Drawing blueprints for the future

A job like the Internal Revenue Service's 15-year modernization effort is what Computer Sciences Corp. was born to do.

"We bid the job as CSC, not as CSC Federal," said Don Brown, vice president of Strategic IT Consulting in CSC's Federal Sector Civil Group. After becoming the lead contractor for IRS Prime, CSC advised on a modernization blueprint and will work with its partners to develop and deliver the technologies that will replace the tax agency's obsolete IT systems.

CSC decided nine months ago to standardize the approach of bringing all of the company's resources to clients, Brown said. The result is a 25-member Strategic IT Consulting business that helps agencies develop IT strategies and fosters cooperation from other CSC units.

"It's a change from waiting in the wings until the government produces [a request for proposals] to being more proactive in partnering with our clients," Brown said.

The group has already obtained a contract to design a blueprint and business case for modernization at the U.S. Agency for International Development and hopes to obtain a similar deal with the Education Department.

"The whole systems integration space begins to look more like the role of a general contractor in a building project," Brown said. The Strategic IT Consulting group plays the role of architect, developing the enterprise architecture and the blueprint.

If an agency is looking for an enterprise resource planning solution, for example, a CSC ERP solutions architect will match the agency's requirements with the right package available in the market, he said.