The Defense Department says it has a departmentwide information technology plan that will allow flexible adoption of emerging technology while taking "appropriate actions" for projects that are "not producing." The IT Enterprise Strategy and Roadmap (.pdf) provides some clarity into IT's role in DoD's Efficiency Initiative and reveals plans for saving between $3.2 billion and $5.2 billion over the next 5 years.

The strategy document says the efforts have already produced results, with "a direct budget reduction of $1.7 billion across the FYDP in the FY2012 DoD submission to the President's Budget through specific IT consolidation actions by the Air Force ($1.2 billion) and the Army ($500 million)."

The strategy, which only recently came to light but is dated Sept. 6 in one section and Oct. 5 in another, calls for enhanced operational efficiency and aligns with the Office of Management and Budget's 25-point plan to reform federal IT, writes DoD Chief Information Officer Teri Takai. The plan lays out 26 initiatives and directs DoD components to work with Takai to develop implementation plans. The plan aims to obtain fast, tangible results in fiscal 2012 which will lead to sustained and aggressive consolidation through fiscal 2015, writes Takai.

The plan is comprised of 26 consolidation initiatives, which fall into five categories: network services (NS), computing services (CS), end user services (EUS), application and data services (ADS), and IT business processes (BP). The strategy also makes clear the potential gains and challenges associated with each of the 26 initiatives. It ranks how each will increase mission effectiveness, improve cybersecurity and deliver efficiencies, as well as the technical risks and cultural barriers that will be faced during implementation.

The department identifies a subset of eight initiatives that make up the strategy's initial implementation plan and provides a timeline for each (see table below). The initial plan "will provide guidance on the means by which the Department will realize the goals of the selected initiatives while also preparing planning activities for those initiatives which will require long-term efforts," says the strategy document.

According to the timeline, DoD will be able to cross two of its 26 consolidation initiatives off the list by the end of 2013: Identity and Access Management (IdAM) Services and Consolidate Hardware Purchasing. By 2014 it plans to wrap up two more with the completion of Data Center and Server Consolidation and Implementation of Cross-Domain Solution as an Enterprise Service.

The eight initial projects DoD is focusing on will use existing working groups, pilot programs and other efforts already underway in order to achieve tangible gains in the near-term, says the plan.

For more:
- download the strategy and roadmap (.pdf)

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