DHS to Expand IT Acquisition Center

The Department of Homeland Security’s chief procurement officer is hoping to expand the department’s centralized IT buying center this year, a move that could potentially save the department hundreds of millions of dollars.

In an article on the Federal Computer World website, writer Dibya Sarkar says one of the chief procurement officer’s top five priorities for the year is to expand the department’s Information Technology Acquisition Center (ITAC). The ITAC is a centralized buying "hub" for all of the department’s IT hardware and software.

ITAC, which was formed last year, would help DHS chief information officer Greg Rothwell with "incredible visibility and strategic leverage" in buying technology for the department, Rothwell told Sarkar. Sarkar also says buying technology amounts to about $5 billion of the $11 to $12 billion the department spends.

"And if you could somehow start bringing that together in terms of buying command, it would give [CIO] Steve Cooper even greater insight into what's going on so that he can say, ‘Well, I agree with that,’ or, ‘Hey, that's not consistent with the architecture,’ or, ‘That's not consistent, but I could live with it for a few more years,’" said Rothwell.

"That's where I think there's a lot of value, not to mention the dollars you could save when you do that," Rothwell also said. "I just think we're really talking about hundreds of millions of dollars in savings in bringing this piece together."

To read the full article, click here: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2005/0124/web-itac-01-28-05.asp