Chief Information Officers

The rapid pace of technological change and innovation has offered unprecedented opportunities for the government to improve performance, cut costs, and improve service to the public. It is increasingly critical that federal agencies have effective leadership and focused management control over the government's $38 billion annual investment in information management and technology. Since the passage of the Clinger-Cohen Act in 1996, all 24 major federal agencies have appointed chief information officers. Spurred by the Year 2000 computing problem, many have also begun implementing essential information management processes, such as information technology investment management controls, cost estimation processes, and information technology architecture. This testimony discusses the progress that has been made in establishing federal chief information officers and the challenges that remain to realizing these positions' long-term benefits. Along with this testimony, GAO issued a report on ways to ensure that chief information officer functions are effectively integrated into overall performance-based and accountability management approaches. (See GAO/AIMD-00-83, Mar. 2000, page 63.)

GAO noted that: (1) as the federal government moves to fully embrace the digital age and focuses on electronic government initiatives, leadership in the management of the government's information resources is of paramount importance; (2) yet a CIO, alone, cannot ensure the successful implementation of information management reforms; (3) rather, the CIO must be buttressed by the full support of agency heads, the commitment of line managers, clearly defined roles and responsibilities, effective measures of performance, highly skilled and motivated information technology (IT) professionals, and a range of other factors; (4) the practices and key characteristics defined in GAO's CIO guide can put agencies on the right path toward incorporating these ingredients; (5) moreover, they can help agencies and their CIOs to identify and correct underlying information management weaknesses that have undermined their modernization initiatives; (6) they can even help ensure that agencies will be well positioned to take advantage of cutting-edge technologies in order transform service delivery and performance; (7) however, implementing the practices alone is not enough; (8) to achieve real successes, agency executives as well as Congress must provide sustained support and attention to facilitating CIO effectiveness and addressing any structural changes facing CIOs; and (9) using this support, CIOs themselves must be now focused on results--making sure that IT investments make their agencies more innovative, efficient, and responsive.