Bonnie Watson Coleman: “And I rise in strong support of H.R. 1626, the DHS IT Duplication Reduction Act of 2015. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1626 seeks to…”

“And I rise in strong support of H.R. 1626, the DHS IT Duplication Reduction Act of 2015. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1626 seeks to address duplication or fragmentation within the Department of Homeland Security's information technology systems. Specifically, H.R. 1626 requires the Department's Chief Information Officer to report on the number of IT systems throughout the Department and identify and address those areas where duplication or fragmentation may exist. This undertaking at the headquarters level should help inform the Department's IT budget planning which, in light of sequestration and the downward trend of the Department's budget, becomes all the more important when considered in the critical missions entrusted to DHS. This legislation is in the spirit of the Department's Unity of Effort initiative and has the potential of fostering more coordinated IT planning and management among the Department's components. In committee, a number of technical refinements authored by Democrats were accepted to ensure that reducing redundancy frees up resources for DHS' operations. Mr. Speaker, I do urge support for this measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.”