Darrell Issa: “This amendment is a modified version of language that was incorporated in the House-passed NDAA authorization bill last…”

“This amendment is a modified version of language that was incorporated in the House-passed NDAA authorization bill last year, and that was adopted again by the House earlier this year as a standalone bill, H.R. 1232, the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act. The amendment reforms--Government-wide--the process by which federal information technology is acquired and deployed. It takes a streamlined and precise approach to solving a huge problem in Federal IT--the broken system by which the government procures and deploys critical IT infrastructure. President Barack Obama, on Nov. 14, 2013, stated ``One of the things [the federal government] does not do well is information technology procurement This is kind of a systematic problem that we have across the board.'' I agree. I commend the Administrations' recent steps to strengthen IT management by strengthening the eGov office and focusing on duplications via what is called PortfolioStat reviews. In its annual reports to Congress, GAO has identified duplicative IT investments as a significant problem. Our oversight hearings confirmed that despite spending more than $600 billion over the past decade, too often Federal IT investments run over budget, become behind schedule, or never deliver on the promised solution or functionality. Indeed, industry experts have estimated that as much as 25 percent of the annual $80 billion spent on IT is attributable to mismanaged or duplicative IT investments.…”