Citation[]
Office of Management and Budget, Improving the Acquisition and Management of Common Information Technology: Laptops and Desktops (OMB Memorandum M-16-02) (October 16, 2015) (full-text).
Overview[]
The Federal Government spends over $50 billion a year on hardware, software, telecommunications, IT security, and IT professional services through tens of thousands of contracts and delivery orders. Since its inception in March 2012, the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) PortfolioStat Process has significantly improved how government agencies buy, manage and consume these goods and services by engaging the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and other senior leaders in baselining, reviewing, and consolidating information technology (IT) needs. Through quarterly data collections and annual reviews, this initiative has increased visibility into purchasing and consumption practices, reduced duplication in certain areas, and generated savings.
However, many agencies continue to buy and manage their IT in a fragmented and inefficient manner, in a large part due to the highly decentralized structure of major cabinet level departments, which conflicts with the goals of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) and with the principles of category management outlined in December 2014 by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) To address this, OMB plans to issue a series of policies directing agencies to take new steps to improve the acquisition and management of common IT goods and services to achieve greater performance, efficiencies and savings.
The focus of this memorandum is on office laptop and desktop computers.