Role of the CIO in Electronic Government- USA

Alisoun MooreChief Information Officer

Montgomery County, Maryland

Advent of Net-centric and Info-centric World Transformed ICT Role in Government

ICT became strategic to organization No longer relegated to back room data centers Expensive for organizations to implement Considered critical to meeting mission of organization Electronic government allowed direct service to citizens

Old data center director role inadequate to meet technology revolution

Often buried in organization Not strategic – tasked with keeping things running not

implementing Often became an impediment to progress

Creation of CIO Strategic focus on ICT Senior manager, member of senior team Critical to for strategic direction of organization and

implementation of ICT for entire organization

U.S. Established CIO Position and Management

Technology Importance - Government agencies use technology to deliver services

Internal Revenue Service Department of Defense Health and Human Services

U.S. Recognized special role of CIO as a senior manager in charge of technology for agencies

Codified role in Information Technology Reform Act of 1996 (Clinger-Cohen Act)

Requires all agencies to have a CIO at senior management level U.S. Recognized importance of electronic government and inter-

agency management of ICT Codified in E-Government Act of 2002 Centralized e-government office in OMB Established an Administrator of Electronic Government

CIO Role – Easier said than done CIO’s have technical expertise in information and

technology management, but also are leaders in management and organizational change

Serves as a critical member of senior management team – a trusted partner much like CFO, COO, etc.

CIOs needed to professionally develop and implement technology for an agency in a cost-effective way

Always a tension between centralized and decentralized technology development; between centralized authority versus business units – need both!

CIOs must be trusted and skilled in working within their organizations to effect change – therefore need support of agency head and senior management team

Electronic Government requires inter-agency collaboration and planning – this is a new role for CIOs

Some Results of Strategic ICT Leadership: 53 million Americans filed their taxes on-

line last year and the IRS exceeded the figure this year IRS closed 2 regional centers Refocused personnel to enforcement

SEC’s EDGAR system receives, processes, and disseminates to the public between 12 and 16 million pages of information annually from over 28,000 corporate, investment companies, and individual filers