Data Center Optimization: Agencies Need to Address Challenges and Improve Progress to Achieve Cost Savings Goal
GAO-17-448
Published: Aug 15, 2017. Publicly Released: Sep 06, 2017.
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Highlights
What GAO Found
Of the 24 agencies required to participate in the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI), 22 collectively reported limited progress against OMB's fiscal year 2018 performance targets. Two agencies did not have a basis to report on progress as they do not have agency-owned data centers. For OMB's five optimization targets, five agencies or less reported that they met or exceeded each of the targets (see figure).
Twenty-Two Agencies' Progress against OMB Data Center Optimization Metrics, as of February 2017
Further, as of April 2017, 17 of the 22 agencies were not planning to meet OMB's targets by September 30, 2018. This is concerning because the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act's (FITARA) data center consolidation and optimization provisions, such as those that require agencies to report on optimization progress and cost savings, expire a day later on October 1, 2018. Extending the time frame of these provisions would increase the likelihood that agencies will meet OMB's optimization targets and realize related cost savings. Additionally, until agencies improve their optimization progress, OMB's $2.7 billion initiative-wide cost savings goal may not be achievable.
All 24 agencies reported successes in optimizing their data centers—notably, the benefits of key technologies, such as virtualizing systems to improve performance, and increased energy efficiency. However, agencies also reported challenges related to, for example, improving the utilization of their data center facilities and competing for labor resources. It will be important for agencies to take action to address their identified challenges—as GAO previously recommended—in order to improve data center optimization progress.
Of the 24 agencies required by OMB to implement automated monitoring tools to measure server utilization by the end of fiscal year 2018, 4 reported in their data center inventories as of February 2017 that they had fully implemented such tools, 18 reported that they had not, and 2 did not have a basis to report on progress because they do not have agency-owned data centers. Collectively, agencies reported that these tools were used at about 3 percent of their centers. Although federal standards emphasize the need to establish plans to help ensure goals are met, of the 18 agencies, none fully documented plans, 6 agencies had partially documented them, and 12 did not document them. Agencies provided varied reasons for this, including that they were still evaluating available tools. In addition, the lack of a formal requirement from OMB to establish the plans also contributed to agencies not having them. Until these plans are completed, agencies may be challenged in measuring server utilization.
Why GAO Did This Study
In December 2014, FITARA was enacted and included a series of provisions related to improving the performance of data centers, including requiring OMB to establish optimization metrics and agencies to report on progress toward meeting the metrics. OMB's Federal Chief Information Officer subsequently launched DCOI to build on prior data center consolidation and optimization efforts.
GAO was asked to review data center optimization. GAO's objectives were to (1) assess agencies' progress against OMB's data center optimization targets, (2) identify agencies' notable optimization successes and challenges, and (3) evaluate the extent to which agencies are able to effectively measure server utilization. To do so, GAO evaluated the 24 DCOI agencies' progress against OMB's fiscal year 2018 optimization targets, interviewed officials, and assessed agencies' efforts to implement monitoring tools for server utilization.
Recommendations
Congress should consider extending the time frame for the data center consolidation and optimization provisions of FITARA to provide agencies with additional time to meet OMB's targets and achieve cost savings. GAO is also recommending that 18 agencies complete their plans to implement data center monitoring tools and that OMB require agencies to complete their plans and report them to OMB. Ten agencies agreed with GAO's recommendations, three agencies partially agreed, and six (including OMB) did not state whether they agreed or disagreed, as discussed in the report.
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| As most agencies lack plans to meet OMB's data center optimization targets by the end of fiscal year 2018, it is increasingly likely that these agencies will require additional time to achieve the data center consolidation and optimization goals required by FITARA and OMB guidance. In order to provide agencies with additional time to meet OMB's data center optimization targets and achieve the related cost savings, Congress should consider extending the time frame for the data center consolidation and optimization provisions of FITARA beyond their current expiration date of October 1, 2018. |
Closed – Implemented
|
In November 2017, the FITARA Enhancement Act of 2017 was enacted into law to extend the sunset date for the data center provisions of FITARA. The law's data center consolidation and optimization provisions now expire on October 1, 2020. By taking action to extend the data center provisions of FITARA, Congress has provided federal agencies with additional time to continue their optimization efforts to meet OMB's goals and achieve further cost savings. |
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Office of Management and Budget | To better ensure that agencies complete important DCOI planning documentation and that the initiative improves governmental efficiency and achieves intended cost savings, the Director of OMB should direct the Federal chief information officer to formally document a requirement for agencies to include plans, as part of existing OMB reporting mechanisms, to implement automated monitoring tools at their agency-owned data centers. |
Open
In June 2019, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued an updated Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI) policy that encouraged federal agencies to implement automated monitoring tools at agency-owned data centers using more than 100 kilowatt hours of electricity. However, the updated policy did not require agencies to document a plan for implementing the tools as we recommended. As of January 2020, we have not received further update from OMB and the recommended action has not yet been taken. We will continue to monitor the status of this recommendation.
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| Department of Homeland Security | The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, HHS, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and VA; the Attorney General of the United States; the Administrators of EPA, GSA, and SBA; the Director of OPM; and the Chairman of NRC should take action to, within existing OMB reporting mechanisms, complete plans describing how the agency will achieve OMB's requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. |
Closed – Implemented
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) concurred with our recommendation and described planned actions to implement it. Specifically, the department stated that it was reviewing optimization alternatives, including evaluating the option to move to a cloud deployment model over the next few years. In addition, DHS stated that it expected to have an optimization plan that included, among other things, resource requirements and a schedule to achieve monitoring compliance for agency-owned tiered data centers by April 2018. Subsequently, in May 2018, the department reported that it remained focused on data center optimization through transition of applications, hosting environments, and facilities to Cloud-based technologies. The department also said that, rather than complete a separate optimization plan and schedule for agency-owned (tiered) data centers, it would develop 1) a strategy that addresses mission, technology, architecture, security, governance, operations, performance, cost effectiveness, and efficiency considerations that will be used to oversee transition of the IT Portfolio to the Cloud and other optimized hosting solutions, and 2) a roadmap that addresses security, mission, and resources that are priority considerations for the implementation and schedule. In November 2019, DHS reported that it had three agency-owned data centers that the department planned to keep open and OMB agreed that all were exempt from optimization requirements. Although DHS will not have automated monitoring in its remaining (and exempted) data centers, the department has closed 57 data centers since 2011. By taking action to close all but its three exempted centers, the department has closed any facilities that may have been operating inefficiently. These actions meet the intent of our recommendation, which was to ensure that inefficient data centers were identified and monitored.
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| Department of Agriculture | The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, HHS, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and VA; the Attorney General of the United States; the Administrators of EPA, GSA, and SBA; the Director of OPM; and the Chairman of NRC should take action to, within existing OMB reporting mechanisms, complete plans describing how the agency will achieve OMB's requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. |
Closed – Implemented
The Department of Agriculture (Agriculture) stated, in comments on the draft report, that it understood that automated monitoring of server utilization and virtualization was critical to accurate data center performance and cost savings reporting, and took action to implement this recommendation. Specifically, in November 2019, the department reported that it had six agency-owned data centers and planned to close four of them early in 2020. The department further reported that the two remaining data centers were equipped with the required automated monitoring tools. By equipping its remaining data centers with automated monitoring tools, Agriculture will be better positioned to report on the optimization performance of these facilities.
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| Department of Commerce | The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, HHS, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and VA; the Attorney General of the United States; the Administrators of EPA, GSA, and SBA; the Director of OPM; and the Chairman of NRC should take action to, within existing OMB reporting mechanisms, complete plans describing how the agency will achieve OMB's requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. |
Open
The Department of Commerce (Commerce) agreed with our recommendation and described planned actions to address it. Specifically, the department noted that, as part of its effort to consolidate, define, and establish a plan to deploy an enterprise-wide automated monitoring tool, it had identified two component agencies that would offer a data center infrastructure management tool as a service. The department added that this approach would allow it to monitor and report cost savings and avoidances more efficiently. In November 2019, Commerce reported that it had 73 agency-owned data centers that the department planned to keep open. However, of those 73, only seven had implemented the required advanced monitoring tools. As of January 2020, we have not received a more recent update from the department about how it will meet the Data Center Optimization Initiative requirement to implement monitoring tools at the remaining 66 of its agency-owned data centers. We will continue to monitor the status of this recommendation.
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| Department of Defense | The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, HHS, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and VA; the Attorney General of the United States; the Administrators of EPA, GSA, and SBA; the Director of OPM; and the Chairman of NRC should take action to, within existing OMB reporting mechanisms, complete plans describing how the agency will achieve OMB's requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. |
Closed – Implemented
The Department of Defense partially agreed with our recommendation and stated that it recognized the value of data center infrastructure management capabilities in realizing Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI) objectives. The department also said that it would implement the capabilities as quickly as possible. In January 2019, the department's DCOI program manager stated that the department was working to implement automated monitoring tools at its core enterprise data centers. The program manager also said that the department would not be installing the tools at any existing installation data centers, noting that to do so would not be cost efficient as the department planned to close most, if not all of those facilities in 2019. In April 2019, the department's chief information officer provided documentation that described the department's plans to categorize its data centers into 3 categories: core or component enterprise data centers that are subject to all DCOI requirements, installation-based data centers that are planned for closure, and special purpose data centers that would be exempt from DCOI requirements. The department also reported that automated tools had been installed in all core and component enterprise data centers. The department's plans also state that if any future data centers designated as an enterprise data center will have automated monitoring tools installed prior to receiving that designation. By taking these actions, the department is better positioned to report on optimization performance in its primary data centers.
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| Department of Energy | The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, HHS, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and VA; the Attorney General of the United States; the Administrators of EPA, GSA, and SBA; the Director of OPM; and the Chairman of NRC should take action to, within existing OMB reporting mechanisms, complete plans describing how the agency will achieve OMB's requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. |
Open
The Department of Energy (Energy) concurred with our recommendation and described planned actions to implement it. Specifically, the department stated that it established plans to implement automated monitoring tools at its 78 department-owned tiered data centers and planned to evaluate whether its 68 department-owned non-tiered data centers should be consolidated or closed. In November 2017 correspondence to GAO, the department further stated that, for the non-tiered centers projected to remain open, it expected to complete plans for automated server utilization by September 30, 2019. In November 2019, Energy reported that it had 92 agency-owned data centers that the department planned to keep open, of which the Office of Management and Budget exempted three from optimization requirements by. However, of the remaining 89 data centers, only 37 had implemented the advanced monitoring tools. As of January 2020, we have not received a more recent update from the department about how it will meet the Data Center Optimization Initiative requirement to implement monitoring tools at the remaining 52 agency-owned data centers. We will continue to monitor the status of this recommendation.
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| Department of Health and Human Services | The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, HHS, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and VA; the Attorney General of the United States; the Administrators of EPA, GSA, and SBA; the Director of OPM; and the Chairman of NRC should take action to, within existing OMB reporting mechanisms, complete plans describing how the agency will achieve OMB's requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. |
Closed – Implemented
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) concurred with our recommendation and described planned actions to implement it. Specifically, the department stated that HHS would direct its operating and staff divisions to acquire and install automated monitoring tools in all agency-owned data centers by the close of fiscal year 2018. In May 2021, HHS reported that it had 35 agency-owned data centers that the department planned to keep open. In addition, HHS reported that it had monitoring tools on all but two of its applicable data centers under OMB's DCOI guidance (M-19-19) and was evaluating the feasibility of installing tools on the remaining centers. By equipping nearly all of its data centers with automated monitoring tools, HHS has effectively implemented our recommendation and is better positioned to report on optimization performance in its data center.
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| Department of the Interior | The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, HHS, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and VA; the Attorney General of the United States; the Administrators of EPA, GSA, and SBA; the Director of OPM; and the Chairman of NRC should take action to, within existing OMB reporting mechanisms, complete plans describing how the agency will achieve OMB's requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. |
Open
The Department of the Interior (Interior) partially concurred with our recommendation. Specifically, the department stated that it was committed to completing its plan on schedule, but that its ability to meet the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all department-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018 depended on many factors and variables, including the availability of funding and other resources. Nevertheless, in October 2017 correspondence to GAO, the department stated that it expected to complete planning for the deployment of automated monitoring in agency-owned data centers by September 30, 2018 and to complete implementation by December 31,2023. The letter noted that Interior would prioritize implementation at major tiered data centers, with implementation at other data centers as budgets permitted. In November 2019, Interior reported that it had 55 agency-owned data centers that the department planned to keep open, one of which OMB exempted from optimization requirements. However, of the remaining 54 data centers, only 17 had implemented the advanced monitoring tools. As of January 2020, we have not received a more recent update from the department about how it will meet the Data Center Optimization Initiative requirement to implement monitoring tools at the remaining 37 agency-owned data centers. We will continue to monitor the status of this recommendation.
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| Department of Justice | The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, HHS, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and VA; the Attorney General of the United States; the Administrators of EPA, GSA, and SBA; the Director of OPM; and the Chairman of NRC should take action to, within existing OMB reporting mechanisms, complete plans describing how the agency will achieve OMB's requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. |
Closed – Implemented
The Department of Justice (Justice) agreed with our recommendation. In September 2019, Justice reported that it had three agency-owned data centers that the department planned to keep open and provided a plan to implement automated monitoring tools at those three data centers. As of January 2020, officials in Justice's Office of the Chief Information Officer confirmed that the tools had been implemented. By equipping the department's remaining data centers with automated monitoring tools, Justice has implemented our recommendation and is better positioned to report on optimization performance in its data centers.
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| Department of Transportation | The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, HHS, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and VA; the Attorney General of the United States; the Administrators of EPA, GSA, and SBA; the Director of OPM; and the Chairman of NRC should take action to, within existing OMB reporting mechanisms, complete plans describing how the agency will achieve OMB's requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. |
Closed – Implemented
The Department of Transportation (Transportation) agreed with our recommendation and, in November 2017 correspondence to GAO, described planned actions to implement it. Specifically, the department stated that its Office of the Chief Information Officer would create a plan of action to address the multi-layer requirements applicable to the department. Transportation expected to develop a plan of action that addressed the Office of Management and Budget's August 2016 Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI) guidance memorandum. The department expected to implement its plan by September 30, 2018. In July 2021, the department reported that it completed the implementation of advanced monitoring tools at all of its data centers. By equipping its data centers with automated monitoring tools, Transportation has implemented our recommendation and is better positioned to report on optimization performance in its data center.
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| Department of Labor | The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, HHS, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and VA; the Attorney General of the United States; the Administrators of EPA, GSA, and SBA; the Director of OPM; and the Chairman of NRC should take action to, within existing OMB reporting mechanisms, complete plans describing how the agency will achieve OMB's requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. |
Closed – Implemented
The Department of Labor (Labor) stated that it accepted our recommendation and would incorporate pertinent information in its next data center consolidation and optimization strategic plan that was due in April 2018. However, when we examined that plan in August 2018, we found that the plan did not show the department meeting the metric for implementing automated monitoring tools. In October 2019, the department provided GAO with an update that stated that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued new data center optimization initiative DCOI guidance in June 2019 and that Labor interpreted the new guidance to mean that the requirement to implement automated monitoring tools had been removed. However, our review shows that this guidance encourages federal agencies to implement automated monitoring tools at agency-owned data centers using more than 100 kilowatt hours of electricity. In November 2019, the department reported that it had six agency-owned data centers that it was not planning to close, of which OMB exempted two from optimization requirements by OMB. The department reports that the four remaining data centers use more than 100 kilowatt hours of electricity and are equipped with the automated monitoring tools. By equipping those data centers that the department will continue operating with automated monitoring tools, Labor has implemented our recommendation and is better positioned to report on optimization performance in its data centers.
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| Department of the Treasury | The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, HHS, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and VA; the Attorney General of the United States; the Administrators of EPA, GSA, and SBA; the Director of OPM; and the Chairman of NRC should take action to, within existing OMB reporting mechanisms, complete plans describing how the agency will achieve OMB's requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. |
Open
In November 2019, the Department of the Treasury reported that it had 16 agency-owned data centers that the department planned to keep open. However, of those 16 data centers, only four had implemented the advanced monitoring tools. As of January 2020, we have not received a more recent update from the department about how it will meet the Data Center Optimization Initiative requirement to implement monitoring tools at the remaining 12 agency-owned data centers. We will continue to monitor the status of this recommendation.
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| Department of Veterans Affairs | The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, HHS, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and VA; the Attorney General of the United States; the Administrators of EPA, GSA, and SBA; the Director of OPM; and the Chairman of NRC should take action to, within existing OMB reporting mechanisms, complete plans describing how the agency will achieve OMB's requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. |
Closed – Implemented
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) agreed with our recommendation, and in November 2017 correspondence to GAO, described completed and planned actions to address it. Specifically, the department stated that it's Office of Information and Technology (OI&T) was developing a plan to fully comply with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requirements to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. In May, 2021, VA provided a copy of its plan to implement monitoring tools at the remainder of its data centers. By developing a plan to equip its data centers with automated monitoring tools, should be better positioned to report on optimization performance in its data center.
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| Department of State | The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, HHS, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and VA; the Attorney General of the United States; the Administrators of EPA, GSA, and SBA; the Director of OPM; and the Chairman of NRC should take action to, within existing OMB reporting mechanisms, complete plans describing how the agency will achieve OMB's requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. |
Closed – Implemented
The Department of State agreed with our recommendation and described completed and planned actions to address it. Specifically, the department stated that it performed an analysis of tools, including shared services and commercial-off-the-shelf products. The department also stated that it was developing an acquisition strategy based on its research and planned to pursue a commercially available product. However, the department noted that budgetary constraints may delay the acquisition until fiscal year 2019 or later. In November 2019, staff from State's Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) reported that 93 percent of the department's servers had monitoring tools installed. In September 2021, OCIO staff indicated that the department planned to continue installing tools as funds were available. By equipping nearly all of the servers in its data centers with automated monitoring tools, State has effectively implemented our recommendation and is better positioned to report on optimization performance in its data centers.
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| Environmental Protection Agency | The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, HHS, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and VA; the Attorney General of the United States; the Administrators of EPA, GSA, and SBA; the Director of OPM; and the Chairman of NRC should take action to, within existing OMB reporting mechanisms, complete plans describing how the agency will achieve OMB's requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. |
Closed – Implemented
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) described planned actions to address our recommendation. Specifically, the agency detailed plans to address OMB's requirements, such as leveraging EPA's current investment in a network monitoring tool and the intent to procure and deploy a data center infrastructure management tool by the end of fiscal year 2018. However, in December 2018, EPA determined it will leverage its current network monitoring tool for server utilization monitoring. The agency expects to have most data center servers monitored by the end of CY 2019. Once servers are monitored, the agency said that it will follow the most current OMB guidance to report required metrics. As of May 2021, EPA reported that it had implemented monitoring tools for one of the three remaining agency-owned data centers. In doing so, EPA ensured that over 95 percent of its servers had automated monitoring tools installed. By equipping nearly all of the servers in its data centers with automated monitoring tools, EPA has effectively implemented our recommendation and is better positioned to report on optimization performance in its data center.
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| General Services Administration | The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, HHS, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and VA; the Attorney General of the United States; the Administrators of EPA, GSA, and SBA; the Director of OPM; and the Chairman of NRC should take action to, within existing OMB reporting mechanisms, complete plans describing how the agency will achieve OMB's requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. |
Closed – Implemented
The General Services Administration (GSA) agreed with our recommendation and stated that it plans to install automated monitoring tools by the end of fiscal year 2018. As of August 2018, the agency's data center inventory showed that the agency had closed 101 of its 103 agency-owned data centers. For the two agency-owned data centers that had not yet closed, the inventory showed that both reported that they had implemented automated monitoring tools. As of January 2019, only one of those centers was still open and GSA plans to close that center in 2020. By taking steps to close data centers and implement the automated monitoring tools at the remaining agency-owned data centers, GSA has effectively implemented our recommendation and is better positioned to report on optimization performance at its remaining data center.
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| Small Business Administration | The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, HHS, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and VA; the Attorney General of the United States; the Administrators of EPA, GSA, and SBA; the Director of OPM; and the Chairman of NRC should take action to, within existing OMB reporting mechanisms, complete plans describing how the agency will achieve OMB's requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. |
Closed – Implemented
In November 2019, the Small Business Administration (SBA) reported that it had seven agency-owned data centers that the agency planned to keep open. However, of those seven data centers, only one had implemented the advanced monitoring tools. In April 2020, SBA officials stated that the agency had implemented monitoring tools at all remaining agency-owned data centers. By equipping its data center with automated monitoring tools, SBA has implemented our recommendation and is better positioned to report on optimization performance in its data center.
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| Nuclear Regulatory Commission | The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, HHS, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and VA; the Attorney General of the United States; the Administrators of EPA, GSA, and SBA; the Director of OPM; and the Chairman of NRC should take action to, within existing OMB reporting mechanisms, complete plans describing how the agency will achieve OMB's requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. |
Closed – Implemented
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission described actions planned to address our recommendation. Specifically, the agency stated that it plans to close its non-tiered data centers. In October 2017 correspondence to GAO, the agency added that it is planning to install automated monitoring tools in all of its tiered data centers and expects to competitively award the purchase order for the tools in fiscal year 2018. In November 2019, NRC reported that it had two agency-owned data centers that the agency planned to keep open, one of which OMB exempted from optimization requirements. NRC reported that the remaining data center had implemented the advanced monitoring tools. By equipping its data center with automated monitoring tools, NRC has implemented our recommendation and is better positioned to report on optimization performance in its data center.
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| Office of Personnel Management | The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, HHS, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and VA; the Attorney General of the United States; the Administrators of EPA, GSA, and SBA; the Director of OPM; and the Chairman of NRC should take action to, within existing OMB reporting mechanisms, complete plans describing how the agency will achieve OMB's requirement to implement automated monitoring tools at all agency-owned data centers by the end of fiscal year 2018. |
Open
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) stated that it partially concurred with our recommendation and described plans to address it. Specifically, the agency stated that it plans to consolidate its remaining data centers into two main locations by the end of fiscal year 2018. OPM further stated that this consolidation will obviate the need to implement automated monitoring tools at the data centers that are closing. Finally, the agency noted that it is implementing automated monitoring tools at the designated core data centers. In November 2019, OPM reported that it had two agency-owned data centers that the agency planned to keep open. However, of those two data centers, only one had implemented the advanced monitoring tools. As of January 2020, we have not received a more recent update from the agency about how it will meet the Data Center Optimization Initiative requirement to implement monitoring tools at the remaining agency-owned data center. We will continue to monitor the status of this recommendation.
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