New CIO Faces Cost-Cutting

Steven VanRoekel is the new federal chief information officer, replacing Vivek Kundra. Right away, he is facing an austerity program by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), because information technology reform is the focal point of the government’s cost-saving efforts. With the Obama administration looking to find $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, much is being expected of VanRoekel.

To that end, he has posted a blog supporting a new role for federal agency CIOs.

“As the federal government implements the reform agenda, it is changing the role of agency CIOs away from just policy-making and infrastructure maintenance, to encompass true portfolio management for all information technology,” says OMB Director Jacob Lew. “This will enable CIOs to focus on delivering IT solutions that support the mission and business effectiveness of their agencies and overcome bureaucratic impediments to deliver enterprise-wide solutions.”

The U.S. government maintains 2,000 Web addresses that support 24,000 sites. VanRoekel’s reform initiative sets a goal of cutting them in half by next July. Additionally, by Oct. 11, federal agencies must provide a report with an inventory and analysis of all registered dot-gov domain names and an assessment of “Web governance.” The report must include a list of candidate sites for merger or elimination, a list of sites that provide high value to the public and can serve as models, and a plan for managing websites more efficiently.

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