CIO Council maps strategy

CIO Council

The federal CIO Council released its strategic plan for fiscal 2001 on Monday

with a heavy focus on e-government and intergovernmental initiatives.

The plan lays out specific goals to take the council and the government

through the upcoming change in presidential administrations. It covers all

areas of government, highlighting how information technology can improve

agencies' work.

The six "strategic goals" straddle each committee within the council,

including joint roles for security and privacy, further development of IT

workforce issues, improving cooperation with state and local governments

and the private sector, and pushing for more governmentwide programs and

initiatives in which agencies share resources to provide services.

"We think that information technology will be an essential component

to the new government," said Jim Flyzik, CIO at the Treasury Department

and vice chairman of the council, at the release of the plan at the Industry

Advisory Council's Executive Leadership Conference in Richmond, Va.

The next steps for the council will be to move into closer cooperation

with the other governmentwide organizations, the Chief Financial Officers

Council and the Procurement Executives Council. "We need to create the perception

that the CIOs, CFOs and Procurement Executive Council are working together,"

Flyzik said.

To do this, the CIO Council is working closely with the Office of Management

and Budget to develop "some kind of communique," he said.

The council is also working on a transition plan that it will present

to the incoming president and administration after the elections in November.

While the strategic plan focuses on goals for the council, the transition

plan will focus more on goals for government as a whole and barriers to

those goals that must be overcome, Flyzik said.