The federal government needs to assess its IT infrastructure and address cybersecurity, modernization and assessment reform as equal, intertwined priorities, suggests the IT Alliance for Public Sector, a division of advocacy and policy organization for the Information Technology Industry Council.

In a letter sent to President-elect Donald Trump, ITAPS declares that its membership — which includes hardware, software, services and solutions companies — is dedicated to working with the new administration to improve government operations and efficiency and reduce wasteful spending on aging inventory. ITAPS hopes that a review of procurement regulations and workaround programs (Digital Services, 18F, DIUx, etc.) will ease barriers to acquiring commercial technologies.

"The federal government spent $80 billion on IT systems last year. Shockingly, 80 percent was spent maintaining costly, vulnerable IT systems that many American taxpayers would expect to see in a Smithsonian collection," said ITAPS Senior Vice President for Public Sector Trey Hodgkins, who signed the letter to Trump.

ITAPS suggests the new administration revise the IT procurement and appropriations processes to enhance its ability to replace legacy system maintenance with technology much more in sync with private-sector cycles.

By mandating updated IT systems, hardware and software inventory and increasing training opportunities for the federal workforce as a whole, the government can better locate vulnerabilities and manage desired outcomes in IT acquisition and management, believes ITAPS.

The combination of value assessment and the suspension of government unique requirements will ease barriers to incorporating large-scale solutions in place of problem-specific development, according to the letter.

For more details on ITAP’s suggested actions to create greater authorization, funding and regulatory flexibility, visit their websiteto view the entire letter.

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