GOP, Bush, may clash over plans for federal CIO

President Bush and Republican lawmakers may clash early in the new administration over the issue of which office should house the federal chief information officer (CIO). Bush has proposed issuing an executive order to designate the deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as the federal CIO to manage the integration of e-government between agencies. However, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., plans to propose a bill that would create a separate office in the White House for the federal CIO. "Both the [incoming] Bush administration and Davis agree that the federal government needs to get its house in order about this issue, but there may be differences on how to accomplish that goal," said Davis spokesman David Marin. Davis' bill, introduced as H.R. 5024 in the 106th Congress, would create a White House Office of Information Policy. The office would encompass the duties of the federal CIO rather than keeping them within OMB, which already is tasked with drafting the president's budget. "This is important enough that it deserves a certain amount of autonomy," said Colin Van Ostern, communications director for Rep. Jim Turner, D-Texas, who also introduced a bill, H.R. 4670, in the 106th Congress to create a federal CIO and a separate office for that person. "We need someone who can devote all their time and energy to being a federal CIO, someone who doesn't have other responsibilities as well." Currently, agency CIOs meet to coordinate policy, but they have no budget or authority to implement government-wide digital solutions. A federal CIO could report directly to the president and direct the process. Last year, the Progressive Policy Institute produced a study concluding that there was a lack of top-agency and government-wide leadership on digitizing services under the Clinton administration. It noted that agencies have been focusing on their own initiatives rather than looking at the government as a whole. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., who as a vice-presidential candidate proposed creating a federal CIO, has been working on the issue with Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., for the past year and has invited the public to offer suggestions on how a federal CIO should operate. Lieberman is expected to introduce a bill this year, said Lieberman spokeswoman Leslie Phillips. Meanwhile, at a September 2000 House hearing, then-Government, Management Information and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Steve Horn, R-Calif., told Clinton administration officials that he opposed keeping technology-related management and budget issues within OMB. The House GOP leadership has yet to decide if it will reappoint Horn chairman of the subcommittee. Bush administration officials could not be reached for comment.