GM backs IT purchasing standards

Computerworld - Many IT shops are busy adopting standards for IT functions such as the help desk and software development. Now there’s a new effort to set standards for how IT is purchased, and it involves two of the nation’s biggest IT buyers: General Motors Corp. and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute (SEI) recently issued a 400-page preliminary report identifying best practices for every aspect of acquiring hardware, software and IT services, from setting service level agreements to managing the procurement process.

The effort was inspired and sponsored by GM CIO Ralph Szygenda, who has been critical of the general lack of standards in the IT field and began working with SEI over a year ago to write some.

The result extends the SEI’s Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) -- the five process maturity levels that are widely used in software development -- to purchasing. The software maturity level is set by SEI appraisers who review an organization’s practices, and a similar rating process will be available to those involved in buying and selling technology, once the new standard is finished next spring.

“We see this as a leading global standard, ultimately,” said Deborah Yedlin, GM’s global director of verification and validation. She’s responsible for software quality standards for GM worldwide. “It’s a collection of best practices for acquirers like GM who work with suppliers to purchase technology,” she said. GM worked with some 50 companies and government agencies to collect the best practices, she said.

The Defense Department intends to run a pilot program to measure the standard’s impact and value, Kristen Baldwin, assistant deputy director for software engineering and system assurance, said in statement. She said a final decision on its use will depend on the outcome of the pilot assessment, as well as a review by “the broader defense acquisition community.”

Baldwin said the standard “offers the potential for intangible benefits that may be realized through efficiencies gained in applying engineering discipline and consistency to the acquisition process.”

The organizations have a lot of buying clout. The White House has asked for $30.7 billion in defense IT spending in its 2007 budget, which begins Oct. 1. GM doesn’t disclose annual IT spending, but in February it detailed plans to outsource $15 billion in IT work over five years.

Michael Phillips, director of special programs at SEI, predicted that the acquisition process standards will win adoption by other IT users because many are already using the CMMI for software engineering. When contracting for software development, some government buyers insist that a bidder meet a certain CMMI level before even being considered, and that practice could be extended to IT purchasing as well, Phillips said.

IT organizations are increasingly adopting process standards like the popular Information Technology Infrastructure Library guidelines for IT operations, which covers tasks such as how a help desk should handle a trouble ticket.

Hubert Hoffman, a senior manager in GM’s global systems delivery organization, said the CMMI acquisition standard will help IT shops bring an IT product or service into their organization, then ITIL processes would kick in for managing operations.

The SEI’s preliminary report, "Adapting CMMI for Acquisition Organizations,” can be downloaded at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/news-at-sei/whats-new/cmmi-acq.htm.

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