New ITIC lobbyist says FITARA needs more work
In a blog post, Erica McCann suggested the bill’s acquisition provisions become part of a broader Hill discussion on IT procurement.
The Information Technology Industry Council generally supports the legislation being pushed by Reps. Darrel Issa (R-Ca.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), but ITI's Erica McCann says FITARA should be part of a "broader dialogue on IT acquisition reform."
The Information Technology Industry Council's new Information Technology Alliance for Public Sector supports legislation to reform federal acquisition rules, but one of the group’s newest lobbyists cautioned that more work needs to be done before the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act is ready for prime time.
In a Dec. 3 post, ITAPS Manager of Federal Procurement Erica McCann said that while FITARA would provide needed changes in the federal procurement process, some of the acquisition provisions “need more discussion and should be part of a broader dialogue on IT acquisition reform that is now getting underway within the Defense Department and among policymakers on Capitol Hill."
Congress, McCann wrote, should move ahead on the FITARA provisions that have industry consensus, including those that would enhance the authority of civilian CIOs, allow a more flexible multi-year funding process, optimize data centers, strengthen the IT workforce and promote dialogue between contractors and federal contracting officers.
A joint letter in March sent by TechAmerica, ITI, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Coalition for Government Procurement, ACT, and the BSA/Software Alliance to Issa contained much the same sentiment as McCann’s post.
The Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act, backed by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa and Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), passed the House as part of the defense authorization bill in June. Now, FITARA is being proposed as an amendment to the Senate defense bill.
The post is the first by McCann on ITI's blog. She was one of four procurement policy lobbyists to leave rival industry association TechAmerica in November. TechAmerica subsequently sued ITI for $5 million in the D.C. Superior Court, claiming, among other things, that the lobbyists took proprietary association membership information with them. Trey Hodgkins, Pam Walker and Carol Henton were named in TechAmerica's suit; McCann was not included.