AGENCY FITARA GRADES DROP AGAIN – IS IT STILL RELEVANT?

No federal agency received an “A” on the FITARA report cards issued last week rating agencies on their adherence to certain Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) requirements.This is the sixth straight year that FITARA grades have dropped.  At the same time, however, there is new money for IT infrastructure spending and for DOD, overall.  This confluence begs the question, “Is FITARA relevant anymore?”,  While agency CIO’s do discuss working on FITARA measurements, grades on cybersecurity “hygiene” and software licensing requirements are low.  The software grade has been consistently low across multiple agencies.  There appears to be no penalties for poor or failing grades. In most homes, it is passing grades that qualify for extra money and benefits.  It appears to be the opposite on the federal front, though.  Some school children may ask why they can’t go to live with DOD.  On a more serious note, this reality poses a true challenge for contractors.  Paying lip service to FITARA requirements and putting language in an RFP or RFQ response about how a solution meets FITARA guidelines will both likely to continue to be important. On the other hand, it doesn’t appear as if pinning your hopes for an award on the basis that you meet FITARA standards is a winning strategy.