Guess what's on FEMA's wish list
Report from the agency's recent industry day outlines IT priorities for the next five years.
What: FEMA spells out IT purchase priorities for the next five years.
Why: The Federal Emergency Management Agency has officially released the results from the industry day it held Dec. 5, 2014. FEMA CIO Adrian Gardner and a handful of other FEMA executives laid out the agency’s plans for the next five years, FY15-FY20, regarding IT acquisition.
The document released by FEMA outlined the agency’s contracting priorities, and the types of requests for proposals it plans to issue for its IT needs each fiscal year. FEMA said its “target outcome” in the next five years is to award multiple contracts to:
- Manage FEMA’S portfolio of IT projects;
- Capture customer systems requirements;
- Develop and engineer solutions based on sound requirements;
- Provide independent validation & verification;
- Provide operations maintenance and support services;
- Provide cybersecurity services; and
- Allow for hardware blanket purchase agreements.
“We anticipate that we will encounter several technological, policy, workforce, and economic challenges that will impact our ability to support survivors and first responders,” Gartner said in his industry day presentation. “We will embrace these challenges ... and improve our capability to deliver information solutions by understanding survivor and first responder needs, preferences, and behaviors.”
FEMA said its industry day objectives were to inform vendors of the agency's vision and strategy for procuring IT services and products; to promote networking and engagement with potential industry partners; and to serve as a “call to action for the delivery of ‘survivor-centric’ technology solutions and capabilities that advance FEMA’s mission.”
The document included presentations from Gardner, FEMA Director of Acquisition Bobby McCane, FEMA Deputy Administrator Joseph Nimmich, FEMA Chief Procurement Officer David Grant, as well as FEMA subject matter experts and contracting officers.
Note: This article was updated on Dec. 23 to correct the spelling of Adrian Gardner's name.