Budget Authority And Executive Titles Come In For Scrutiny In IT Reform Debate

Government chief information officers without authority over their agencies’ technology spending are like “toothless tigers,” former Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., testified Tuesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee he once chaired.

The committee’s current chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., plans to introduce legislation this Congress that would give CIOs authority over their agencies’ information technology procurement spending and reserve the title of CIO for just one person per agency.

Only Veterans Affairs CIO Roger Baker currently has budget authority. Without that authority, CIOs are handicapped in their ability to reduce wasteful spending by rescoping technology projects for shorter-term deliverables and increasing shared services, Issa has argued...