Federal Departments, Agencies Fall Short on Data Center Consolidation Goals, GAO Says
The 24 departments and agencies participating in the Office of Management and Budget's federal data center consolidation initiative "made progress" on data closure efforts but "fell short" of OMB's goal for agencies to close 40 percent of all noncore data…
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centers by FY 2015, GAO said in its yearly review of the initiative. As of November, "agencies identified a total of 10,584 data centers, of which they reported closing 3,125," said GAO. The departments of Agriculture, Defense, Interior and Treasury had 84 percent of total data center closures. Agencies also made "limited progress" against OMB's FY 2015 core data center optimization performance metrics, and two failed to report any optimization information to OMB. GAO recommended to "better ensure that federal data center consolidation and optimization efforts improve governmental efficiency and achieve cost savings," the heads of the departments of Interior, State, Transportation and Treasury, plus the EPA, NASA, Small Business Administration, National Science Foundation, OMB and Nuclear Regulatory Commission, "take action to address challenges in establishing, and to complete, planned data center cost savings and avoidance targets for fiscal years 2016 through 2018."