The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has closed 37 data centers this fiscal year as part of the national Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI), allowing the agency to avoid real-estate costs and reduce energy consumption. Additionally, as part of Administrator Dan Tangherlini’s effort to cut costs, reduce redundancies and increase efficiencies at GSA, IT operations have been consolidated. This will also help eliminate redundancies and lead to improved services to our federal agencies and the American people.
KEY FACTS
- Consolidating government data centers eliminates waste, increases sustainability by making more efficient use of energy and drives operational improvements.
- GSA planned and successfully accomplished an aggressive goal of closing 37 (32%) of its non-core data centers in FY13.
- All IT offices and staff within GSA are now consolidated under the leadership of GSA CIO Casey Coleman. For example, instead of having several CIOs serving each individual Business Line, or having IT staff reporting into a different program office, those resources will now be located in a new GSA IT office under the GSA CIO. Having a centralized GSA IT office will improve access to technology services.
- This consolidation will lead to service improvements and cost savings and enable GSA to realize business improvements by providing technology that helps simplify the user experience.
- IT contracts will also be under the GSA IT office, eliminating redundancies.
“Closing data centers is an important part of GSA’s efforts to shrink the federal footprint,” says Casey Coleman, chief information officer, General Services Administration. “GSA is driving efficiency and effectiveness by using practical solutions. Coupled with the agency’s new coordinated and more streamlined IT operations, using technology to do more with less when it comes to data centers, will make us a model of how to provide the kind of efficient, effective, and transparent service that the American people expect from their government.”