Spending watchdog tells National Science Foundation CIO to up game on tech procurement

The US Congress’ spending watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, has pressed the National Science Foundation’s CIO to improve how the agency plans, manages, and procures technology.

The “open recommendations” were outlined in a letter dated February 12 and sent to NSF CIO Clyde Richards before being published on Thursday.

It said: "We identified recommendations that relate to the CIO’s roles and responsibilities in effectively managing IT.” Paying attention to them “will help ensure the effective use of IT at the agency."

Put bluntly, "NSF needs to improve its acquisition of cloud services and its reviews of the agency’s IT portfolio."

This includes developing guidance "regarding standardizing cloud service-level agreements."

The GAO believes that the NSF should "consistently" hold cloud service providers accountable for performance, with clear SLAs and remediation plans for non-compliance. The GAO wants to see an SLA with every cloud vendor, and recommends the CIO ...