OMB has released the Federal Transition Framework, which aims to consolidate information about cross-agency initiatives into one catalog. This is useful for agencies who need to align budgets with these initiatives and demonstrate they’ve done so through their EAs.

Right now the FTF catalog contains only three initiatives (IPv6, infrastructure line of business, and e‑authentication). Additional entries will be contributed by cross-agency workgroups but I see an opportunity here for the broader community to contribute to the FTF. For example, our company has done a lot of work in aligning agencies with the Grants Management Line of Business, and we’ve generated a lot of information about the initiative within the various layers of the FEA. Wouldn’t it make sense to reuse that?

There’s been a chasm between agency EA development and budget submissions, which agencies have struggled to fill using the resources available to them. The FTF may help fill in at least some of that chasm out-of-the-gate, and that has to be a welcome development for CIOs and anyone involved in CPIC activities.