OMB's Plan for Reforming Government IT
OMB Director Peter Orzag also announced a plan for cutting waste by reforming IT. He explains how one source of ineffective and inefficient government is the technology gap between the public and private sectors:
While a productivity boom has transformed private sector performance over the past two decades, the federal government has almost entirely missed this transformation and now lags far behind on efficiency and service quality.
As part of this he explains three specific actions the Government is taking to advance IT reform.
- I am directing all executive departments and agencies to stop issuing new task orders or procurements for all financial system modernization projects – an area of persistent problems – pending review and approval by OMB of new, more streamlined project plans.
- The Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra will undertake detailed reviews of the highest risk IT projects across the federal government. Agencies will be required to present improvement plans to the CIO for projects that are behind schedule or over budget.
- Third, OMB’s Deputy Director for Management Jeff Zients will develop recommendations, within 120 days, for improving the federal government’s overall IT procurement and management practices.
For more on the Government's efforts to Reform IT check the memo sent by Director Orzag to all heads of Executive Departments and Agencies.Reforming the Federal Govt Efforts to Manage IT Projects
