Interesting News from the Efficiency Review. No, Really.

First of all, for those of you who average 47 seconds per visit to The Blog: you may want to stick around and give this post a full read. We’re breaking some news on The Blog today, and it involves your tax dollars.

Turns out our Office of Management just saved us a little money. Here was the official summary:

“In response to the Management Action Directive, Software Licenses, DHS’ Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) consolidated all component requirements for Microsoft software licensing and maintenance into a single enterprise-wide
procurement…”

The Management Action Directive (try not to think too hard about the acronym) ordered that all Microsoft software contracts for our offices and components (ICE, CBP, USCIS, etc.) be merged into one contract for the entire department. Previously, each of the components negotiated separate contracts, so this solution saves - and I think this is the technical term - a BOATLOAD of money. The Coast Guard can check my math on that.

In layman’s terms, it’s $87 million dollars. Which is a lot, whether you’re a layman or otherwise.

Here’s the breakdown:

• Software Licensing: $82M
• 24 X 7 Problem Resolution Support: $5.1M
• Training Vouchers: $315K
• Packaged Services: $90K
• Estimated Total Savings/Cost Avoidance: $87.5M

Where then, you might you ask, does this savings end up? The answer is simple: mission-critical activities. We’ll take the savings from the elimination of printed reports, periodical subscriptions, conferences and travel, and invest that money in programs that strengthen our borders, secure air travel, and provide cutting edge technology to improve our operational efforts. These are programs worthy of your tax dollars. This is smart spending.

We’ll keep you up-to-date on the Efficiency Review, because saving money can actually be interesting.