Challenging Orszag on the IT Gap

OMB's Peter Orszag has made no secret of his disdain for federal information technology efforts, saying not only that staffers reported that going from the Obama presidential campaign into government was "like going from an X-box to an Atari," but also that "innovative uses of technology are scarce to nonexistent within the federal government," and, just this week, that agencies have "almost entirely missed" the technological transformation of the past two decades and as a result are "far behind on efficiency and service quality."

That last bit was too much for Chris Dorobek of Federal News Radio's "Dorobek Insider," who's been following federal technology trends for almost two decades. It's "utterly untrue" that agencies are that far behind, he writes in a lengthy open letter to Orszag, and pleads for an end to the "tired, tedious comparison between the public and private sectors."

I assume the purpose of Orszag's statements is to prod agencies to improve their use of technology -- and, more importantly, their service to citizens. But I'm also on the record as being a little taken aback by the level of the rhetoric. I wonder if OMB will shift its approach when Orszag departs in the direction of highlighting agency success stories -- even if they think they're few and far between.