The largest Federal agencies trended toward higher grades on key IT-related performance categories in the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s FITARA Scorecard version 13 released by the committee on January 20.
On the latest scorecard, seven agencies earned higher overall scores, four saw their grades decline, and 13 remained steady with gradings from the previous scorecard issued in July 2021. No agency received a failing overall grade – 22 of them got marks in the “B” and “C” range.
Only two agencies – the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) – won the top grade of “A” for their performance.
The committee’s semi-annual scorecard grades the 24 Federal CFO Act agencies for their performance in eight IT-related categories. Scores are compiled by the committee with help from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The eight grading categories on the latest scorecard remained unchanged from the prior edition. They are: 1) progress in transitioning to the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) communications services contract; 2) CIO authority enhancements; 3) transparency and risk management; 4) portfolio review; 5) Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI); 6) Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act; 7) cybersecurity; and 8) whether the CIO reports to the agency head or deputy.
Two broad trends on the latest scorecard impacted many individual agency scores.
The first was the committee’s awarding of “A” grades to all agencies in the DCOI category, with the committee indicating it will remove that category from future scorecards. The second was the assignment of “F” grades to 15 of the 24 agencies for progress toward transitioning to EIS telecom services contract. On the prior scorecard – which measured agencies against a lower percentage of transition – only two agencies got failing grades in the EIS category.
By the Numbers
Here’s a quick look at the gainers, the decliners, and everyone in between. As always, the easiest way to make sense of the House Oversight committee’s multicolored scorecard is to view the results on MeriTalk’s FITARA Dashboard.
Seven Agencies Improved
- NSF jumped by a full grade, to “A+”;
- USAID notched full-grade increase, to “A”;
- Office of Personnel Management (OPM) rose by a full grade, to “B+”;
- Commerce Department (DoC) increased by a full grade, to “B+”;
- Homeland Security (DHS) jumped a full grade, to “B”;
- State Department notched a full-grade increase, to “B”; and
- Justice Department (DoJ) climbed to “C-” – a full-grade increase.
Four Agencies Declined
- GSA shed a full grade, to “B+”;
- Social Security Administration (SSA) declined by a full grade, to “C+”;
- Interior Department (DoI) fell by a full grade, to “C+”; and
- Agriculture Department (USDA) slipped a full grade, to “C+”;
13 Agencies Hung Steady
The remaining 13 agencies held onto the same grades they earned from the previous scorecard issued in July 2021:
- Defense Department (DoD) – “C+”;
- Education Department – “B+”;
- Energy Department (DoE) – “C+”;
- Health and Human Services (HHS) – “B”;
- Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – “C+”;
- Labor Department (DoL) – “B-”;
- Transportation Department (DoT) – “C+”;
- Treasury Department – “B”;
- Veterans Affairs (VA) – “C+”;
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – “B+”;
- NASA – “C+”;
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) – “C-”; and
- Small Business Administration (SBA) – “C+”.
