ITAA Survey Identifies the Top Priority of Federal CIOs

The number one priority for federal CIOs is implementing the President's Management Agenda (PMA), and specifically achieving e-government and a citizen-centric government, according to a new report from the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), released Tuesday.

According to this report -- ITAA's 14th annual survey of federal chief information officers, CIO: Catalyst for Business Transformation -- CIOs implementing the administration's 24 e-government initiatives say they are using financial and human resources to make this happen. CIOs reported to ITAA that funding for e-government has been a challenge since it has not been well coordinated with the federal budget cycle and many departments take funds from existing program resources in order to meet their PMA goals. However, several e-government efforts have made significant progress over the past year due to the commitment of federal CIOs.

Federal CIOs report that they are focused on getting to "green" -- fulfilling Office of Management and Budget criteria -- in each of the following areas:

• Budget and performance integration
• Advancement of e-government
• Strategic management of human resources
• Improvement in financial management
• Competitive sourcing

"Federal CIOs are moving from design phase to implementation in many areas, and the private sector supports that," said Alvin Pesachowitz of Grant Thornton LLP, who served as chair of ITAA's CIO Survey Task Group. "We commend the CIOs we interviewed for getting down to the business of better government. While much work remains to be done, CIOs are key catalysts for change when implementing the President's Management Agenda throughout the government."

Federal CIO priorities also include supporting the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with information security and other security issues and continuing to make the homeland department network-centric.

"It is no surprise that information security and the related task of an enterprise architecture for the Department of Homeland Security remains such a highly visible priority for federal CIOs," said Olga Grkavac, executive vice president of ITAA's Enterprise Solutions Division. "CIOs recognize that threats change, and they must never let down their guard. Like the private sector, ITAA believes government will have information security concerns in the forefront for many years."

The report, sponsored by ITAA and supported by Grant Thornton's Global Public Sector Group, summarizes and analyzes interview responses from 40 chief information officers and information resource managers in 37 executive and legislative branch organizations, conducted between August and December 2003. The interview group included six representatives from the defense and intelligence communities.