Technology leaders repeat call for federal CIO

State and federal officials repeated their call for the appointment of a federal chief information officer on Tuesday but cited a lack of interest on behalf of the Bush administration as one possible reason the position has not yet been created.

Meanwhile, those Hill lawmakers in favor of creating the Cabinet-level position say the federal government has a lot to learn from state and local governments when it comes to successfully implementing e-government services.

"When you think of government ... you think of old technologies, old ways of doing things," said Virginia Republican Tom Davis, chairman of the House Government Reform Technology and Procurement Subcommittee, which held a hearing on the issues. "It is my concern ... that the federal government is failing to effectively manage its information resources, particularly with regards to the use of technology."

Davis and subcommittee member Jim Turner, D-Texas, introduced separate legislation during the 106th Congress to create a federal CIO with top-level authority and direct access to the president, and to codify the federal CIO Council.

In recent years, state and county governments have taken the lead in establishing such positions that report directly to governors or other top state officials. On the federal level, however, there is usually a CIO for the federal agencies, but no one person that all of the CIOs report to who acts as an intermediary between them and the President.

Federal e-government is "like a ship without a rudder, moving all over the place without anyone at the top," Turner said.

But critics of the call for a federal CIO argue that no clear plan has emerged for the job's specific duties, for who he or she would report to and whether the position would be just another governmental attempt to micromanage or if the appointee would be a "champion" of agency CIOs, said Dave McClure, director of IT management issues at the General Accounting Office.

McClure said "the track record in the federal arena is mixed" when it comes to e-government initiatives, and although there are currently more than 1,400 e-gov initiatives underway, the results may not be seen soon--one argument for a central coordinator of such efforts.

The Bush administration has not written off the idea of creating a federal CIO position but has stressed that it is not in favor of creating a separate office or entity for that person. That is why pro-CIO lawmakers need to spend more time convincing top-level officials of the need for the position, according to one state official.

"I think sometimes they [executive officials] view the CIOs as someone who fixes computers and fax [machines,]" said Virginia Technology Secretary Don Upson, adding that senior-level policymakers need to "buy in" to the idea. "It's a question of time, not whether it occurs," Upson said, but without a federal CIO, "you're never going to break the bureaucracy."