Open Data Key To Interagency, Private Sector Innovation

Interagency consolidation of datasets for public and private use is crucial to driving down agency IT costs and forging new technological advances, according to Lisa Schlosser, deputy associate administrator in the Office of E-Government and Information Technology.

"If we're not thinking about this — how do we innovate with less, how do we free up capital through elimination of duplication, through consolidation, through use of service orientation, through shared services — we tend to end up doing less with less," Schlosser said at the Federal IT and Networks Summit sponsored by MobileGov in Washington on June 20.

Schlosser said agencies ideally would not have budgets in which IT maintenance costs outstrip development costs, as is currently sometimes the case. To accomplish this, Schlosser said agencies will need to reduce the number of different contracts and IT platforms they use. Consolidating contracts will let save money, which then can be used to invest in new technologies, she said.