S. 1261 Energy efficient government technology act
The Energy Efficient Government Technology Act was introduced to Congress on June 23rd, 2013. It has yet to be recommended for further consideration by a committee, before it can be presented to both the House of Representatives and the Senate for approval. The key propositions of this act that pertain to the issue of energy efficient data centers are the following:
"(1) In general
Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of the Energy Efficient Government Technology Act , the Secretary and the Administrator shall--
(A) designate an established information technology industry organization to coordinate the program described in subsection (b); and
(B) make the designation public, including on an appropriate website."
(5) Federal data centers task force
(A) In general
The Director shall maintain a Governmentwide Data Center Task Force comprised of Federal data center program managers, facilities managers, and sustainability officers.
(B) Duties
The members of the task force shall--
(i) be responsible for working together to share progress toward individual agency goals and the overall Federal target for increased energy efficiency; and
(ii) regularly exchange best practices and other strategic information related to energy efficiency with the private sector.
Energy efficient data centers
The Director shall include within the performance goals established under this paragraph--
(i) specifications and benchmarks that will enable Federal data center operators to make more informed decisions about the energy efficiency and cost savings of data centers, including an overall Federal target for increased energy efficiency, with initial reliance on the Power Usage Effectiveness metric;
(ii) overall asset utilization; and
(iii) recommendations and best practices for how the benchmarks will be attained, with the recommendations to include a requirement for agencies to evaluate the use of energy savings performance contracting and utility energy services contracting as preferred acquisition methods."
"(1) In general
Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of the Energy Efficient Government Technology Act , the Secretary and the Administrator shall--
(A) designate an established information technology industry organization to coordinate the program described in subsection (b); and
(B) make the designation public, including on an appropriate website."
(5) Federal data centers task force
(A) In general
The Director shall maintain a Governmentwide Data Center Task Force comprised of Federal data center program managers, facilities managers, and sustainability officers.
(B) Duties
The members of the task force shall--
(i) be responsible for working together to share progress toward individual agency goals and the overall Federal target for increased energy efficiency; and
(ii) regularly exchange best practices and other strategic information related to energy efficiency with the private sector.
Energy efficient data centers
The Director shall include within the performance goals established under this paragraph--
(i) specifications and benchmarks that will enable Federal data center operators to make more informed decisions about the energy efficiency and cost savings of data centers, including an overall Federal target for increased energy efficiency, with initial reliance on the Power Usage Effectiveness metric;
(ii) overall asset utilization; and
(iii) recommendations and best practices for how the benchmarks will be attained, with the recommendations to include a requirement for agencies to evaluate the use of energy savings performance contracting and utility energy services contracting as preferred acquisition methods."
S. 1611 Federal data center consolidation act
The Federal Data Center Consolidation Act was introduced on October 30th, 2013 and was recommended for further consideration by a committee on November 6th, 2013. (It has yet to be presented to and approved by either the House of Representatives or the Senate.) The act "requires certain [federal] agencies to conduct assessments of data centers and develop data center consolidation and optimization plans." The main proposals of the act are to require annual reporting by federal agencies on the status of their data servers (including an inventory of the servers they are in charge of and/or are maintained for them), along with
H.R. 1232 Federal information technology acquisition Reform act
The Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act was introduced on March 18th, 2013 and was recommended for further consideration by a committee on March 20th, 2013. The bill was approved by the House of Representatives on February 20th, 2014 and must next be approved by the Senate before it can be signed into effect by the President. In its current form, the bill requires the Administrator of the Office of Electronic Government (of the Office of Management and Budget) to develop and implement the Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative to optimize the usage and efficiency of federal data centers.
"The plan shall include--
(1)descriptions of how covered agencies will use reductions in floor space, energy use, infrastructure, equipment, applications, personnel, increases in multiorganizational use, server virtualization, cloud computing, and other appropriate methods to meet the requirements of the initiative; and
(2)appropriate consideration of shifting Federally owned data center workload to commercially owned data centers."
Once a plan for the Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative has been developed, and has been approved of by Congress, the bill requires all federal agencies to comply with the directives of the initiative and to file annual reports on the implementation of those directives. The agencies must include the cost savings resulting from the implementation of the initiative.
"The plan shall include--
(1)descriptions of how covered agencies will use reductions in floor space, energy use, infrastructure, equipment, applications, personnel, increases in multiorganizational use, server virtualization, cloud computing, and other appropriate methods to meet the requirements of the initiative; and
(2)appropriate consideration of shifting Federally owned data center workload to commercially owned data centers."
Once a plan for the Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative has been developed, and has been approved of by Congress, the bill requires all federal agencies to comply with the directives of the initiative and to file annual reports on the implementation of those directives. The agencies must include the cost savings resulting from the implementation of the initiative.