Congress to get White House-backed bipartisan bill to upgrade aging federal networks

[SecularMotion]

Source: Politico

A bipartisan group of lawmakers will reintroduce major legislation on Friday to overhaul the federal government's aging computer systems, but with a significantly scaled back dollar figure to keep it from stalling like it did at the end of last year, according to the bill's sponsor.

The bill is a first step, and the biggest step in this Congress, toward slashing wasteful federal information technology spending that costs taxpayers an estimated $80 billion annually and that leaves decrepit systems vulnerable to hackers.

Such outsized expenses — 80 percent of which are simply for maintenance — have been a target of both Republicans and Democrats in recent years.

Vitally, the legislation comes with a White House stamp of approval, lead sponsor Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) told POLITICO. That's the result of the bill's backers working with both the Office of Management and Budget and senior Donald Trump adviser Jared Kushner's Office of American Innovation, he said. Trump himself has also repeatedly vowed to upgrade federal IT.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/28/federal-government-computer-systems-congress-bill-white-house-237727

[underpants]

1. Loooong overdue

[NewJeffCT]

2. If Hillary had proposed the same thing

every single Republican would vow to oppose it.

[underpants]

7. Yes it's been discussed for a long time but the govt haters don't want to spend a dime on it

Mnuchin mentioned upgrades at IRS at his confirmation hearing (like not using magnetic tape to keep records?) and Sen Hatch actually said he welcomed trying to upgrade their systems. I literally did a spit take.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. Sorry, no XP.

I have a Mac at home, so I have to learn how to navigate this work computer thing to figure out its various features or lack thereof.

{checking Control Panel - All Control Panel Items - System:}

We're up to Windows 7, SP1. We got the computers a few years back. We're all Dell, everything: keyboard, laptop, monitor, soundbar, etc. etc. It's all made in China, every bit of it.

I think it's a testimony to the skills of the building's IT staff that anything works at all. The building was dedicated when Gerald R. Ford was President. It was designed when secretaries with typewriters took care of all the paperwork. Somehow, they managed to run cable through every inch of the building. The servers are taxed, but I take my hat off in praise of IT for keeping it all together.

We have no contract on replacement hardware for parts when they wear out. For example, if a Li-ion battery gives out, we have to scavenge one from an junked computer. There's no contract to buy one. At home, I'd go to Amazon or New Egg, but I'm not at home.

Hey, it works for me. Sure, I can't get to Russian websites to download movies, but I suspect that would not be the sort of thing that they want me to do at work. Just a guess. Actually, I'm pretty sure of that.

I'm about the most backwards person here, but I can turn to any number of people in the office who will gladly point out what I'm doing wrong.

[snooper2]

3. And nothing will happen because ingrained government workers don't change and are SLOW

Try working with any government agency to get something done is like trying to pull teeth from a alligator. After about 10 months of calls after calls after fucking conference call we finally got a decision from one of the largest government agencies. It was about something pretty basic too, circuits and security to an internal data center.

At the last fucking minute another gov. IT manager who nobody knew had a say within the department had to jump in and say, oh no, wait, we can't do it this way. So fucking annoying, after another four months what we originally planned to do, happened. This was all about two GIGE connections, ridiculous LOL



Imagine upgrading computer systems. I can...

oh we can't upgrade the Java runtime environment, Susie has a group with a mission critical app that only works with Java 1.4. Who owns that application? Not sure?

Months later, oh we found out it was a contractor that wrote the code twelve years ago. Who has the source code? Not sure...

Well our security team says we can't put a new system in place until that is resolved.


I guess at least it is job security for decades for folks

[underpants]

6. I've not found that to be the case at all

Some bad experiences? Sure. But day to day? no.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

9. Better not be my agency.

I'm working on a FOIA request now. My first.

[DURHAM D]

4. Oh No - the government is going to kill XP.

[greymattermom]

5. I hope they keep their promise

and hire Americans to do this, or even green card holders.

[not fooled]

10. Watch your wallet, folks

Any policy proposal by the dumpsters seems likely to be a front for graft and self-enrichment. Even if the proposal addresses critical needs or overdue reforms, I remain skeptical that this maladministration will do anything that actually benefits the nation or the people.

[DK504]

11. And we are surprised when we get hacked by 10 year olds?

The fact we don't have the latest software, written by security experts, like Hillary's servers programmers, is INSANE and borderline treason.

To ensure we don't protect every aspect of America's frontline is a sign we need to get the old white guys out of Congress, they think a firewall is a wall of fire.

[DeminPennswoods]

12. Biggest problem is overpromising by contractors

Was through a couple of IT upgrades while at DoD. The contractors invariably promise more than they can deliver and unrealistic delivery dates. That's why these upgrades get hung up and are almost always way over budget. There are plenty of smart IT pros working for Uncle Sam. If only they were given the task of upgrading systems, it would be done better, faster and cheaper.

Sometimes needing to use GSA (general services administration) mucks things up, too.