I figured it was worth a little explainer for the Anti-Deficiency Act and relation to IT operations and shutdown activities. I write as somebody who's been through a few in various roles... (1/12)
To clarify on the “it’s a static site, why can’t they…” comments. Each agency affected typically has a mix of appropriated funding: “no-year” & annual, each with time limits of when and what it can be spent on as well are... (2/12)
...“fee-based” for certain programs. During shutdown activities aligned with a “lapse in appropriation,” agencies and their components will utilize remaining funding to wind down operations to a minimum (hence the “Not Open” signage)... (3/12)
...even though essential systems will still be paid for. Not knowing how long this will run, those remaining funds need to be estimated as to how far that runway will be – a few days, a few weeks, perhaps a month or two. (4/12)
I know many IT folks will say “well, on Amazon/Azure/Google cloud services it can be run for peanuts”… but not all agencies are at a level of maturity or capability to utilize cloud services. In other cases, agencies maintain an... (5/12)
...“IAA” or an Inter-Agency Agreement which supports the efforts pushed by the Executive Branch to utilize “shared services” for agencies that maintain a competency or expertise in providing capabilities to other agencies who aren’t... (6/12)
...large enough, staffed for, or be too expensive to do it on their own. In many cases, this shows up for agencies with who administers payroll services such as DFAS at DoD, NFC at Agriculture, PSB at GSA. If one of those agencies... (7/12)
...are affected by a lapse in funding, providing payroll and paychecks to other customers is also affected. This is why if only 25% of the government is directly affected by the shutdown, it cascades elsewhere. (8/12)
As somebody in charge of managing the budget for an agency subcomponent’s IT operations, we have a mix of contracts, IAAs and other agreements (such as SSF, a “shared services fund”) that need to be paid for and audited regularly... (9/12)
...to see if they are worthwhile and servicing our needs. In many cases, those agreements are turnkey solutions offered to customers, but as we modernize and consolidate some operations, that evaluation is done. For us, we are... (10/12)
...working now to move from one of our partner divisions hosting our web operations over to our cloud provider due to cost, management and other needs. Even a relatively static site handled through an IAA is thousands of dollars a... (11/12)
...month, and we hope to eventually see a lower operating cost once we complete the migration. (12/12)
