Commentary: How feds could save $1 trillion relatively quickly
Earlier this month, Vivek Kundra stepped down from his position as the first federal chief information officer after a two-year tenure during which he began applying industry lessons in managing information technology to the federal sector. Given the enormous potential for IT to increase efficiency and save money during an era of budget cuts, I encourage his successor Steven VanRoekel to continue and even accelerate Kundra's initiatives.
The Technology Chief Executive Officer Council, of which Dell CEO Michael Dell is a member, presented policymakers with a proposal in October 2010 for how the federal government could save $1 trillion over the next decade. None of the council's suggestions required new legislation and all are ones we've successfully implemented for our customers and in our own businesses.
The proposals involved actions like consolidating data centers, eliminating redundant systems and standardizing applications. Agencies could save as much as $200 billion just by using advanced analytics software to reduce errors and fraud and to predict outcomes for programs like tax refunds, food stamps and Medicare.
In December 2010, Kundra announced a sweeping 25-point plan for IT reform. The strategies included shifting services such as email to the cloud where possible and taking inventory of data center assets to prepare for consolidation efforts later in the decade.
Several of Kundra's initiatives are well under way. Government agencies have been soliciting advice from private companies that have consolidated their own data centers to learn which methods are the most effective. Agencies selected 800 data centers to close over the next four years, some 40 percent of the total inventory, and they are moving ahead faster than expected. Agencies also are testing cloud technologies and security processes and policies to protect data once it moves to the cloud.
These are promising efforts, but transitions have a way of slowing or delaying the execution of such complicated reforms. This transition doesn't have to. VanRoekel is a former Federal Communications Commission and Microsoft executive who has the experience and understanding to take Kundra's 25 points and run with them.
Our country's need to reduce spending and cut the deficit is acute, and the efficiencies technology can provide in terms of expense and power use are proven and real. The $1 trillion government will save by applying the hard-won lessons of private industry to its redundant and inefficient systems can strengthen the programs upon which citizens depend. If VanRoekel can pick up where Kundra left off, then he will have been responsible for the rare kind of government revolution that cuts nothing but unnecessary spending and increases nothing but jobs and competitiveness at a critical moment for both.
Frank Muehleman is vice president and general manager of Dell's North American public sector business.