Here's an extract of recent testimony of Steve VanRoekel, the Federal CIO. Part of the Administration initiatives is creating a Tech FAR guide to help agencies with IT reform and making IT projects more successful:

“Tech FAR” Guide
The Administration will develop a compilation of the 21st Century, agile aspects of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) that will guide agencies in soliciting services in new ways—ways that more closely match techniques used by the private sector—such as using challenges and crowdsourcing approaches to involve citizens, writing requirements that allow for more flexible execution, or a pay-for-service model. In particular, the guide will include FAR-allowed processes used by agencies that have successfully implemented IT projects, many of which are currently underutilized.

Why do we need OMB saying this is a good practice so do it?

This is funny, right? "FAR-allowed processes," "more closely match techniques used by the private sector" -- yeah, right.

Cynical, me? How many times do we need to see the pendulum swing in order to predict its course?

H2H