Data from the Federal government’s IT Dashboard website appear to indicate that Federal CFO Act agencies have made some progress but are still more than 1,000 data centers short of their intended closure goals for 2020 under the Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI).
The Federal government has closed 3,216 of the 4,477 data centers it had originally aimed to close by October 1, 2018. That closure deadline was later extended to October 1, 2020 in the FITARA Enhancement Act of November 2017.
The most recent data shows that agencies have closed 83 data centers over the most recent quarterly data collection period.
The General Services Administration (GSA), which runs the IT Dashboard, explained to MeriTalk that “data submissions for DCOI are conducted on a calendar year (not fiscal year) basis,” although the IT Dashboard website displays data based on fiscal year.
Based on MeriTalk’s tracking of the IT Dashboard site, the data has been updated at least once in the past two months. Beginning in early June and continuing through early August, the website listed 3,133 data center closures across the Federal government, coinciding with a CY2018 Q2 submission deadline of May 31. Following a CY2018 Q3 submission deadline of August 31, the tally has been updated to 3,126.
Only four agencies of the 22 listed on IT Dashboard have reached their closure targets so far, according to the same IT Dashboard data. Two CFO Act agencies–the Department of Housing and Urban Development and National Science Foundation–are not included in the DCOI program, as they have previously closed or transitioned ownership of all of their data centers.
The four agencies that have currently hit their closure targets include the Department of Agriculture. GSA Administrator Emily Murphy said Tuesday that USDA has now closed 21 data centers relative to a target goal of 18, crediting that progress in part to USDA’s role as the lighthouse agency for the Centers of Excellence Initiative.
The IT dashboard data, which is informed by more delayed data submissions, say USDA has closed 2,196 of its 2,203 non-tiered data centers, greatly eclipsing its closure goal of 1,318. It also closed six of its 18 tiered data centers according to the most recent data.
The Office of Personnel Management hit its closure target of one tiered data center of the seven it owns. The Education Department closed its only tiered data center, and the Social Security Administration closed one of three tiered data centers, hitting its goal.
Several other agencies have hit their goals for either tiered or non-tiered data center closures, but have failed to meet both goals.
When the Cloud Smart strategy was released in September, it included an action item that indicates the Office of Management and Budget will provide “updated policy on infrastructure optimization, based on feedback from the Chief Information Officers Council’s Cloud & Data Center Community of Practice.” The forthcoming policy will be an update to DCOI, and is expected within six months.
