Examining DoD’s Implementation of FITARA and the Implication for IT-Based Defense Systems: A U.S. Case Study

Abstract

FITARA provides that other than the DoD IT, situations, where investments are found to be high-risk, shall have the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reject requests for investment enhancements or additional development. Regarding Section 833 “Portfolio Review,” the main of FITARA is to develop government-wide processes through which agencies’ IT investments could be better aligned, optimized, consolidated, and also ensure that they are effective and efficient. Additionally, Section 833 calls for OMB to collaborate with agency CIOs to establish standard metrics through which IT assessments can be assessed. It is also worth noting that through Section 833, FITARA calls for the agency IT portfolios’ annual reviews. However, the case of the DoD holds that this provision or review can be satisfied via the use of the 222 process or the existing acquisition and that the review only applies to its (DoD’s) business systems. It is further notable that for the Intel Community, Section 833 (Portfolio Review) does not apply. The main aim of this study was to examine analyze the effectiveness of DoD’s FITARA implementation, as well as the implications for defense systems relying on the IT infrastructure in the U.S.