[Senate Report 113-157]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
113th Congress Report
SENATE
2d Session 113-157
_______________________________________________________________________
Calendar No. 372
THE FEDERAL DATA CENTER CONSOLIDATION ACT OF 2013
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
S. 1611
TO REQUIRE CERTAIN AGENCIES TO CONDUCT ASSESSMENTS OF DATA CENTERS AND
DEVELOP DATA CENTER CONSOLIDATION AND OPTIMIZATION PLANS
May 6, 2014.--Ordered to be printed
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware, Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
JON TESTER, Montana RAND PAUL, Kentucky
MARK BEGICH, Alaska MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire
HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
Gabrielle A. Batkin, Staff Director
John P. Kilvington, Deputy Staff Director
Beth M. Grossman, Chief Counsel
Jonathan M. Kraden, Senior Counsel
Keith B. Ashdown, Minority Staff Director
Christopher J. Barkley, Minority Deputy Staff Director
Andrew C. Dockham, Minority Chief Counsel
Sean Casey, Legislative Assistant, Office of Senator Coburn
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
CONTENTS
------
Page
I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
II. Background.......................................................1
III. Legislative History..............................................5
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported.............6
V. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Cost Estimate..................7
VI. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact.................................10
VII. Changes in Existing Law.........................................10
Calendar No. 372
113th Congress Report
SENATE
2d Session 113-157
======================================================================
THE FEDERAL DATA CENTER CONSOLIDATION
ACT OF 2013
_______
May 6, 2014.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Carper, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 1611]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 1611) to require
certain agencies to conduct assessments of data centers and
develop data center consolidation and optimization plans,
having considered the same, reports favorably thereon with an
amendment in the nature of a substitute and recommends that the
bill, as amended, do pass.
I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
The Federal Data Center Consolidation Act of 2013 (S. 1611)
builds on the Administration's efforts to consolidate and
streamline data centers--the facilities in which federal
agencies house computer systems and related components--thereby
saving the government money and making management of federal
information technology (``IT'') resources more efficient. The
bill does so by requiring agencies, among other things, to
devise and implement plans to inventory and consolidate
existing data centers and to report to the Office of Management
and Budget (``OMB'') and Congress on the extent to which they
are implementing those plans. It also directs the Government
Accountability Office (``GAO'') to review and verify agencies'
data center consolidation efforts.
II. BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
A data center is a room or building that houses computer
systems and associated components that are used for the
storage, management, and dissemination of data and
information.\1\ Over the years, the federal government's demand
for information technology has led to a dramatic rise in the
number of federal data centers and an increase in operation
costs. Since the 1990s, the number of data centers operated by
the federal government has grown from several hundred to more
than six thousand as of July 2013.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\The Office of Management and Budget's (``OMB's'') definition of
a ``data center'' has evolved over the years. It most recently has
settled on defining ``data center'' as ``a closet, room, floor or
building for the storage, management, and dissemination of data and
information.'' OMB's guidance further explains that ``such a repository
houses computer systems and associated components, such as database,
application, and storage systems and data stores. A data center
generally includes redundant or backup power supplies, redundant data
communications connections, environmental controls (air conditioning,
fire suppression, etc.) and special security devices housed in leased
(including by cloud providers), owned, collocated, or stand-alone
facilities. This definition excludes facilities exclusively devoted to
communications and network equipment (e.g., telephone exchanges and
telecommunications rooms).'' Office of Management and Budget Memorandum
for Chief Information Officers, Implementation Guidance for the Federal
Data Center Consolidation Initiative (March 19, 2012).
\2\In July 2013, the Government Accountability Office reported that
the number of agency-reported federal data centers stood at 6,836.
Government Accountability Office, Information Technology: OMB and
Agencies Need to More Effectively Implement Major Initiatives to Save
Billions of Dollars, GAO-13-796T (July 2013). That is more than triple
the number reported in 2010, when OMB first started counting, an
increase resulting not so much from an actual growth in data centers,
as from agencies' growing familiarity with OMB's requirements and OMB's
expansion of the definition of ``data center.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating these data centers imposes significant costs on
the federal government. The government has to purchase
hardware, software, and the facilities in which to place them,
and it has to pay people to run the machines in the centers.
Moreover, the Environmental Protection Agency reported that in
2006 (the most recent year for which the information is
available), federal servers and data centers accounted for
approximately six billion kilowatts of electricity use, for a
total annual electricity cost of about $450 million.\3\ These
data centers typically run 24 hours a day, seven days a week,
and require significant electricity to power the ``always-on''
equipment. In addition, data centers produce significant heat,
requiring a substantial expenditure for energy to cool them.\4\
Furthermore, GAO has cited ``the growth in the number of
federal data centers, many offering similar services and
resources'' as a source of overlap and duplication (and
therefore unnecessary expenditures) in the federal
government.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ENERGY STAR Program,
Report to Congress on Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency at 25
(pursuant to Public Law 109-431) (August 2, 2007).
\4\See Time Magazine, The Surprisingly Large Energy Footprint of
the Digital Economy, April 14, 2013 at http://science.time.com/2013/08/
14/power-drain-the-digital-cloud-is-using-more-energy-than-you-think/.
\5\Government Accountability Office, Opportunities to Reduce
Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars, and
Enhance Revenue, 26-29, GAO-11-318SP (March 2011).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 2010, OMB, through the Federal Chief Information Officer
(``Federal CIO''), launched the Federal Data Center
Consolidation Initiative (``Consolidation Initiative'' or
``Initiative'') to consolidate redundant federal data centers
and achieve cost savings. The goals of the initiative were to:
promote the use of green IT by reducing the overall energy and
real estate footprint of government data centers; reduce the
cost of data center hardware, software, and operations;
increase the overall IT security posture of the government; and
shift IT investments to more efficient computing platforms and
technologies.\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\Office of Management and Budget Memorandum for Chief Information
Officers, Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (February 26,
2010).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Under the Consolidation Initiative, OMB required the 24
departments and agencies on the Chief Information Officers
Council\7\ to submit an inventory of each agency's data centers
and a plan for consolidating them. Agencies were then required
to annually update their asset inventory and report on the
progress made toward implementing the agency consolidation
plan. OMB set a target goal of closing 40 percent of the
federal data centers agencies had identified, and it estimated
saving between $3 and $5 billion--both by the end of 2015.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\The 24 agencies on the CIO Council are: Department of
Agriculture; Department of Commerce; Department of Defense; Department
of Education; Department of Energy; Department of Health and Human
Services; Department of Homeland Security; Department of Housing and
Urban Development; Department of the Interior; Department of Justice;
Department of Labor; Department of State; Department of Transportation;
Department of the Treasury; Department of Veterans Affairs;
Environmental Protection Agency; General Services Administration;
National Aeronautics and Space Administration; National Science
Foundation; Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Office of Personnel
Management; Small Business Administration; Social Security
Administration; and United States Agency for International Development.
\8\See Fiscal Year 2012 Budget of the U.S. Government, page 29
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2012/
assets/budget.pdf) and Fiscal Year 2013 Budget of the U.S. Government,
page 43 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/
fy2013/assets/budget.pdf).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Government Accountability Office reviews of the Initiative
At the request of this Committee, GAO conducted several
reviews of the progress that OMB and agencies have made under
the Initiative. GAO's ongoing work on the Consolidation
Initiative has confirmed two things. First, data center
consolidation is an economical way to achieve more efficient IT
operations, as well as cost savings or cost avoidance.\9\
Second, significant work must still be done before agencies
realize the full benefits of consolidation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\See Government Accountability Office, Opportunities to Reduce
Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars, and
Enhance Revenue, 26-29, GAO-11-318SP (March 2011).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
GAO's first report, issued in July 2011, assessed the
completeness of each agency's first submission of data center
consolidation documents. GAO found that, at that time, only one
agency out of 24 had submitted a complete data center asset
inventory and no agency had submitted a complete consolidation
plan.\10\ In addition, GAO reported on some of the challenges
that agencies faced when trying to implement the Consolidation
Initiative. Some agencies told GAO that they had experienced
operational challenges in maintaining services during
consolidation, while other agencies reported cultural
challenges in trying to consolidate in a decentralized
organizational structure.\11\ GAO recommended that OMB, the
Federal CIO, and the agencies each take steps to ensure that
agencies improve and complete their data center inventories and
consolidation plans.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\Government Accountability Office, Data Center Consolidation:
Agencies Need to Complete Inventories and Plans to Achieve Expected
Savings, 8-19, GAO-11-565 (July 2011).
\11\Id. at 19-23.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A year later, in July 2012, GAO reported on agencies'
second submission of data center consolidation documents. These
submissions demonstrated that the Consolidation Initiative
could potentially save the government billions of dollars. GAO
found that nineteen agencies reported anticipating a combined
total of more than $2.4 billion in cost savings and more than
$820 million in cost avoidances between 2011 and 2015.\12\
However, GAO's review also found that there were still large
gaps in agency inventories and plans. For example, only three
agencies had submitted a complete inventory and only one agency
had submitted a complete consolidation plan.\13\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\12\Government Accountability Office, Data Center Consolidation:
Agencies Making Progress on Efforts, but Inventories and Plans Need to
be Completed, 12, GAO-12-742 (July 2012). GAO noted that actual savings
could reach even higher, because fourteen of the agencies provided
incomplete projections, one agency does not expect to accrue net
savings until 2017, and three agencies did not provide any estimated
cost savings at all.
\13\Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
GAO's next report on the Consolidation Initiative, issued
in April 2013, once again evaluated agency progress in
consolidating data centers. GAO expressed frustration over the
failure to track cost savings associated with the Consolidation
Initiative, stating, ``the lack of initiative-wide cost savings
data makes it unclear whether agencies will be able to achieve
OMB's projected savings of $3 billion by the end of 2015.''\14\
GAO also found that OMB had not measured agencies' progress
toward OMB's cost savings goal of $3 billion, because OMB had
not determined a consistent and repeatable method for tracking
cost savings. GAO further stated that until OMB begins tracking
and reporting on performance measures such as cost savings, OMB
would be limited in its ability to oversee agencies' progress
towards key initiative goals.\15\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\Government Accountability Office, Data Center Consolidation:
Strengthened Oversight Needed to Achieve Cost Savings Goal 14, GAO-13-
378 (April 2013).
\15\Id. at 10.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Federal Data Center Consolidation Act of 2013
When OMB launched the Consolidation Initiative in 2010, it
sought to have agencies free up resources to better support
mission-critical activities, reduce the overall energy and real
estate footprint of federal data centers, and improve the
overall IT security posture of the government. Furthermore, in
shutting redundant and underutilized data centers, the
Administration sought to reduce the duplicative infrastructure
that breeds wasteful IT. These are all worthwhile goals, and
the Committee strongly supports them. However, GAO's reports on
progress under the Consolidation Initiative demonstrate that
there is much that still needs to be done for the Initiative to
reach its full potential.
The Federal Data Center Consolidation Act of 2013 helps
ensure that there is a continued emphasis placed on
consolidating and optimizing agency data centers and that
agencies see the Consolidation Initiative through to its
conclusion. S. 1611 codifies and builds upon many of the
Administration's own requirements in several important ways.
First, the bill requires the 24 agencies included in the
current Consolidation Initiative to submit annual reports to
OMB that include: comprehensive data center inventories; multi-
year strategies to consolidate data centers and make the
servers and other equipment housed in them more efficient and
cost-effective; a timeline for agency activities under the
Initiative; and year-by-year calculations of investment and
cost savings. The bill then requires agencies to implement
their data center strategies and provide quarterly updates to
OMB on their progress under the Initiative. These annual
reports and quarterly updates to OMB will facilitate increased
oversight by OMB and Congress, assist agency decision making,
and ultimately improve operational efficiency at federal
agencies.
Second, the bill requires the Administrator for the Office
of E-Government and Information Technology at OMB\16\ to
establish performance metrics (including cost metrics), provide
annual updates on the cumulative cost savings of the
Initiative, review agency data center inventories, and review
and monitor the implementation of agency data center
strategies. GAO has repeatedly recommended that, in order for
the Initiative to reach its full potential, OMB must take steps
to ensure that agencies are completing data center inventories,
implementing consolidation strategies, and better tracking cost
savings.\17\ By specifically laying out the Administrator's
duties, S. 1611 ensures that OMB's responsibilities are clear
in this area.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\16\The Administrator for the Office of E-Government and
Information Technology at OMB is a statutorily defined position.
Currently, one person is serving as both the Federal CIO and the
Administrator for the Office of E-Government and Information
Technology.
\17\Government Accountability Office, Data Center Consolidation:
Strengthened Oversight Needed to Achieve Cost Savings Goal 14, GAO-13-
378 (April 2013).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Third, the bill requires GAO to annually review and report
on the Consolidation Initiative. While federal agencies have
generally improved their data center inventories, much work
still remains to be done to ensure that agencies have the most
accurate information possible when assessing and altering their
inventories. To ensure sustained progress towards the goals of
the Initiative, S. 1611 includes provisions to hold federal
agencies accountable by requiring GAO to conduct annual reviews
of the quality and completeness of agency data center
inventories and consolidation strategies.
III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
On May 25, 2011, the Committee held a hearing entitled
``How to Save Taxpayer Dollars: Case Studies of Duplication in
the Federal Government.'' One of the case studies examined at
the hearing was the Consolidation Initiative's effort to reduce
unnecessary federal data centers.
On June 11, 2013, the Committee held a hearing entitled
``Reducing Duplication and Improving Outcomes in Federal
Information Technology.'' During the hearing, several critical
IT areas were identified as offering potential opportunities to
reduce duplication and the cost of government operations,
including reducing the number of underutilized federal data
centers.
On October 30, 2013, Senators Bennet, Coburn, and Ayotte
introduced S. 1611, the Federal Data Center Consolidation Act
of 2013, and the bill was referred to the Senate Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
The Committee considered the bill at a business meeting on
November 6, 2013. Senator Carper offered a substitute amendment
making technical corrections, and providing that the relevant
Congressional Committees be provided a statement of explanation
for any waiver of the requirements of the Act granted by the
Director of National Intelligence for any element of the
Intelligence Community. The Committee adopted the substitute
amendment and ordered the underlying bill reported favorably,
both by voice vote. Members present for the vote on the
amendment and on the bill were Senators Carper, Levin,
McCaskill, Tester, Begich, Baldwin, Johnson, Portman and
Ayotte.
IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE BILL, AS REPORTED
Section 1: Short title
The short title of the bill is the ``Federal Data Center
Consolidation Act of 2013.''
Section 2: Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI)
Section 2(a): Definitions
Section 2(a) defines four terms. First, the term
``Administrator'' means the Administrator for the Office of E-
Government and Information Technology within OMB. Second,
``Covered Agency'' is defined to include all 24 agencies that
were included in the original Consolidation Initiative.\18\
Third, the term ``FDCCI'' means the Federal Data Center
Consolidation Initiative that was first started by OMB in
February 2010, or any successor to the Initiative. Finally,
``Government-Wide Data Center Consolidation and Optimization
Metrics'' are the metrics that are established by the
Administrator under section (b)(2)(g) of this Act.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\18\See 31 U.S.C. Sec. 901(b). These 24 agencies are known as the
``Chief Financial Officer'' or ``CFO'' agencies, a reference to Public
Law 101-576, the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subsection 2(b): Federal Data Center consolidation inventories and
strategies
Subsection 2(b)(1)(A) establishes annual data center
consolidation reporting requirements for covered agencies, as
defined in Section 2(a). The bill requires those agencies to
submit annually to OMB a data center inventory and a multi-year
strategy to consolidate their data centers and make the servers
and other equipment housed in them more efficient and cost-
effective. The strategy shall include performance metrics, a
consolidation timeline, and cost savings estimates.
Subsection 2(b)(1)(B) makes clear that OMB may allow
agencies to submit information through existing reporting
structures, and 2(b)(1)(C) requires an agency Chief Information
Officer to submit to the Administrator, and make publicly
available, an annual statement that the agency has complied
with the requirements of this Act. Subsection 2(b)(1)(D) then
requires agencies to implement the consolidation strategies
submitted to OMB and provide quarterly updates to OMB on the
implementation process. Finally, 2(b)(1)(E) contains a rule of
construction to make it clear that nothing in this Act limits
the reporting of information by agencies to OMB or Congress.
Subsection 2(b)(2) lays out the responsibilities of the
Administrator for the Office of E-Government and Information
Technology under this Act. These responsibilities include:
establishing deadlines for annual reporting by agencies and
requirements that agencies must meet to be considered in
compliance with the Act, ensuring that information relating to
agency progress towards meeting the goals of the Consolidation
Initiative is made available to the public, reviewing the
inventories and strategies submitted pursuant to this Act,
monitoring the implementation of agency strategies, updating
the cost savings realized through the Consolidation Initiative,
and creating government-wide data center consolidation and
optimization metrics.
Subsection 2(b)(3) requires the Administrator to develop a
cost-savings goal for the Initiative, with a year-by-year
breakdown of anticipated savings. OMB must make this
information publicly available and submit annual updates to
Congress on cost savings realized and the completeness or
incompleteness of each agency's data center inventories and
consolidation strategies.
Subsection 2(b)(4) requires GAO to review annually the
quality and completeness of each agency's asset inventory and
consolidation strategy.
Subsection 2(c): Ensuring cybersecurity standards for data center
consolidation and cloud computing
This subsection establishes that data center consolidation
must be done in accordance with federal guidelines on cloud
computing security, including the Federal Risk and
Authorization Management Program\19\ and guidance published by
the National Institute of Standards and Technology. This
subsection also includes a rule of construction that makes it
clear that OMB has the ability to update and modify federal
guidelines on cloud computing security.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\19\The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program
(``FedRAMP'') is a government-wide program that provides a standardized
approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous
monitoring for cloud products and services. See http://cloud.cio.gov/
fedramp.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subsection 2(d): Waiver of disclosure requirements
This subsection authorizes the Director of National
Intelligence (``DNI'') to waive the applicability of the
requirements of the Act to an element (or component of an
element) of the intelligence community if the DNI determines
that such waiver is in the interest of national security. It
requires the DNI, within 30 days of making such a
determination, to file a statement describing the waiver and
the reasons for the waiver to the Senate Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee, the House Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform, and the Senate and House
Intelligence Committees.
Subsection 2(e): Sunset
This subsection sunsets the legislation on October 1, 2018.
V. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE (CBO) COST ESTIMATE
December 6, 2013.
Hon. Tom Carper,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S.
Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 1611, the Federal
Data Center Consolidation Act of 2013.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew
Pickford.
Sincerely,
Douglas W. Elmendorf.
Enclosure.
S. 1611--Federal Data Center Consolidation Act of 2013
Summary: S. 1611 would require agencies to submit to the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) long-term plans for
phasing out unnecessary data centers and optimizing performance
at the remaining facilities (a data center is a facility used
to house computer systems and associated components). Agencies
would prepare comprehensive inventories of their information
technology equipment as part of those plans. Agencies also
would be required to prepare estimates of the savings that
would be realized from consolidating data centers. Finally, the
Government Accountability Office (GAO) would report annually to
the Congress on the implementation of the legislation.
Assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts, CBO
estimates that implementing S. 1611 would cost $22 million over
the 2014-2018 period. Although optimizing the use of federal
data centers ultimately could reduce spending, CBO does not
expect that there would be any significant savings from
implementing this legislation for the next few years. Enacting
the bill could affect direct spending by agencies not funded
through annual appropriations; therefore, pay-as-you-go
procedures apply. CBO estimates, however, that any net change
in spending by those agencies would not be significant.
Enacting the bill would not affect revenues.
S. 1611 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA)
and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal
governments.
Estimated cost to the Federal Government: The estimated
budgetary impact of S. 1611 is shown in the following table.
The costs of this legislation fall within budget function 800
(general government) and all other budget functions that
include expenditures for information technology.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By fiscal year, in millions of dollars--
-------------------------------------------------------
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014-2018
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHANGES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION
Estimated Authorization Level........................... 2 5 5 5 5 22
Estimated Outlays....................................... 2 5 5 5 5 22
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basis of estimate: For this estimate, CBO assumes that the
bill will be enacted in 2014, that the necessary amounts will
be provided each year, and that spending will follow historical
patterns for similar management initiatives.
Most provisions of S. 1611 would expand on the
Administration's current efforts to consolidate data centers.
In 2010, OMB instructed federal agencies to develop
consolidation plans as part of the Federal Data Center
Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI). The goals of the initiative
are to realize savings from purchasing fewer computer hardware
and software products, reduce energy use, and lease less real
estate. Each agency is required to identify a senior manager to
lead the consolidation efforts, produce an inventory, and plan
for future consolidations. The initiative also encourages the
use of cloud computing. Recently, OMB integrated FDCCI with its
PortfolioStat initiative, which is reviewing all information
technology investments.
S. 1611 would require the 24 participating agencies to
submit comprehensive inventories of their IT facilities to OMB
as well as long-term plans for phasing out some data centers
and optimizing performance at the remaining facilities.
Agencies also would be required to submit estimates of cost
savings from those consolidations. Finally, GAO would be
required to annually review and verify agency efforts and
report to the Congress on its findings.
Costs to implement the bill would vary by agency and depend
on how much work had been previously completed and how much
additional reporting and oversight would be required. GAO has
reported that many agencies have not followed the FDCCI,
completed their data center inventory or consolidation plan, or
identified any cost savings from the centers they have closed.
Based on information from selected agencies, OMB, and GAO
studies and reports on similar efforts, CBO expects that the
administrative workload of most agencies would increase by a
few hundred thousand dollars annually under this bill. Thus, we
estimate that implementing S. 1611 governmentwide and
completing the necessary GAO reports would cost about $5
million a year, assuming appropriation of the necessary
amounts.
Information from GAO and OMB indicates that the federal
government operates more than 3,000 data centers. Those centers
spend significant amounts for computer hardware, software,
facility leases, and electricity. The Environmental Protection
Agency estimates that in total the federal government spends
$450 million just for electricity to operate such centers. The
Administration is already attempting to reduce unnecessary
costs of those operations. Through the data consolidation
initiative, OMB's goal is to close about 1,200 data centers by
2015 and lower operating costs substantially. Nonetheless, the
activities required by S. 1611 could eventually contribute to
the cost savings if federal agencies further consolidated data
centers and made more efficient use of a smaller number of
facilities. However, CBO expects that any such savings over the
next five years would not be significant.
Pay-As-You-Go considerations: The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go
Act of 2010 establishes budget-reporting and enforcement
procedures for legislation affecting direct spending or
revenues. Enacting the bill could affect direct spending by
agencies not funded through annual appropriations; therefore,
pay-as-you-go procedures apply. CBO estimates, however, that
any net change in spending by those agencies would not be
significant. Enacting the bill would not affect revenues.
Intergovernmental and private-sector impact: S. 1611
contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as
defined in UMRA and would not affect the budgets of state,
local, or tribal governments.
Estimate prepared by: Federal Costs: Matthew Pickford;
Impact on State, Local, and Tribal Governments: Michael Kulas;
Impact on the Private Sector: Paige Piper/Bach.
Estimate approved by: Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.
VI. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this bill.
The Committee agrees with the Congressional Budget Office
that the bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments,
or private entities. The enactment of this legislation would
not have significant regulatory impact.
VII. CHANGES IN EXISTING STATUTE MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee states that there
are no changes in existing law made by the bill, as reported.