The “One VA” vision is to  create versatile new ways for veterans to obtain services and  information by streamlining interactions with customers and  integrating IT resources to enable VA employees to help customers  more quickly and effectively. However, fully exploiting this  potential presents challenges to agencies. Despite substantial IT  investments, the federal government’s management of information  resources has produced mixed results. One of the ways in which the  Congress has addressed this issue was to establish the CIO position;  an agency’s CIO serves as the focal point for information and  technology management within an agency. Among these responsibilities, the Clinger-Cohen  act required that the CIOs in the 24 major departments and agencies  have IRM as their “primary duty.”
The view of the Congress as reflected in current law is thus that  CIOs should play a key leadership role in ensuring that agencies  manage their information functions in a coordinated and integrated  fashion in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of  government programs and operations. In July 2004,  we interviewed 27 CIOs at major agencies on their roles,  responsibilities, and challenges, among other things. For  example:   ●  All the CIOs were responsible for five areas (capital planning and  investment management, enterprise architecture, information  security, IT/IRM strategic planning, and IT workforce planning). In carrying out their responsibilities, CIOs generally reported to  their agency heads. According to members of our  Executive Council on Information Management and Technology,  what is most critical is for the CIO to report to a top level official. Tenure and Backgrounds of CIOs

Federal CIOs often remained in their positions for less than the  length of time that some experts consider necessary for them to be  effective and implement changes. At the major departments and  agencies included in our review, the median time in the position of  permanent CIOs whose time in office had been completed was  about 23 months. To the question of  how long a CIO needed to stay in office to be effective, the most  common response of the CIOs (and former agency IT executives  whom we consulted) was 3 to 5 years. In contrast, the CIOs interviewed for our report were generally  helped in carrying out their responsibilities by the background and  experience they brought to the job. Moreover, most of the them had business knowledge related to their  agencies because they had previously worked at the agency or had  worked in an area related to the agency’s mission. Success Factors and Challenges of CIOs

To allow CIOs to serve effectively in the key leadership role  envisioned by the Congress, federal agencies must use the full  potential of CIOs as information and technology management  leaders and active participants in the development of the agency’s  strategic plans and policies. ●  Effective CIOs have legitimate and influential roles in leading top  managers to apply IT to business problems and needs. In particular, CIOs view IT governance  processes, funding, and human capital as critical to their success, as  indicated by two challenges that were cited by over 80 percent of  the CIOs: implementing effective information technology  management and obtaining sufficient and relevant resources. ●  Effective IT management. Roles and Responsibilities of the CIO Position at VA Have Evolved over Time

Since enactment of the Clinger-Cohen Act in 1996, the roles and  responsibilities of VA’s Chief Information Officer have evolved. Noting that VA’s structure  was decentralized, its IT budget was large, and its CIO faced serious  information and technology management issues, we recommended  that the Secretary appoint a CIO with full-time responsibilities for  IRM. Among these challenges was that information  systems and services were highly decentralized, and the VA  administrations and staff offices controlled a majority of the  department’s IT budget. ●  Beginning in fiscal year 2003, the department-level CIO would  assume executive authority over VA’s IT funding. In our view, the realignment of VA’s IT  organization proposed in 2002 held promise for improving  accountability and enabling the department to accomplish its  mission. The additional oversight afforded the CIO could have a  significant impact on the department’s ability to more effectively  account for and manage its proposed $2.1 billion in planned IT  spending.
Why GAO Did This Study

In carrying out VA's mission of serving the nation's veterans and their dependents, the agency relies extensively on information technology (IT), for which it is requesting about $2.1 billion in fiscal year 2006. VA's vision is to integrate its IT resources and streamline interactions with customers, so that it can provide services and information to veterans more quickly and effectively. Fully exploiting the potential of IT to improve performance is a challenging goal for VA, as it is throughout government. The Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 addressed this challenge by, among other things, establishing the position of chief information officer (CIO) to serve as the focal point for information and technology management within departments and agencies. The Committee requested that GAO discuss the role of CIOs in the federal government, as well as provide a historical perspective on the roles and responsibilities of VA's CIO. In developing this testimony, GAO relied on its previous work at VA as well as on the CIO role across government, including a 2004 review of CIOs at major departments and agencies.

What GAO Found

CIOs play a critical role in managing information and technology within federal agencies. According to GAO's 2004 review, CIOs generally held wide responsibilities and reported to their agency heads or other top level managers. In general, CIOs reported that they were responsible for key information and technology management areas; for example, all the CIOs were responsible for five key areas (capital planning and investment management, enterprise architecture, information security, strategic planning for information technology and information resource management, and information technology workforce planning). However, in carrying out their responsibilities, the tenure of federal CIOs was often less than the length of time that some experts consider necessary for them to be effective and implement changes: the median tenure was about 2 years, and the most common response regarding time required to be effective was 3 to 5 years. In contrast, CIOs were generally helped in carrying out their responsibilities by the background and experience they brought to the job: most had background in information technology (IT) or related fields, and many also had business knowledge related to their agencies. Other factors that help CIOs meet their responsibilities include (1) being supported by senior executives who recognize the importance to their missions of IT and an effective CIO; (2) playing an influential role in applying IT to business needs; and (3) being able to structure their organizations appropriately. At the same time, CIOs cited several challenges, of which the two most frequently mentioned were implementing effective IT management and obtaining sufficient and relevant resources. Over time, the CIO position at VA, as well as information and technology management as a whole, has received increased attention at the department. After several years with CIOs whose primary duty was not information and technology management or who were serving in an acting capacity, the department appointed a full-time permanent CIO in August 2001. In 2002, the department proposed further strengthening the position and centralizing IT management, recognizing that aspects of its computing environment were particularly challenging and required substantial management attention. In particular, the department's information systems and services were highly decentralized, and a large proportion of the department's IT budget was controlled by the VA's administrations and staff offices. To address these challenges, the Secretary issued a memo in 2002 announcing that IT functions, programs, and funding would be centralized under the department-level CIO. This realignment held promise for improving accountability and enabling the department to accomplish its mission. The additional oversight afforded the CIO could have a significant impact on the department's ability to more effectively account for and manage its IT spending.