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This blog entry was originally published on December 9th, 2016 on LinkedIn. Earlier this week, I testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Technology about the Department of State’s progress in implementing the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA).

The Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) has provided the visibility that I need to do my job. Notably, as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Department of Education, it gives me voting and veto rights on the review boards that determine where our IT dollars get spent, even for our larger components, such as Federal Student Aid (FSA).

Over the past six months, the Federal CIO Council (CIOC), in partnership with GSA’s Office of Government-wide Policy, worked to author a report that would provide an understanding of where Federal IT is and how to continue to improve on managing and modernizing it. That report – the State of Federal Information Technology (SOFIT) Report is now released.

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