Borrowing a page from executive branch agencies, the House Modernization Committee has considered moving its colleagues to agile procurement procedures and greater use of shared services, rather than have individual members purchase their own IT equipment.
“Our counterparts in the executive branch and the private sector have figured out that purchasing 1,000 computers yields a better price than purchasing 10 computers,” Committee Chairman Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) said at Friday’s hearing.
While the Trump administration has taken steps to move agencies toward greater use of back-office shared services by rolling out Quality Services Management Offices, Kilmer said that in the House, “members and staff are too often relying on outdated, inefficient processes and systems to do their jobs, and that shouldn’t be the case.”
