I 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6278 
To optimize Federal data center usage and efficiency. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 2, 2012 
Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
A BILL 
To optimize Federal data center usage and efficiency. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Data Center Optimization Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Purpose. 
Sec. 3. Definitions. 
Sec. 4. Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative. 
Sec. 5. Performance requirements related to data center consolidation. 
Sec. 6. Disposition of savings from data consolidation. 
Sec. 7. Reporting requirements to Congress and the Federal Chief Information 
Officer. 
Sec. 8. Agencies included in the Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative. 
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SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to optimize Federal data 
center usage and efficiency. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) FEDERAL DATA CENTER OPTIMIZATION INI-
TIATIVE.—The term ‘‘Federal Data Center Optimi-
zation Initiative’’ means the initiative developed and 
implemented pursuant to section 4. 
(2) COVERED
AGENCY.—The term ‘‘covered 
agency’’ means any agency included in the Federal 
Data Center Optimization Initiative pursuant to sec-
tion 8. 
(3) FEDERAL CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER.— 
The term ‘‘Federal Chief Information Officer’’ 
means the chief information officer of the Office of 
Management and Budget. 
(4) DATA CENTER.—The term ‘‘data center’’ 
means any room that is devoted to data processing 
servers, including server closets (typically less than 
200 square feet) and server rooms (typically less 
than 500 square feet), within a conventional build-
ing, and larger spaces in any building dedicated to 
housing servers, storage devices, and network equip-
ment, but the term does not include facilities that 
are exclusively devoted to communications and net-
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work equipment (such as telephone exchanges) and 
telecommunications rooms and closets. 
(5) DESKTOP
VIRTUALIZATION.—The term 
‘‘desktop virtualization’’ means any technology that 
creates a virtual version of an information tech-
nology device or resource and is used to separate a 
computer desktop environment from the physical 
computer. 
(6) VIRTUALIZATION.—The term ‘‘virtualiza-
tion’’ means the simulation of the software or hard-
ware, or both, upon which other software runs which 
allows servers to be consolidated in ratios of 5:1 up 
to 25:1. The use of virtualization technology is both 
an instrumental and necessary component to achieve 
increases in server utilization rates. This simulated 
environment is called a virtual machine (VM). 
(7) FEDERAL DATA CENTER.—The term ‘‘Fed-
eral data center’’ means any data center of a cov-
ered agency used or operated by a covered agency, 
by a contractor of a covered agency, or by another 
organization on behalf of a covered agency. 
(8) POWER
UTILIZATION
EFFECTIVENESS.— 
The term ‘‘power utilization effectiveness’’ means 
the ratio obtained by dividing the total amount of 
electricity and other power consumed in running a 
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data center by the power consumed by the informa-
tion and communications technology in the data cen-
ter. 
(9) SERVER UTILIZATION.—The term ‘‘server 
utilization’’ refers to the activity level of a server rel-
ative to its maximum activity level during peek 
hours of operation, expressed as a percentage. 
(10) CLOUD
COMPUTING.—The term ‘‘cloud 
computing’’, as defined by National Institute of 
Standards and Technology, means a model for ena-
bling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network ac-
cess to a shared pool of configurable computing re-
sources (such as networks, servers, storage, applica-
tions, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned 
and released with minimal management effort or 
service provider interaction. The model is composed 
of the following: 
(A) Five essential characteristics, which 
are on-demand service, broad network access, 
resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured 
service. 
(B) Three service models, which are soft-
ware as a service, platform as a service, and in-
frastructure as a service. 
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(C) Four deployment models, which are 
private cloud, community cloud, public cloud, 
and hybrid cloud. 
SEC. 4. FEDERAL DATA CENTER OPTIMIZATION INITIATIVE. 
(a) REQUIREMENT FOR INITIATIVE.—The Federal 
Chief Information Officer, in consultation with the chief 
information officers of covered agencies, shall develop and 
implement an initiative to optimize the usage and effi-
ciency of Federal data centers by meeting the require-
ments of this Act and taking additional measures, as ap-
propriate. 
(b) REQUIREMENT
FOR PLAN.—Within 6 months 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal 
Chief Information Officer, in consultation with the chief 
information officers of covered agencies, shall develop and 
submit to Congress a consolidated plan for implementation 
of the initiative by each agency. The agency consolidation 
plans must include descriptions of how agencies will use 
reductions in floor space, energy use, infrastructure, 
equipment, applications, personnel, increases in multi-
organizational use, and other appropriate methods to meet 
the requirements of the initiative. The agency consolida-
tion plans must also be included in, and consistent with, 
the President’s annual budget submission materials, in-
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cluding the detailed budget justifications and appropria-
tions estimates. 
SEC. 5. PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO DATA 
CENTER CONSOLIDATION. 
(a) SERVER UTILIZATION.— 
(1) 75 PERCENT.—Each covered agency shall 
meet or exceed 75 percent average server utilization 
in agency data centers by 2015. 
(2) METHODS
TO
ACHIEVE
REQUIREMENT.— 
Each covered agency shall use the following methods 
to meet the requirement in paragraph (1): 
(A) The closing of existing data centers 
that have an average server utilization of under 
65 percent. If the agency fails to close data cen-
ters with a utilization of under 65 percent, the 
agency must provide a detailed explanation as 
to why this data center should remain in use as 
part of the submitted plan. The Federal Chief 
Information Officer will include an assessment 
of the agency explanation in the annual report 
to Congress. 
(B) The use of virtualization technology to 
achieve the consolidation of services within ex-
isting data centers to increase server utilization 
rates. 
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(C) Shifting to a ‘‘cloud first’’ policy, 
under which agencies shall use one or more of 
the following: 
(i) Use commercial cloud technologies 
where feasible and cost effective by migrat-
ing agency data and government-provided 
services from agency owned and operated 
data centers to cloud computing services 
generally available with the private sector. 
(ii) Launch private government cloud 
services within an agency, or share re-
sources across several agencies where more 
feasible and cost-effective in comparison to 
use of public cloud services. 
(iii) Use regional clouds with State 
and local governments where appropriate. 
(D) The consolidation of data centers 
across agencies. 
(E) Other methods identified by chief in-
formation offices of the agencies and the Fed-
eral Chief Information Officer. 
(b) POWER UTILIZATION EFFECTIVENESS.—Each 
covered agency shall achieve an average power utilization 
effectiveness for its data centers of 1.2 or less by 2015. 
(c) POWER METERING.— 
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(1) This Act authorizes a pilot program be es-
tablished at the Department of Defense aimed at re-
searching innovative ways to achieve full metering. 
(2) The covered agency must establish other 
methods to obtain accurate data to measure power 
utilization effectiveness subject to the approval of 
the Federal Chief Information Officer. 
(d) DESKTOP VIRTUALIZATION.—Each covered agen-
cy 
shall 
use 
desktop 
virtualization 
with 
existing 
workstations to the extent that is practicable, to save 
equipment replacement costs and improve the security 
posture of enpoint devices by migrating end user data 
from the device into the private cloud of the agency. 
(e) EFFICIENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.—Each 
covered agency shall give high priority to replacement of 
data center servers and other information technology 
equipment with more efficient equipment, using a baseline 
including the physical to virtual consolidation ratio and 
other criteria developed by the Federal Chief Information 
Officer in consultation with agency chief information offi-
cers. 
SEC. 6. DISPOSITION OF SAVINGS FROM DATA CONSOLIDA-
TION. 
(a) REQUIREMENT TO TRACK COSTS.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Each covered agency shall 
track costs resulting from implementation of the 
Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative within 
the agency and submit a report on those costs annu-
ally to the Federal Chief Information Officer. Cov-
ered agencies shall determine the net costs from 
data consolidation on an annual basis. 
(2) FACTORS.—In calculating net costs each 
year under paragraph (1), a covered agency shall 
use the following factors: 
(A) Energy costs. 
(B) Personnel costs. 
(C) Real Estate costs. 
(D) Capital expense costs. 
(E) Operating system, database, and other 
software license expense costs. 
(F) Other appropriate costs, as determined 
by the agency in consultation with the Federal 
Chief Information Officer. 
(b) REQUIREMENT TO TRACK SAVINGS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Each covered agency shall 
track savings resulting from implementation of the 
Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative within 
the agency and submit a report on those savings an-
nually to the Federal Chief Information Officer. 
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Covered agencies shall determine the net savings 
from data consolidation on an annual basis. 
(2) FACTORS.—In calculating net savings each 
year under paragraph (1), a covered agency shall 
use the following factors: 
(A) Energy savings. 
(B) Personnel savings. 
(C) Real Estate savings. 
(D) Capital expense savings. 
(E) Operating system, database and other 
software license expense savings. 
(F) Other appropriate savings, as deter-
mined by the agency in consultation with the 
Federal Chief Information Officer. 
(c) COST EFFECTIVE MEASURES.—Covered agencies 
shall use the most cost effective measures to implement 
the Federal Data Center Optimization Initiative. 
(d) USE OF SAVINGS.—Any savings resulting from 
implementation of the Federal Data Center Optimization 
Initiative within a covered agency shall be used for the 
following purposes: 
(1) To offset the costs of implementing the Ini-
tiative within the agency. 
(2) To further enhance information technology 
capabilities and services within the agency. 
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(e) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT.—Not later 
than three months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall 
examine methods for calculating savings from the Initia-
tive and using them for the purposes identified in sub-
section (c), including establishment and use of a special 
revolving fund that supports data centers and server opti-
mization, and shall submit to the Federal Chief Informa-
tion Officer and Congress a report on the Comptroller 
General’s findings and recommendations. The Federal 
Chief Information Officer shall take those findings and 
recommendations into account in developing the plan 
under section 4(b). 
SEC. 7. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS TO CONGRESS AND 
THE FEDERAL CHIEF INFORMATION OFFI-
CER. 
(a) AGENCY REQUIREMENT TO REPORT TO CIO.— 
Each year, each covered agency shall submit to the Fed-
eral Chief Information Officer a report on the implementa-
tion of the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative. 
The report shall include an update of the agency’s plan 
for implementing the Initiative. 
(b) FEDERAL CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER RE-
QUIREMENT TO REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Each year, the 
Federal Chief Information Officer shall submit to the 
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Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee on Home-
land Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a 
consolidated report that assesses agency progress in car-
rying out the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative 
and updates the plan under section 4(b). The report may 
be included as part of the annual report required under 
section 3606 of title 44, United States Code. This report 
may also be included in the agency budget submissions 
to the Office of Management and Budget. 
SEC. 8. AGENCIES INCLUDED IN THE FEDERAL DATA CEN-
TER OPTIMIZATION INITIATIVE. 
The following agencies shall be covered by the Fed-
eral Data Center Optimization Initiative: 
(1) CURRENT
AGENCIES.—Each agency de-
scribed in section 901(b) of title 31, United States 
Code. 
(2) ADDITIONAL AGENCIES.—Such other addi-
tional agencies as the Federal Chief Information Of-
ficer determines appropriate, after examining wheth-
er additional agencies should be covered by the Ini-
tiative and including the results of such examination 
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in the plan under section 4(b) and updates under 
section 7. 
Æ 
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