Senate includes FITARA in 2015 NDAA, expected to pass

The 2015 National Defense Authorization Act will include a federal IT reform bill that will significantly empower CIOs at the largest civilian agencies. This will almost guarantee its passage, according to Federal Times.

The new bill will give CIOs more discretion over IT budgets, authority over large-scale projects, hiring approval for CIOs at component agencies and final approval on contracts for major IT products and services.

The bill, known as the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) was included in the 2015 NDAA by Senators, and this specific bill leaves out some of the provisions included in an earlier House-passed version, Federal Times reported.