Homeland Security Department
officials will begin soliciting information from vendors in the next
six weeks on what information technology and services they can
provide the new department, with a goal of having 80 percent of the
IT infrastructure complete by Sept. 1.
The department, which officially opened its doors March 1 after
absorbing 22 agencies or offices from across government, plans to
issue requests for information to industry so that it can jump-start
its IT procurement process. The department expects to launch a Web
site later this month to post its plans and gather the thousands of
suggestions anticipated from the IT community.
The department is "looking for ideas and approaches, new ways to go
forward," said Jim Flyzik, former special adviser for IT at the
Office of Homeland Security, speaking last week at the Information
Processing Interagency Conference in Orlando, Fla. He filled in for
Steve Cooper, chief information officer at the new department, who
was unable to attend.
To date, several key pieces of the IT infrastructure have been put
in place, including a department wide e-mail system and a Web site.
Department officials have said they will rely on existing contracts
and systems within some of the 22 agencies to help them meet their
mission.
But Flyzik said the department is looking for other solutions. For
example, he said department officials are looking for ways to
consolidate 23 human resources systems into one. "Clearly, 23 is not
an optimal number," Flyzik told the gathering of government and
industry representatives.
Department officials are also searching for a way to hold secure
videoconferences among the department and state and local
governments.
Dr. Nathaniel Heiner, chief knowledge officer at the Coast Guard who
is working with the Homeland Security Department, said vendors
should continue using existing government contacts to pitch new
services.
"One of the challenges that Cooper faces is to understand how
everything is working — who knows what, what systems do what,"
Heiner said.
In the near future, he said Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge
and Cooper are expected to announce a procurement plan and a
strategy for implementing it.
"With the scope of what we are facing, we need to collaborate with
other agencies," Heiner said.
Whatever finally emerges is expected to face intense scrutiny from
Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), chairman of the House Government Reform
Committee, and from the House Select Committee on Homeland Security,
chaired by Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.), according to
congressional aides.
Merging the multiple systems is a tough job that is going to take
time, so citizens and business owners "will have to adjust," Davis
said last week at a reception marking the transfer of the
Immigration and Naturalization Service to the Homeland Security
Department.
"You can imagine the challenge of merging 22 agencies into one
department," he said. "It's going to take awhile. There are going to
be bugs in our system as we work our way through."
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