ITAPS’ Second Year Begins with a Burst of New Member Companies and 2015 Priorities

The IT Alliance for Public Sector (ITAPS) has launched its second year with the same energy and ambition that grew it from ITI’s public sector advocacy startup into the most respected industry voice for information technology (IT) contractors. The past few months have ushered in a 25 percent uptick in membership as we welcomed Adobe, Boeing, Deloitte,  Honeywell, Juniper Networks, Lenovo, and Lockheed Martin to ITAPS*.

After starting from scratch in late 2013, ITAPS has grown into an organization that is recognized by policymakers as the voice for over 30 leading innovators in IT goods and services that are helping the federal government, state and local governments, and educational institutions solve their most critical challenges through advanced technology solutions.

ITAPS’ success reflects the fact that technology is an integral part of the function and mission of our public institutions. For our armed services, it provides capabilities and data that can change the course of events and save lives. For civilian agencies, it means more convenience and enhanced services for citizens, more efficiency for hard-working public servants, and greater value and savings for the taxpayer.  For state and local governments, it means delivering services that have a daily impact on the lives of constituents. 

But for all the promise that technology holds, there are still too many bureaucratic barriers, antiquated budget and procurement processes, and complex webs of red tape that keep all levels of government from adopting the latest technological innovations in the most cost-effective manner. At our recent Procurement Summit, our members identified policy areas that will focus ITAPS’ federal policy advocacy in the months ahead:

  • Acquisition reform: As Congress moves forward on legislation this year, ITAPS remains committed to making true IT acquisition reform become a reality. Restoring the preference for commercial items, bringing flexibility into funding mechanisms for IT, supporting the 21st century workforce, creating more effective oversight, and empowering management are all essential components of transforming the way the government buys IT.
  • Acquisition innovation: Amidst a strict budget environment and the need to bring innovation into the government's procurement process, a variety of non-traditional buying entities have arisen across government including the GSA’s 18F, a services team using a startup model and open source code to make digital products for the government, the agency’s Common Acquisition Platform, U.S. Digital Service, and HHS Buyers Club. ITAPS encourages transparency within these organizations in order to maximize the benefit of their best practices across government.
  • Labor regulations impacting contractors: The contractor community is facing a whole host of implementation challenges after last year's deluge of labor-focused executive orders and regulatory actions. ITAPS will continue to advocate for reasonable, practical, and effective labor compliance on behalf of the contractor community.
  • Regulatory burdens: While many contracting regulations are important in the federal marketplace, the government must make more effective oversight decisions. Often, the government already has the data it is seeking and the duplicative reporting process only drives up cost. ITAPS will continue to advocate for the rationalization of the oversight environment to create a more efficient process and save taxpayer dollars.
  • Strategic sourcing: The Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI) became an even bigger imperative last year with the passage of the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act, or FITARA, section in the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. While a valuable tool in the acquisition process, its applicability to complex products and services related to IT are questionable. ITAPS will provide feedback to the Office of Federal Procurement Policy as it works to implement the FSSI directive.
  • Cost versus value: Lowest price, technically acceptable (LPTA) will continue to plague the acquisition process as long as the budget remains unstable and unpredictable. ITAPS remains committed to promoting a regular and sustained budget process to ensure long-term investments deliver cost-effective solutions to the government and save valuable taxpayer dollars.

As we increase our profile through engagement in our nation’s capital, we will continue our efforts in state capitals across the country to help states best leverage their investments in IT goods, services, and solutions for their internal operations and for their constituents.

At the state level, we are engaged with dozens of legislatures and agencies from coast-to-coast to improve the way states contract for technology and services. Our interactions and experiences led to the development of ITAPS' top 10 principles for state government innovation strategies that was delivered to governors – both newly elected as well as incumbents – in January as a strategy for states to develop successful innovation agendas and technology initiatives. 

ITAPS’ first year was built on actively representing the industry’s voice to policymakers to improve government acquisition and drive innovative technologies that benefit taxpayers—it proved to be the secret sauce to our success, and will continue to be our mission.  

* ITAPS Corporate Participants (listed alphabetically): Adobe, Amazon Web Services (AWS), AT&T, Blackberry, Boeing, CA Technologies, CenturyLink, CGI, Compusearch, Deloitte, EMC, Honeywell, HP, IBM, Intel, Juniper Networks, Lenovo, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Oracle, Panasonic, Performance Technology Partners, SAIC, SAP, VMware, and XeroxITAPS Associate Participants: A.M. Fadida Consulting, Cyrrus Analytics LLC, Hogan Lovells, Ralph Chandler & Associates, Rogers Joseph O’Donnell, and VJA Lexis.   

Public Policy Tags: Public Sector

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