My name is Andrew, and my network fails. It is embarrassing to admit – especially when you work in technology – that your email is down or your phones are out. And it is infuriating. Waiting for GAO.gov to load or a project on deadline to trickle out of your inbox can pump your blood pressure to dangerous levels.

Here’s the thing though, when my network fails nobody gets hurt. According to Google, no one ever died from a lack of marketing. Distressed refugees aren’t waiting for desperately needed white papers to arrive. Nobody is relieved when I arrive on scene.

Federal agency networks are another story. People who call the U.S. Coast Guard most likely need someone to pick up. Yet, according to MeriTalk’s most recent survey of agency network managers, two-thirds say that their networks are ill-equipped to meet current mission demands. The result: poor connections, service disruptions, or downtime that impact agency missions at least bimonthly.

Impact the mission? Every other month. How is that ok?

The problem is intractable, so much so that we’ve almost accepted it. Agencies have accreted networks over time, so they are inordinately complex and disparately aging. Most of them are built on proprietary technology, so phasing in changes creates massive management migraines. 

The old infrastructure is way too expensive to replace, so agencies opt for IT’s equivalent of a payday loan – service contracts. In a vacuum, that might work.

But Federal networks aren’t in a vacuum. They have to support FDCCI, Cloud First, FISMA, mobility, telework, disaster resilience, etc. And they have to deliver on the mission. And they aren’t getting the job done:

• Consolidation – 16 percent fully deployed. Stall Point: Network
• Virtualization – 14 percent fully deployed. Stall Point: Network
• Cloud Computing – 9 percent fully deployed. Stall Point: Network
• Remote Access – 41 percent fully deployed. Stall Point: Network

You get the point. Networks should be the road, but right now they are the road block. Network managers say that they need 26 percent more capacity today just to break even. Service contracts, just like payday loans, cover your fanny today but steal from your future to do so.

So here’s the question: Short of a crisis, what will it take to get Federal networks back on track, and who needs to do it?

Download the study:

Feel like sharing something that's Worth the Squeeze? Post a comment below.

Andrew LaVanway provides government budget and policy insight for MeriTalk. A former House Appropriations staffer, LaVanway has been active at the intersection of government and technology since 1996.