Shared Services in Federal Government Growing
Beth Angerman, executive director of the General Services Administration’s Unified Shared Services Management (USSM) office, told an audience at a conference yesterday that 30 federal agencies are “in the process of moving toward shared solutions.” GSA recently launched USSM to help foster and enable shared services across federal agencies. “I say we could always be doing more, but my mighty office of seven keeps quite busy,” Angerman said. “Not everybody likes the idea of doing shared services, and usually it’s because agencies don’t want to do things in a standardized way. But it’s becoming an important tool for agency heads.”
Bill Requires DHS to Work with States and Local Governments on Cybersecurity
Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI) and David Perdue (R-GA) have introduced a bill that would increase the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) responsibility for helping state and local governments fight against cyberattacks. The bill would require the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center to coordinate cybersecurity efforts with state and local entities, and advise state and local officials on the best technology for continuous monitoring and mitigation.
Procurement Policy Official: Category Management Is Just Good Business
Lesley Field, acting administrator for federal procurement policy in the Office of Management and Budget, said category management has led the government to move away from an “every agency for itself” mentality, and has saved taxpayers $2 billion since 2012. Field spoke about the open question of whether the new administration would continue to pursue President Barack Obama’s category management policies. “The bottom line is that what we have been doing with category management is just good business,” Field said. “It’s a common sense solution to meet common needs.”
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