May 3, 2016 

Mr. David A. Powner 

Director of Information Technology 

 Management Issues 

U.S. Government Accountability Office 

441 G Street, N.W. 

Washington, DC 20548 

Dear Mr. Powner: 

On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am writing in response 

to the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) report entitled “Data Center 

Consolidation: Agencies Making Progress, but Planned Savings Goals Need to Be Established” 

(GAO-16-323), published on March 3, 2016. 

In the report, the GAO recommended that the NRC Chairman take the following two 

actions: 

• Address challenges in establishing, and complete, planned data center cost savings 

and avoidance targets for fiscal years 2016 through 2018. 

• Improve progress in the data center optimization areas that GAO reported as not 

meeting the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) established targets, 

including addressing any identified challenges. 

The NRC concurs with these recommendations. 

The NRC currently obtains data center services from an agency-wide managed service 

contract. The agency is currently working to modify its acquisition strategy for the follow-on 

contract to achieve cost savings. 

In closing data centers and consolidating functions, the NRC is pursuing development of 

a hybrid data center that will allow for many data center functions to be performed in the cloud 

environment. The agency anticipates that this shift in how we perform data center operations 

and contract management will allow for more optimization, including the ability to better meet 

targets (including those related to both cost savings and optimization) established by the OMB 

through the Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI). 

At this time, the NRC is aggressively pursuing data center consolidation and optimization 

in accordance with the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative and the recently released 

draft DCOI guidance. In fiscal year (FY) 2015, the NRC closed two non-core data centers. In 

FY 2016, the NRC will close an additional non-core data center. Planning for the closure of an 

additional four non-core data centers in FY 2017 and FY 2018 is underway. In total, these 

closures will reduce the NRC’s data center footprint from nine data centers to two (a reduction 

of 78%). 
- 2 - 

The NRC continues to pursue operational improvements of its information technology 

infrastructure, including its data centers. We will continue to pursue meeting the standards set 

forth by the OMB through DCOI and any other future initiatives and guidance. 

If you should have any questions regarding the NRC’s planned actions to implement the 

recommendations, please contact Mr. John R. Jolicoeur by phone at 301-415-1642, or email at 

John.Jolicoeur@nrc.gov. 

 Sincerely, 

 /RA/ 

 Stephen G. Burns 

cc: David B. Hinchman 
Identical letter sent to: 

Mr. David A. Powner 

Director of Information Technology 

 Management Issues 

U.S. Government Accountability Office 

441 G Street, N.W. 

Washington, DC 20548 

cc: David B. Hinchman 

The Honorable Jason Chaffetz 

Chairman, Committee on Oversight and 

 Government Reform 

United States House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 20515 

cc: Representative Elijah Cummings 

The Honorable Ron Johnson 

Chairman, Committee on Homeland 

 Security and Governmental Affairs 

United States Senate 

Washington, DC 20510 

cc: Senator Thomas R. Carper 

The Honorable James M. Inhofe 

Chairman, Committee on Environment 

 and Public Works 

United States Senate 

Washington, DC 20510 

cc: Senator Barbara Boxer 

The Honorable Shelley Moore Capito 

Chairman, Subcommittee on Clean Air 

 and Nuclear Safety 

Committee on Environment and 

 Public Works 

United States Senate 

Washington, DC 20510 

cc: Senator Thomas R. Carper 

The Honorable Fred Upton 

Chairman, Committee on Energy and 

 Commerce 

United States House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 20515 

cc: Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. 

The Honorable Ed Whitfield 

Chairman, Subcommittee on Energy 

 and Power 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

United States House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 20515 

cc: Representative Bobby L. Rush 

The Honorable John Shimkus 

Chairman, Subcommittee on Environment 

 and the Economy 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

United States House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 20515 

cc: Representative Paul Tonko