Shared services plan offers a short runway

Agencies have only until August to file an "enterprise road map" in accordance with the new IT shared services plan.

A new IT Shared Services Strategy is intended to help agency CIOs implement shared services as part of their efforts to eliminate waste and duplication, according to the announcement posted at CIO.gov.

The Office of Management and Budget released the strategy as required by the 25-Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal IT Management that former U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra issued in December 2010. To read the full strategy, click here.

In a memo released along with the strategy, current U.S. CIO Steven VanRoekel said sharing services will improve return on investment in IT, close productivity gaps and improve communications with stakeholders.

The memo also requires agency CIOs to submit an “enterprise road map” covering fiscal years 2012 to 2015 that must include:

  • A high-level description of the agency’s business objectives and its enabling IT infrastructure;
  • An IT asset inventory;
  • A commodity IT consolidation plan;
  • A line of business service plan.

The road maps are due Aug. 31.

OMB had issued a rough draft of the plan last December.