House And Senate Panels Advance Bills Targeting Federal Tech
House and Senate committees have advanced bipartisan bills aimed at reforming federal technology workforce, processes, procurement and more. Although it is unclear whether any of these bills will pass Congress during a difficult election year in which funding bills are still being drafted, the committee's vote is a step toward adopting legislation.
Here's what you need to know:
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Tuesday approved the Congressionally-sponsored Government Service Delivery Improvement Act. Ro Hannah, California.
The proposal, which has bipartisan support, would require the director of the Office of Management and Budget to appoint a top official to lead efforts to improve the delivery of government services across the federal government. This OMB leader will be responsible for developing standards, policies and guidelines for service delivery across the government.
Supporters of the bill say it would give Congress a recourse if agencies encounter difficulties providing services or other problems.
"In our current system of government, there is no single person whom the American people can turn to and hold accountable for the agency's actions and failures," the spokesperson said. This was announced by William Timmons, JD, one of the bill's co-sponsors. observation. “Without such direct oversight or accountability, agencies could continue to fall behind in the delivery of their services, such as benefit distribution or effective backlog management. »
The proposal would also require agencies to designate or appoint their own Director of Service Delivery, who would be required to provide OMB with a plan to implement improvements. The bill is currently being considered by the Plenary Assembly. There is no equivalent in the Senate, although a group of senators has put forward their own proposal to serve government customers.
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee also approved the Representatives' bill. Kweisi Mfume, Democrat of Maryland, and Glenn Grothman, Republican of Wisconsin, said the goal was to give the Congressional Budget Office easier access to executive branch data.
The Congressional Budget Office Data Access Act received bipartisan support in committee and has already passed the full Senate. This proposal would exempt CBO from the Privacy Act of 1974. Lawmakers say the barriers CBO currently faces in accessing data must be removed.
The same House committee also introduced a new bipartisan proposal called the Information Quality Act. Lisa McClain, Republican of Michigan, and Katie Porter, Democrat of California. - states that the bill is intended to ensure that agencies use the best information reasonably available to establish their standards and guidance. This will require OMB to issue guidance to help inform this rulemaking.
The bill also includes provisions to disclose the models, methods and sources of information used by agencies, with some exceptions, and does not yet have an equivalent in the Senate.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee also held a hearing last week.
The committee put forward a bipartisan proposal to streamline certain government contracting processes, such as the contracting and awarding of procurement orders and contracts, while providing all federal agencies with some flexibility that already exists within the Ministry of Defense. The bill, called Federal Purchase Order and Acquisition Compliance Procedures, does not yet have a counterpart in the House.
“My bipartisan legislation would reduce bureaucracy around the federal contracting process, make it more efficient, and ensure that a broader range of contractors, including small businesses, are considered for federal contracts,” the senator said. Gary Peters, Democrat of Michigan. The statement is a co-sponsor of the bill with Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa.
Finally, the same Senate committee also advanced the Computer Source Code Harmonization and Reuse Act, or SHARE IT.
Proposal: van Peters with the senator. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, seeks to encourage agencies to publicly publish the proprietary code they develop or acquire and share it with other government agencies. It also has no equivalent in the House of Representatives.
As for the prospects for this and other government technology bills before Congress, Mike Hettinger, president of the Hettinger Strategy Group and former member of the House oversight staff, says it's "hard to get anything done." ”.
Lawmakers and their teams will likely have to prioritize what they want to do throughout the year and try to pass those proposals as stand-alone bills or as part of the annual defense policy bill, he said.