Quick Hits

*** A lack of communication and cooperation between the IRS information technology and its operation divisions could be responsible for billions of dollars in lost federal revenues and interest payments, according to an audit by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Specifically, employees from non-IT business divisions that handle tax administration have complained that they lack input into how Information Technology support requests are approved and prioritized, leading to inefficiencies and lost revenue. Auditors list several examples of the impact, such as 600,000 taxpayers being unable to file online because of delayed IT implementation timelines and underpaying of corporate tax liability because IRS IT did not prioritize updating indicators that would locate eligible firms. Auditors recommended that the CIO meet annually with other executives both in and out of budget season to discuss prioritization and impact of not implementing key requests.

*** The CIO Council's Dev/Ops challenge kicked off July 8. The challenge is part of the government's #CIOCode Challenge pilot designed prequalify potential federal IT workforce candidates via online skill assessments. The challenge launched May 6 and includes assessments in front-end interface coding, core computer science skills as well as Dev/Ops.