OMB, GSA Will Review All Agency IT Spend Reporting Tools Before Purchase

The Trump administration is pushing agencies to report all their IT spending through a standardized framework and is now standardizing the acquisition of the tools in support of that effort.

The Office of Management and Budget has required by 2022 that all IT spending flowing through federal agencies must be categorized using a specific accounting framework called Technology Business Management, or TBM, a schema used to map spending to outcomes.

Now, OMB, with assistance from the General Services Administration, is taking a heavier hand in the implementation process, requiring all TBM tool procurements to flow through GSA’s IT Schedule 70. The agencies are also establishing a TBM Task Order Review Board, or TORB, that will review all pending tool purchases.

“The TORB will support agencies through a streamlined acquisition process, providing TBM expertise, guidance, and draft documents to expedite the procurement process, as well as materials to help agencies assess their TBM needs, design their implementation process and execute their TBM implementation plans,” according to a request for information updated last week. “The TORB will provide templates that agencies can use for acquisition preparation, solicitation and evaluation.”

Using the review board, OMB and GSA hope to ensure all agencies are using the same TBM framework to report their IT spending and that the data and systems will all be interoperable. The RFI also notes this will create a better “solicitation process for industry by streamlining the format of TBM acquisition requests. “

The board will assess agency procurements with four metrics:

• Alignment with OMB TBM policy objectives.
• Consistency with the TBM framework.
• Ongoing maturity of agency TBM implementations.
• Incorporation of established federal government TBM best practices.

“TORB reviews will result in either a recommendation to proceed with the TBM acquisition, or a list of recommended revisions to the procurement package to address deficiencies or concerns,” the RFI states. “Agencies must receive TORB approval before proceeding with a TBM acquisition.”

The RFI is seeking feedback from vendors on the tools they provide, the governmentwide contracts on which those tools are available and their current status obtaining authorization from the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, or FedRAMP.

Responses to the updated RFI are due by 6 p.m. Aug. 23.