Collaboration rules the CIO Council IT Solutions Challenge

Tony Scott was only weeks into the federal CIO job when he launched the inaugural CIO Council's IT Solutions Challenge. Nearly nine months later, he's congratulating the winners.

In a Nov. 30 blog post, Scott praised the "remarkable work" of the feds who tackled IT and acquisition problems in their projects.

The winning team, Team 2, was made up of eight employees from NASA, the General Services Administration and the departments of Homeland Security, Energy, Justice and Transportation.

They developed FedIT, a social networking platform to bring together IT- and acquisition-focused feds and promote the development, standardization and implementation of federal IT policy.

Team 5, winners of the people's choice award, also addressed collaboration with Project GEMMAA, a cloud-based sandbox for sharing lessons and reusing technology tools.

"The solutions proposed through the 2015 IT Solutions Challenge can significantly enhance the work we do by fostering collaboration across the federal government and enabling us to drive greater value for the American people," Scott wrote.