Federal Agencies Receive Lower FITARA Grades in 17th Scorecard

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said that it is expected that federal agencies received a lower FITARA scorecard in its 17th version due to the addition of new metrics.

In a roundtable discussion in Washington on Thursday, Connolly revealed that the agency scorecard tracking information technology modernization awarded one A, 10 Bs, 10 Cs and three Ds to agencies. He added that with the “lower base,” the agencies should work towards increasing their grades.

The FITARA scorecard recently added several metrics due to evolving technological uses, including a cloud metric, an updated category for modernizing government technology and a chief information officer investment evaluation category, FedScoop reported.

Carol Harris, director of the Government Accountability Office’s IT and cybersecurity team, highlighted positive news coming out of the scorecard, including the $4.7 billion in savings due to the closure of roughly 4,000 data centers and $27.2 billion in savings after eliminating duplicative systems.

The 16th version of the scorecard in 2023 saw three agencies receive A grades, while eight grades saw improvements by one full grade letter, while the other 16 agencies maintained their grades. In 2022, the 15th scorecard gave the 24 agencies covered by the CIO Act passing marks.