The Office of Management and Budget has put together an ambitious six-month plan for improving federal IT, including reforming the IT workforce. Jeffrey Zients, OMB deputy director for management, on Friday detailed five areas for IT reform and specific action steps for execution.
The plan includes strengthening program management, in part by creating a professional career path for IT program managers to help attract and develop highly skilled workers. OMB will work with the Office of Personnel Management to design a formal track by May, Zients said.
The federal chief information officer will release more details on the new action plan on Dec. 9.
Last month, the TechAmerica Foundation released a 33-step action plan to the Obama administration for improving federal information technology acquisitions and management. The report recommended creating a federal career path for IT program managers that emphasizes financial and career advancement incentives. The report also recommended introducing new training standards that transform IT acquisition managers from working on large-scale, multi-year projects to the development and procurement of IT in smaller, simpler increments.
Will creating a career path for IT program managers help agencies better recruit, retain and develop highly-skilled workers? What else must still be done to accomplish this goal?
Brittany Ballenstedt
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
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