: Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget;
2012. “Functional integration means interoperability between programs, systems, and services, which requires a meta-context and standards to be successful.”
49From VanRoekel, S. Federal Information Technology Shared Services Strategy. Washington, DC:
Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget; 2012. “The Federal Information Technology Shared Services Strategy provides organizations in the Executive Branch of the United States Federal Government (Federal Agencies) with policy guidance on the full range and lifecycle of intra- and inter-agency information technology (IT) shared services, which enable mission, adminis-trative, and infrastructure-related IT functions.”
NOTE
On January 14, 2010, the White House held “The Forum on Modernizing Government”
where the forum noted the following conclusion:
The Federal Government has difficulty managing large-scale technology efforts.
The Forum made it clear that there are best practices in industry for the design and ongoing review of these types of technology efforts that increase their likelihood of success. By comparison to these industry best practices, most Federal Government IT projects are too large and not sufficiently integrated into business unit operations. Multi-year Federal IT efforts are typically driven by technology managers—who often turn over during the life of the project—rather than agency business leaders. Agency business leaders are not held accountable for project success, and in turn do not adequately invest in IT project management. As a result, in comparison to industry best practices, Federal IT projects are too often marked by milestones spaced too far apart and deliverables that fail to deliver tangible end-user value [16].
NOTE
It is important to note, the challenges within the federal IT were not created overnight.
GAO, OMB, and other organizations within the federal government have repeatedly highlighted weaknesses in required federal IT processes and controls to address IT reform challenges, and the ineffective government-wide and federal-agency-specific IT oversight and management. As early as 2000, the GAO highlighted OMB’s role as being “responsible for providing direction on government-wide information resources and technology
management and overseeing agency activities in these areas, including analyzing major agency information technology investments” [18]. Although not limiting the governance over IT investments within each federal agency, a central focal point was noted as lacking to serve as this catalyst, working in conjunction with other executive officials to ensure that information resources and technology management issues were addressed within the context of the government’s highest priorities and not in isolation from them [18].
22 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to the Federal Cloud Computing Strategy
modernization efforts have been independently executed, and information security programs have been operated with little or no intra- and inter-agency coordination.
The duplication, coupled with the low utilization of IT resources, has continued to increase federal IT costs. Federal agencies (and even program management offices) have worked independently to procure new hardware to satisfy their need for additional capacity, rather than optimizing the existing IT resources, either across an agency or between multiple agencies (for multi-agency programs). As an example, in 2010, as an output of the initial findings of the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI),50 average server utilization rates were noted as low as 7% [15]. The absence of an effective IT management structure within the federal government has led to this underutilization of computing and storage resources. In the course of the initial phases of the FDCCI project, metrics similar to those included in Figure 1.5 were established to assist federal agencies in making more informed IT management decisions for improving utilization within their con-solidation plans.51
Another potential driver that is related to adoption of cloud computing includes issues associated with the IT acquisition process. Federal IT acquisition has been stagnant and largely unchanged for years. For example, in 1995, the GAO conducted a statistical analysis of the time taken to complete an IT acquisition, and noted that the time can vary depending on the dollar value, procurement type, and whether a bid protest was filed [17]. These same challenges still exist today.
50From Kundra, V. The Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative. Washington, DC: Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget; 2011. “The FDCCI seeks to curb this unsustainable increase in the number of data centers by reducing the cost of data center hardware, software, and operations; shifting IT investments to more efficient computing platforms; promoting the use of Green IT by reducing the overall energy and real estate footprint of government data centers;
and increasing the IT security posture of the government.”
51FDCCI Data Center Consolidation Plans. Available from: http://www.cio.gov/pages.cfm/page/
FDCCI-Public-Plan-Links.
FIGURE 1.5 Example FDCCI Utilization Metrics [15]
23 Cloud Computing: Drivers in Federal IT Transformation
The continued delays in streamlining the acquisition process have limited the potential benefits in the investment of IT. However, streamlining the acquisition pro-cess is not enough. Federal agencies will need to make improvements in their federal IT management practices to learn how to effectively leverage the cost-savings pro-vided by technologies such as virtualization and cloud computing and make changes to their practices to accommodate acquiring IT as a Service.52