Stop wondering. Procurement policies are alive and well.

I’ve gotten versions of this question several times since Jan. 20: what’s happening with procurement policies and guidance from the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy?

In the first weeks, the official White House website was devoid of any mention of the IT management policy initiatives from the Obama administration or even the George W. Bush administration. That has started to change a bit but there is still no landing page for OFPP.

But I was glad to see the report in our sister publication FCW that Trump’s OMB officials are saying that “the lights are on. We’re working.”

That was the word from federal Chief Enterprise Architect Scott Bernard, who spoke at a GITEC conference Tuesday in Annapolis, Md.

He said the calm from OMB on IT issues isn’t a sign of inaction because the office has been busy making sure effective IT management continues, FCW reported.

Work continues on federal information policy under the A-130 circular issued in 2016, he said.

He also praised TechStat because it was giving better data to managers on how and where to modernize IT.

OMB also released its Federal Information Security Modernization Act report in March. Agencies should use that document to make the case for cybersecurity programs, said Joshua Moses, OMB’s director of federal cybersecurity performance.

So the take away from the FCW piece is that prior administration procurement policies are still in place. It is odd and a little confusing that you find these policies on the Obama White House archive site, which is linked off the Trump OMB page. I assume eventually they will be moved to the Trump site, given that the Obama archive site includes many circulars from earlier administrations.

The OFPP archived website also is available if you go through the archived Obama site. Here you’ll find many of the memorandums on procurement that are still in effect. You can also find the E-Gov site and its documents dealing with IT management and oversight, the Digital Services playbook and cybersecurity.

Again my assumption is that these will eventually be part of the Trump OFPP site, whenever that is set up. OFPP is currently being led by acting administrator Lesley Field, who made it clear at FCW’s Fed 100 gala that the work continues.

So for now the best course of action is to assume your customers are following the policies and initiatives put in place by earlier administrations, unless you are told otherwise. But be prepared. Chances are likely on the way.