Page 46 - Federal Computer Week, May/June 2019

FCWIdeas
Making the case for a federal department of IT
Responsibility for IT acquisition and cybersecurity policy should be centralized, with a single accountable leader at the top
BY MIN-SEOK PANG
In its fiscal 2020 budget request to Congress, the Trump administration proposed a major cut in technology for the Office of Management and Budget. This is not a wise move. For more effective federal IT manage- ment, the White House and Congress should further expand the role of the federal CIO in technology oversight and modernization.
Toward that end, I propose that
the Office of E-Government and IT become an independent agency, alongside other independent agencies with governmentwide policy roles, including OMB and the General Ser- vices Administration. To emphasize its role in driving technology modern- ization, I suggest that the new agency be named the Technology Moderniza- tion Administration. The federal CIO would head TMA and assume greater control over governmentwide IT mod- ernization and cybersecurity.
In recognition of the critical role
of IT, the private sector has in recent years elevated the role of the CIO to report directly to the company head rather than to a chief of finance or operations. With a greater voice in top management and a direct report- ing relationship to a CEO, a CIO is expected to play a leadership role in digital transformation.
According to a study by Temple University’s Paul Pavlou and his col- leagues, when a CIO directly reports to a CEO, IT can better serve as a strategic differentiator for firms. My research suggests that IT investments create greater value for government when a CIO position is formally codi- fied in legislation and a CIO nominee is confirmed by the legislature.
The Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act has expanded the authority of agency CIOs and requires that a CIO report to the head of an agency. Those are steps in the right direction, but they fall short of strengthening the federal CIO.
A more critical problem is that gov- ernmentwide IT management func- tions are fragmented across OMB, GSA, the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies. Conse-
ization initiatives across the federal government.
The agency I envision would:
• Oversee agencies’ modernization and cloud initiatives.
•Manage the Technology Modern- ization Fund.
• Formulate standards for enter- prise architecture and cybersecurity. • Coordinate interagency collabo-
rations, such as shared services and data center consolidation.
• Lead open-data initiatives.
• Devise strategies for developing technology talent in government.
• Host the U.S. Digital Service.
• Assist with modernization efforts by state and local governments.
In addition, the Technology Trans- formation Services and other federal IT policy and oversight functions at GSA would be consolidated inside TMA. In the long run, TMA could take over IT procurement functions from the Federal Acquisition Service.
TMA could be funded by direct appropriations by Congress and fees paid by federal, state and local agen- cies for shared services and the sup- port they receive from USDS and 18F.
The federal IT budget will surpass $100 billion in the near future, and much of it will be spent on legacy infrastructures. That trend is not sustainable. Now more than ever, the government needs strong, permanent leadership and an independent agency dedicated to IT modernization and cybersecurity. n
Min-Seok Pang is an associate professor and Milton F. Stauffer Research Fellow at Temple Univer- sity’s Fox School of Business.
IT Department
quently, no single top-level official is in charge of leading technology mod- ernization and cybersecurity across the executive branch.
A Senate-confirmed federal CIO who directly reports to the presi-
dent would be held accountable for performance on modernization and cybersecurity. The president would be able to appoint a person who shares the administration’s policy priorities, and the Senate would have an oppor- tunity to examine the CIO’s qualifica- tions. As the head of an independent agency, rather than a subordinate of the director of OMB, an empowered CIO would be able to exercise greater statutory authority in driving modern-
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May/June 2019 FCW.COM