Justice Plans for Tech Upgrades

DOJ is not unique in the challenges it faces when it comes to technology budget constraints. As the federal agency prepares for refresh cycles and legacy system updates, it’s also conducting market research to align technology buying with strategic objectives. For example, the Request for information (RFI) regarding the Department of Justice Virtual Office, released July 13, 2015, highlights some of the specific IT capabilities DOJ may look to develop over the next few years. As shown below, the various capabilities referenced in the RFI are spread across the IT market segments, piecing together to sketch out increased standardization, continued reliance on services, and greater flexibility for government workers.

Looking ahead, DOJ outlines five different goals as part of the IT strategy that will shape the agency’s investments through fiscal 2018. These goals include enhancements to DOJ customer services, governance, enterprise and shared services, security, and the IT workforce.

IT Strategy Goal 1 – Better Service for DOJ Customers: The DOJ is working to establish the DOJ Service Desk, an enterprise-wide, integrated, multi-level, support service. As the department transforms its IT service management to become more proactive and transparent, greater emphasis will be placed on expanding IT customer service operations through shared services for targeted areas: application services, enterprise services, infrastructure services, cybersecurity services, and data center services.

IT Strategy Goal 2 - Improved ROI: DOJ will continually seek ways to operate more efficiently and cost effectively, and it will ensure diligent oversight to maximize return on investments. In particular, the department expects to strengthen accountability and performance through implementation of Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA), which will enable increased visibility and authority. DOJ will also leverage the Department Investment Review Council (DIRC) to provide oversight, risk reduction, and assistance for the success of IT programs and investments. Ultimately, the department hopes to use increased transparency to support data-driven analysis and improve decision making. Departmental IT leadership is expected to develop strategies to help DOJ components manage their data efficiently and derive the most value from it. IT organizations will also promote the use of government-wide and enterprise contracting vehicles and strategic sourcing to ensure contracts are efficient and cost effective.

IT Strategy Goal 3 - Innovative Collaboration and Shared Services: DOJ is working to build a service broker function by developing an enterprise IT shared services catalog that will serve as a “one stop shop” for accessing information and resources related to DOJ’s IT services. As part of efforts to create a trusted environment for data management and interoperability, the department will look to adopt and implement open community standards and processes to share data assets, interact, and enable critical technology. Additionally, DOJ will leverage an information sharing reference architecture to adopt consistent technical exchange standards that support content sharing between communities and applications. Open data policies and information accessibility will be supported by work to improve the quantity and quality of open datasets available to the public, as well as cataloging data that has been made publicly available. Greater use of collaboration tools is expected to improve productivity and enable virtual meetings. The department is also laying plans to create a culture that fosters and rewards innovation.

IT Strategy Goal 4 - Protect the Mission: DOJ will continue to combat cyber threats, providing a proactive response service through network monitoring, prioritization and escalation, and technical operations. The department will continue to develop and automate its cyber defense activities. Enhancements to Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM) capabilities are expected to result from efforts to build a broad, unified, foundation. DOJ expects to adapt ICAM practices as use of mobile and cloud technologies expands. To address insider threats, DOJ employs risk management principles, tailored to meet the distinct requirements of individual components. Initiatives to improve detection and deterrence are predicted to evolve to a unified Department-wide program to provide consistent mitigation strategies and responses to intentional or inadvertent security events. The Department’s risk posture will benefit from increased visibility achieved analytics and continuous monitoring, which will continue to advance by leveraging enterprise solutions.

IT Strategy Goal 5 - Future Ready Workforce: The goal of building the DOJ’s IT workforce includes approaches to address recruitment, retention, and cultural aspects of internal staffing needs.

Beyond the exploration of virtual office capabilities, these overarching strategic goals are reflected in a number of the DOJ’s anticipated opportunities. The following sample of tactical IT opportunities was collected using the GovWin database. While some of these prospects focus on development of mission-specific systems, they are often in-step with broader modernization efforts. 

Department of Justice Sample Tactical IT Opportunities
Bureau	Status	Name	RFP Date	Award Date	Value ($M)	GovWin OppID
BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS AND EXPLOSIVES	Post-RFP	DATA ENTRY IMAGING INDEXING IT SUPPORT SERVICES AND RELATED SUPPORT SERVICES	07/15	12/15	133.0	95822
DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION	Post-RFP	DATA ENTRY SERVICES IN SUPPORT AND MAINTENANCE OF THE NARCOTICS AND DANGEROUS DRUG INFORMATION SYSTEM AND THE DEFENDANT STATISTICAL SYSTEM (NADDIS DSS)	07/15	01/16	24.1	94350
JUSTICE MANAGEMENT DIVISION	Pre-RFP	OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SUPPORT SERVICES FOR THE CONSOLIDATED DEBT COLLECTION SYSTEM AND WEBDMM SYSTEMS (CDCS)	07/15	10/15	81.9	91431
ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY GENERAL	Pre-RFP	ATTRIBUTE BASED ACCESS CONTROL SOLUTION	08/15	01/16	--	120796
DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION	Forecast Pre-RFP	INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT AND CUSTOMER SERVICE SUPPORT	08/15	01/16	102.6	124190
BUREAU OF PRISONS	Pre-RFP	BOPNET STANDARDIZED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HARDWARE (BOPNet)	08/15	05/16	100.0	125131
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION	Pre-RFP	SHAREPOINT MICROSOFT CONSULTING DEVELOPMENT OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES	09/15	03/16	400.0	108158
BUREAU OF PRISONS	Forecast Pre-RFP	TRUNKED LAND MOBILE RADIO SYSTEMS AND RADIO COMMUNICATION (LMR)	12/15	06/16	98.7	92396
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION	Forecast Pre-RFP	NEXT GENERATION COMBINED DNA INDEXING SYSTEM (CODIS)	01/16	09/16	55.0	57258
DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION	Forecast Pre-RFP	COMMUNICATIONS DATA COLLECTION SOFTWARE	04/16	09/16	39.8	101976
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION	Forecast Pre-RFP	SUPPORT AND MAINTENANCE OF THE FBI SECURE VIDEOTELECONFERENCING SYSTEM	04/16	09/16	90.0	106328
JUSTICE MANAGEMENT DIVISION	Forecast Pre-RFP	INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT SERVICES TO INCLUDE SYSTEMS DESIGN AND INTEGRATION (ITSS ISDI)	08/16	10/17	1,100.0	110469
ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY GENERAL	Forecast Pre-RFP	INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SERVICES	12/16	04/17	9.4	100722