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The following content is from an older version of this website, and may not display correctly.US President Barack Obama issued a memo Thursday, ordering all federal agencies to accelerate their efforts to devise plans to get rid of excess properties, including, to a large extent, data centers. The order adds pressure on agencies to comply with the order Federal CIO Vivek Kundra issued in February, setting Aug. 30, 2010 as the deadline to submit final data center consolidation plans to the Office of Management and Budget for approval.
Obama also ordered that all agencies immediately adopt policies against expanding data centers beyond their current footprint.
In his memo, the president pointed out that while the private sector, over the past ten years, was able to reduce its data center footprint through technology upgrades, the US government only grew the amount of data centers it operates. This resulted in more energy consumption and more expenditures on real property, operations and maintenance.
"Past attempts at reducing the federal government's civilian real property assets produced small savings and had a minor impact on the condition and performance of mission-critical properties," the memo read. "These efforts were not sufficiently comprehensive in disposing of excess real estate and did not emphasize making more efficient use of existing assets."
While ordering agencies to accelerate disposal of excess facilities through sale of properties and discontinuation of leases, Obama also requested that agencies work to make better use of facilities that remain through measuring utilization and occupancy rates, operating costs, energy efficiency and sustainability.
The president also set a target for cost savings the government must achieve through the consolidation effort: $3bn by the end of fiscal 2012. The figure includes future proceeds from property sales. How much of the $3bn in savings each agency is required to deliver will be determined by the OMB, which Obama ordered to create the guidance within three months from Thursday.
According to Kundra's February memo, the federal government went from 432 data centers in 1998 to more than 1,100 in 2009. In 2006, federal servers and data centers consumed more than 6bn kWh of electricity.
Obama also ordered that all agencies immediately adopt policies against expanding data centers beyond their current footprint.
In his memo, the president pointed out that while the private sector, over the past ten years, was able to reduce its data center footprint through technology upgrades, the US government only grew the amount of data centers it operates. This resulted in more energy consumption and more expenditures on real property, operations and maintenance.
"Past attempts at reducing the federal government's civilian real property assets produced small savings and had a minor impact on the condition and performance of mission-critical properties," the memo read. "These efforts were not sufficiently comprehensive in disposing of excess real estate and did not emphasize making more efficient use of existing assets."
While ordering agencies to accelerate disposal of excess facilities through sale of properties and discontinuation of leases, Obama also requested that agencies work to make better use of facilities that remain through measuring utilization and occupancy rates, operating costs, energy efficiency and sustainability.
The president also set a target for cost savings the government must achieve through the consolidation effort: $3bn by the end of fiscal 2012. The figure includes future proceeds from property sales. How much of the $3bn in savings each agency is required to deliver will be determined by the OMB, which Obama ordered to create the guidance within three months from Thursday.
According to Kundra's February memo, the federal government went from 432 data centers in 1998 to more than 1,100 in 2009. In 2006, federal servers and data centers consumed more than 6bn kWh of electricity.