Federal agencies saved hundreds of millions of dollars by consolidating their data centers, according to a new analysis from the Government Accountability Office.
Of the 24 data centers that took part in a federal initiative, 19 saved a collective $1.1 billion between 2011 and 2013, according to the GAO, which acts as Congress’s investigative arm.
{mosads}By the end of next year, 21 agencies say they plan to save an additional $2.1 billion, the research office added, making up a total of $3.3 billion.
That’s $300 million more than the White House’s budget office predicted.
The report was greeted warmly on Capitol Hill.
“This report shows that agencies are achieving significant cost savings and taking innovative steps to trim the federal government’s massive information technology portfolio – saving billions of taxpayer dollars in the process,” Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) said in a statement.
The total savings could be even higher, but the GAO noted that six agencies that closed as many as 67 data centers reported little in no savings, partly due to problems measuring costs.
“As the saying goes, you can’t manage what you can’t measure,” Carper said. “Without accurate tracking and reporting of performance measures, we run the risk of not achieving the full potential savings.”
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said that the report should give the Senate an incentive to pass the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act, which has already passed the House.
The bill would require agencies “properly measure and report data center information and would give taxpayers the ability to see where the government could, and should, be saving more money,” he said.