As part of a cost-saving effort, the Department of Energy (DOE) decided to close all onsite data centers and transfer that information to the cloud. This challenge was daunting, as these systems impact over 14,000 DOE employees and contractors, as well as the supporting databases and interface partners.
The Federal Lead responsible for all cyber-related reporting tasks for the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) was on detail during the Annual Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) submission period. This required the Edgewater team to take the lead for all tasks, including coordinating between offices (OIG, EA, IM-20, IM-30, IM-40, IM-50, and IM-1) and working with CIO leadership on status and submission.
Historically, the Environment, Health, Safety and Security Associate Undersecretary (EHSS/AU) Web Database Systems Reporting Database System (RDS/WDS) development and support teams were not using a structured methodology for development and support of software applications. Federal managers tasked individual developers as needed without ever considering the “big picture” or any type of structured backlog. Priorities changed daily, resulting in a lot of churn and a significant loss of productivity. The thrashing caused by conflicting priorities and unreasonable deadlines resulted in low staff morale. After being awarded the contract and discovering the current state, the Edgewater team determined the need to institute processes for intake and prioritization of work, coupled with a rigorous development and release methodologies in order to promote improved software development while simultaneously greatly increasing transparency for stakeholders.
Due to the severity of COVID-19, Edgewater’s Department of Energy Contractor Managed and Operated Facility client was forced to mandate off-site remote work for the near 800 resources where most of the workforce worked primarily at the field office location and were not set-up to access systems remotely