Highlights from Energy’s Updated OCIO 2024-2029 IT Strategic Plan

The recently released Department of Energy, Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) updated 5-year Strategic Plan emphasizes adaptation to technological advancements and mission changes through international collaboration, partnerships and an empowered workforce.

Chief Information Officer Ann Duncan said the plan will allow the agency to remain flexible in a technologically evolving and global IT landscape. “OCIO’s new strategy is designed to take OCIO from where we are today to where we want to be in 5 years,” Dunkin said.

The new plan combines the OCIO’s guiding principles with the agency’s long-standing priorities and emerging capabilities to foster flexibility while meeting mission needs. The OCIO’s Guiding Principles include:

• Understanding: Continually engage customers and measure success to advise our customers and the mission today and tomorrow. 
• Innovation: Champion change, improvement, and new ways of working across the Department.
• Enablement: Support the broader organization with technology and services. 
• Collaboration: Leverage formal and informal structures to work together.
• Stewardship: Focus on maximizing Enterprise value and decision making.

The six focus areas below govern the agency’s approach to meeting mission needs while addressing future mandates, executive orders and innovations.

• Technology Advancement – DOE is innovating and modernizing outdated technologies to bring services into the 21st century.
• Customer & User Experience – The OCIO will seek to better understand its customers, their needs and motivations.
• Resource Optimization – The agency will employ data analytics on vendors and software/hardware needs to enable IT partnerships and facilitate best practices to optimize resource utilization and investment decision-making.
• Cyber Threats – OCIO will leverage risk management principles to mitigate emerging threats and maintain compliance with cybersecurity mandates to reduce organizational risk.
• Workforce Focus – Energy remains committed to recruiting, retaining, training, and maintaining a highly skilled and motivated workforce.
• Data & AI – OCIO will democratize data increasing accessibility, reliability and security to improve mission decision-making and advance organizational analytical capabilities. 

Updated OCIO 5-Year Strategic Goals and Objectives

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IT Budget Trends

Over the past five years, the Department realized a 12% average annual IT budget growth rate remaining stable despite some bureau reductions. This represents 35.2% of the total Discretionary budget during that period. In comparison, the average Discretionary growth rate was 10.5%.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FY 2025 and Future Year Initiatives

The FY 2025 IT budget and future year plans reflect the agency’s commitment to the Strategic Plan. FY 2025 includes a historic $1.9B investment in critical and emerging technology that includes biotechnology and biomanufacturing, quantum information sciences, exascale high-speed computing, artificial intelligence, and AI/ML programs. The agency also invests $8.6B for programs in FY 2025 under the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act, awarded through grants and loan programs. Planned initiatives for FY 2026-2029 include:

• NNSA Future-Years Nuclear Security Program modernization: $108.6B
• NNSA Weapons Activity IT and Cybersecurity: $3B
• Information Technology and Cybersecurity: $2.4B
• Defense Nuclear Security Information Security: $307M
• Cybersecurity, Energy, Security and Emergency Response: $1B.

In review, opportunities in Technology Advancement, Cyber Threats, Data & AI and Resource Optimization focus areas may be obvious. Still, Customer/User Experience and Workforce Focus may not be as visible. Initiatives for these areas may be embedded in larger programs or not specifically categorized under IT. These include training, administrative tasks, data analytics, research and development, hardware and software, servers and network support.

The key to successfully pursuing these opportunities depends upon understanding how the firm’s products and services align with Energy’s goals and objectives and missions. Firms must conduct face-to-face meetings with key program offices, attend opportunity-related industry days and Small Business Office Outreach events to achieve that understanding. 

Deltek’s Federal Market Analysis provides Energy-specific research and resources through the DOE Agency Profile and the DOE FY 2025 IT Portfolio. The Department lists its upcoming opportunities under the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Acquisition Forecast.