	Background

Debate over the creation of a federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) position has ebbed and flowed over thepast five years as Congress has sought to addressgovernment information technology (IT) organizational and management issues. In private sector organizations witha CIO, this person serves as the seniordecisionmaker providing leadership and direction for information resource development, procurement, andmanagement, with a focus on improving efficiency andthe quality of services delivered. The possibility of creating a federal CIO, to be located in the Office ofManagement and Budget (OMB), was originallyconsidered in an early draft of what became the Clinger-Cohen Act in 1995 ( P.L. 104-106 ). The mixed results ofagency-level CIOs, combined with a growing interest inbetter managing government technology resources, brought renewed attention to creating a national CIO positionduring the 106th Congress. However, the idea of a federal CIO was dropped in favor of agency-level CIOs following testimony at a July, 1995 Senate Governmental Affairs Committeehearing. H.R. H.R. (12) The new position will report tothe Deputy Director of Management at OMB, who in turn will be the federal CIO. (16) On March 21, 2002, the Governmental AffairsCommittee reported S. 803 (now renamed the E-Government Act of 2002) with an amendment. On June 27,2002, the Senate passed S. 803 unanimously and the bill was sent to the House of Representatives for consideration. Establishes an Office of Electronic Government in OMB to be headed by an Administrator. However, there are somedissenting voices raising a number of issues that remain unresolved. Specifically, there is disagreement over whether the federal CIO should be placed inthe Office of Management and Budget (OMB), or if a new office should be established within the White House tofocus solely on information technology issues. It has been reported that Senator Lieberman favors the creation of a new, separate CIOposition with deputy director status within theOMB. (23)

		Potential Responsibilities of a Federal CIO

The responsibilities of the federal CIO are closely related to the organizational location of the position. (25)
Information Security. Another issue is budgetary authority. Many observers consider some control overfunding of IT projects critical to the success of a federal CIO. Some observers have suggested either having the federal CIO control a portion of the various agencies' budgets forinformation technology projects or providingthe federal CIO with a single fund to support interagency projects. 2458 (Turner), E-Government Act of 2001 (36)

On July 11, 2001, Representative Turner introduced H.R. Some of these responsibilities would include; reviewingagency budget requests for information technologycapital planning and investment, reviewing information technology investment legislative proposals, evaluating theperformance and results of agency informationtechnology investments, advising the Director of OMB on IRM resources and strategies, providing "overallleadership and direction to the executive branch oninformation policy," promoting the effective and innovative use of information technology by agencies especiallythrough multiagency collaborative projects,administering and distributing funds from the E-Government Fund (discussed in greater detail below), consultingwith GSA on the use of the InformationTechnology Fund to promote e-government projects, serving as the Chair of the CIO Council, establishing andpromulgating information technology standards forthe federal government, establishing fora for federal, state, local, and tribal collaboration and consultation oninformation technology best practices andinnovation, promoting electronic procurement initiatives, and implementing accessibility standards.
Debate over the creation of a federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) position has ebbed and flowed over the past five years as Congress has sought to addressgovernment information technology (IT) management issues. In private sector organizations, a CIO is often a seniordecisionmaker providing leadership anddirection for information resource development, procurement, and management, with a focus on improvingefficiency and the quality of services delivered. Originally considered in an early draft of the Clinger-Cohen Act in 1995 ( P.L. 104-106 ), the idea of a single federalCIO was dropped in favor of creating CIOpositions within the executive agencies. The mixed results of agency-level CIOs, combined with a growing interestin better managing government IT resources,has renewed attention in this issue. Efforts to coordinate electronic government (e-government) initiatives has alsoled some observers to call for an"e-government czar" or a federal CIO.
During the 106th Congress a number of lawmakers made proposals to establish a federal CIO. In the House of Representatives one bill ( H.R. 4670 ,Turner) would have established a federal CIO in an office outside of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). A second bill ( H.R. 5024 ,Davis) had similar provisions but also provided a federal CIO with a broad mandate and budget authority tocarry out federal IT projects, and thepower to coordinate and execute government-wide information security efforts. Neither bill was passed in the lastCongress. In May 2001 a Senate bill wasintroduced ( S. 803 , Lieberman), which included many of the House bills' provisions as well as new ones suchthe creation of a Federal IT TrainingCenter. A companion House bill ( H.R. 2458 , Turner) was introduced in July 2001. On March 21, 2002, theGovernmental Affairs Committeereported S. 803 (now renamed the E-Government Act of 2002) with an amendment. The Senate passed thebill unanimously on June 27, 2002.
Although the Bush Administration has opposed creating a separate federal CIO, in June 2001 OMB announced the creation of a new position, the AssociateDirector of Information Technology and E-Government, who will report to the Deputy Director of Management(DDM) at OMB. The DDM, will be the federalCIO.
Despite the OMB announcement, some policymakers suggest that many issues remain unresolved. One issue is the organizational placement of the position.There is disagreement over whether the federal CIO should be placed in OMB or if a new office should beestablished within the White House.
A second issue is the scope of responsibility of the position. Some proponents suggest that the federal CIO should coordinate information security issues. Criticsargue that individual agencies may believe they have a reduced obligation or will devote fewer resources toinformation security at a time when threats toinformation resources are climbing. Another area of concern is budgetary authority. Many observers consider somecontrol over funding of IT projects critical tothe success of a federal CIO, either by controlling a portion of the various agencies' budgets for IT projects orproviding the federal CIO with a fund to supportinteragency projects.