Sec. 401. Pilot program on interagency collaboration
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Chapter 115 of title 40, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: Sec. 11501. Pilot program on interagency collaboration. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall conduct a three-year pilot program in accordance with the requirements of this section to test alternative approaches for the management of commonly used information technology by executive agencies. For purposes of the pilot program, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall establish a Federal Infrastructure and Common Application Collaboration Center (hereafter in this section referred to as the Collaboration Center ) within the Office of Electronic Government established under section 3602 of title 44.
The purpose of the Collaboration Center is to serve as a resource for Federal agencies, available on an optional-use basis, to assist and promote coordinated program management practices and to develop and maintain requirements for the acquisition of IT infrastructure and common applications commonly used by various Federal agencies. The Center shall consist of the following members: An appropriate number, as determined by the CIO Council, but not less than 12, full-time program managers or cost specialists, all of whom have appropriate experience in the private or Government sector in managing or overseeing acquisitions of IT infrastructure and common applications.
At least 1 full-time detailee from each of the Federal agencies listed in section 901(b) of title 31, nominated by the respective agency chief information officer for a detail period of not less than 1 year. The Collaboration Center shall have working groups that specialize in IT infrastructure and common applications identified by the CIO Council. Each working group shall be headed by a separate dedicated program manager appointed by the Federal Chief Information Officer. For each of the IT infrastructure and common application areas identified by the CIO Council, the Collaboration Center shall perform the following roles, and any other functions as directed by the Federal Chief Information Officer:
Develop, maintain, and disseminate requirements suitable to establish contracts that will meet the common and general needs of various Federal agencies as determined by the Center. In doing so, the Center shall give maximum consideration to the adoption of commercial standards and industry acquisition best practices, including opportunities for shared services, consideration of total cost of ownership, preference for industry-neutral functional specifications leveraging open industry standards and competition, and use of long-term contracts, as appropriate.
Develop, maintain, and disseminate reliable cost estimates. Lead the review of significant or troubled IT investments or acquisitions as identified by the CIO Council. Provide expert aid to troubled IT investments or acquisitions. The Director, in consultation with the Chief Information Officers Council, shall issue guidance addressing the scope and operation of the Collaboration Center. The guidance shall require that the collaboration Center report to the Federal Chief Information Officer.
The Director shall annually submit to the relevant congressional committees a report detailing the organization, staff, and activities of the Collaboration Center, including— a list of IT infrastructure and common applications the Center assisted; an assessment of the Center’s achievement in promoting efficiency, shared services, and elimination of unnecessary Government requirements that are contrary to commercial best practices; and the use and expenditure of amounts in the Fund established under subsection (i).
The report may be included as part of the annual E-Government status report required under section 3606 of title 44. The Collaboration Center shall establish guidelines that, to the maximum extent possible, eliminate inconsistent practices among executive agencies and ensure uniformity and consistency in acquisition processes for IT infrastructure and common applications across the Federal Government. In preparing the guidelines, the Collaboration Center, in consultation with the Chief Acquisition Officers Council, shall offer executive agencies the option of accessing a central website for best practices, templates, and other relevant information.
The Collaboration Center, in collaboration with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, the Chief Acquisition Officers Council, the General Services Administration, and the Assisted Acquisition Centers of Excellence, shall compile a price list and catalogue containing current pricing information by vendor for each of its IT infrastructure and common applications categories. The price catalogue shall contain any price provided by a vendor in a contract awarded for the same or similar good or service to any executive agency.
The catalogue shall be developed in a fashion ensuring that it may be used for pricing comparisons and pricing analysis using standard data formats. The price catalogue shall not be made public, but shall be accessible to executive agencies. In any fiscal year, notwithstanding section 321(c) of title 40, up to five percent of the fees collected during the prior fiscal year under the multiple award schedule contracts entered into by the Administrator of General Services and credited to the Acquisition Services Fund under section 321 of title 40, may be used to fund the activities of the Collaboration Center.
Each fiscal year, the Director, in consultation with the Federal Chief Information Officer, shall determine an appropriate amount needed to operate the Collaboration Center and the Administrator of General Services shall transfer amounts only to the extent and in such amounts as are provided in advance in appropriation acts from the Fund to the Director for the Center. In this section: The term executive agency has the meaning provided that term by section 105 of title 5. The term Federal Chief Information Officer means the Administrator of the Office of Electronic Government established under section 3602 of title 44.
The term relevant congressional committees means each of the following: The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives. The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate. . The item relating to chapter 115 in the table of chapters at the beginning of subtitle III of title 40, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 115. Information Technology Acquisition Management Practices 11501 .
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall issue guidance under section 11501(e) of title 40, United States Code, as added by subsection (a). Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall establish the Federal Infrastructure and Common Application Collaboration Center, in accordance with section 11501(b) of such title, as so added. Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Infrastructure and Common Application Collaboration Center shall establish guidelines in accordance with section 11501(g) of such title, as so added.
Section 3602(c) of title 44, United States Code, is amended— by striking and at the end of paragraph (2); by redesignating paragraph
(3)as paragraph (4); and by inserting after paragraph
(2)the following new paragraph (3): all of the functions of the Federal Infrastructure and Common Application Collaboration Center, as required under section 11501 of title 40; and .