Final answer:
The Federal Enterprise Architecture is a U.S. government framework that defines the organization of federal information and resources to ensure IT investments align with missions and business processes. It promotes efficient and interoperable IT systems across government agencies.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) is a framework used by the federal government of the United States to organize its information and resources. It is designed to facilitate the management of federal information system investments and align them with their mission and business processes. By providing a structured approach to the creation of an architecture, the FEA helps ensure that IT investments are not redundant, remain aligned with the business strategy, and support government-wide initiatives.
In essence, the FEA defines a common methodology for federal IT development with the goal of creating a more efficient, interconnected, and responsive government. The architecture is aligned with the design concept described by Eppinger and Ulrich, as it assigns functional elements of government services to physical building blocks, or components, of the IT infrastructure.
This standardization across different agencies promotes interoperability, reusability, and the sharing of best practices in federal IT systems. The FEA consists of a set of interrelated 'reference models' designed to facilitate cross-agency analysis and the identification of duplicative investments, gaps, and opportunities for collaboration within and across federal agencies.