FITARA progress stalls

Federal CIOs have seen their progress lag on the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act under the Trump administration, according to new scorecards produced for Congress.

On the most recent biannual scorecard, more agencies were on the decline than on the rise with their grades, which rate agencies based on their implementation of CIO authorities, risk management, data center optimization and other factors. Of the 24 agencies covered by FITARA, three improved, six declined and 15 held steady on the fifth round of grades.

The scorecard, set to be discussed in a Nov. 15 hearing of the IT Subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is the fifth produced since the law passed. Agencies fared reasonably well on the first three, but the most recent review is the second to show decline.

The three agencies that improved — the Small Business Administration, the Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Education — each improved by a full letter grade.

SBA went from a D-minus to a C-minus, OPM went from a D-plus to a C-plus and Education jumped from a C-plus to a B-plus.

After improving to a D-plus in the fourth round of grades, Transportation regressed to an F-plus, joining the Department of Defense as the only agencies to register failing grades.

Of the five basic metrics, most agencies scored well on enhancements to agency CIO authority, with 15 agencies scoring A grades, two scoring Bs and only Defense and NASA receiving Fs.

There was a new section included in the rubric that proved particularly difficult for agencies: software licensing mandated under the MEGABYTE Act. Here, 17 agencies received failing grades, one received a C and the remaining seven received A grades.