The General Services Administration (GSA) made strides in IT transformation throughout Fiscal Year 2019 and plans to continue to prioritize modernization in FY2020, according to its FY2019 Agency Financial Report released on Nov. 21.
“Cyber attacks and security vulnerabilities have the potential to bring down mission-critical systems and IT infrastructure. Cybersecurity is one of the most critical aspects of GSA IT’s program,” the report states. To mitigate cyber risks, GSA said it will go beyond just compliance. The agency will use continuous monitoring and review to protect its systems from hackers and other cyberattacks, according to the report.
GSA also plans to leverage the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) to update legacy database technologies. TMF will support a multi-year effort to institute open source databases at GSA that “achieve greater flexibility in their system architecture while improving resilience, scalability, maintainability, and performance,” the report states.
Overall, improving the way that agencies across the Federal government buy, build, and use technology is an FY2020 goal for GSA. The agency intends to lead government-wide technology modernization initiatives, drive more efficient procurement services, and lead implementation of technical standards, policies, and strategies. To meet these goals, GSA says it will leverage existing programs like FedRAMP certifications, the Cloud Information Center, and Identify, Credential, and Access Management.
In FY2019, GSA also replaced 80 switches, improved 230 building systems workstations, and updated 180 servers with its improved strategy to identify and replace end-of-life technology. The report touts GSA’s Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) compliance and improved cybersecurity. Successful programs included addressing known cyber risks, providing security and privacy awareness training to more than 17,000 employees, and developing a continuous diagnostics and mitigation program in accordance with Federal standards.
