1. TechAmerica’s Twentieth Annual Survey of Federal Chief Information Officers
march 2010
TrAnspArency
And TrAnsformATion
Through Technology

2. Table of contents
Executive summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Survey methodology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Transparency and transformation
through technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Benefits of transparency ....................................................... 3
IT approaches to transparency .............................................. 3
Opportunities and barriers .................................................... 5
Key CIO challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Cybersecurity ..................................................................... 7
IT infrastructure ................................................................... 9
IT workforce ..................................................................... 12
IT management ................................................................. 13
Efficiency and effectiveness ................................................ 14
Performance management and accountability ........................ 15
Acquisition ....................................................................... 16
Effect of the Recovery Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
State of the CIO survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Time in office .................................................................... 18
Barriers to progress ........................................................... 18
Value of IT initiatives .......................................................... 18
Observations from industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Appendix A: Participating Federal IT officials.......................... 23
Appendix B: Industry participation in report preparation ........... 24
About TechAmerica
TechAmerica is the leading voice for the U.S. technology industry, which is the driving force behind productivity growth and jobs
creation in the United States and the foundation of the global innovation economy. Representing approximately 1,200 member
companies of all sizes from the public and commercial sectors of the economy, it is the industry’s largest advocacy organization
and is dedicated to helping members’ top and bottom lines. It is also the technology industry’s only grassroots-to-global advocacy
network, with offices in state capitals around the United States, Washington, D.C., Europe (Brussels) and Asia (Beijing). TechAmerica
was formed by the merger of AeA (formerly the American Electronics Association), the Cyber Security Industry Alliance (CSIA),
the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) and the Government Electronics & Information Technology Association
(GEIA). Learn more at www.techamerica.org.
About Grant Thornton LLP
The people in the independent firms of Grant Thornton International Ltd provide personalized attention and the highest quality
service to public and private clients in more than 100 countries. Grant Thornton LLP is the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton
International Ltd, one of the six global audit, tax and advisory organizations. Grant Thornton International Ltd and its member firms
are not a worldwide partnership, as each member firm is a separate and distinct legal entity.
Grant Thornton LLP’s Global Public Sector, based in Alexandria, Virginia, is a global management consulting business with the
mission of providing responsive and innovative financial, performance management and systems solutions to governments and
international organizations. We have provided comprehensive, cutting-edge solutions to the most challenging business issues
facing government organizations. Our in-depth understanding of government operations and guiding legislation represents a distinct
benefit to our clients. Many of our professionals have previous civilian and military public sector experience and understand the
operating environment of government. Visit Grant Thornton’s Global Public Sector at www.grantthornton.com/publicsector.

3. 1
Executive summary
As we release TechAmerica’s Twentieth Annual Survey of Federal Chief Our report concludes with a set of high-level
Information Officers (CIO), President Obama’s administration has just strategic observations from the perspective of
entered its second year and its priorities, strategies and initiatives are TechAmerica’s industry members. Their recom-
starting to take shape. An important focus of the new administration has mendations to the Obama administration are to:
been to create a more open government, one that is more transparent, par-
• Explain the vision that guides new initiatives
ticipatory and collaborative. Federal CIOs and the information technology
(IT) resources they manage are expected to make a significant contribution • Position Cloud Computing by describing
to achieving open government. The CIOs are excited about playing a key in detail how and where it should be applied
role in fundamentally changing how the federal government and its con- in government
stituents interact through the use of information technology. They think
• Add context to the concept of open govern-
that broadening public participation and involvement in government will
ment with more details about its shape, form
create greater trust in government, increase the value that citizens receive
and benefits
from government and unleash innovation with respect to governing and
government services. • Define the target state for cybersecurity and
create a roadmap for achieving the appropriate
In support of open, transparent government, we found CIOs taking actions
level of operational security
in two distinct areas. They are providing access to information through
projects like Data.gov, USASpending.gov, Recovery.gov and the Federal • Improve acquisition through human resources
IT Dashboard. And they are increasing collaboration and participation and operational excellence
through social media, Web 2.0 and Government 2.0, blogs, wikis, Twitter,
• Work with the Office of Personnel
FaceBook, public dialogues and next-generation Web applications.
Management to improve the IT workforce
Looking ahead, CIOs see the following long-term challenges, ranked
• Use performance management and account-
in order of priority:
ability to drive results
1. Cybersecurity
• Focus on project management excellence,
2. IT infrastructure
including on project management profes-
3. IT workforce
sionals, governance, links to mission and
4. IT management
strategy and managing project scope
5. Efficiency and effectiveness
6. Performance management and accountability We agree with President Obama that federal IT
7. Acquisition is a critical part of government transformation.
As such, it deserves the best, most considered
Our survey report addresses CIO views on current efforts to overcome
leadership possible, clear goals and the right
the challenges and make positive contributions to the strategies of the
resources to make the journey.
Obama administration.
Most CIOs reported that the American Reinvestment and Recovery
Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) has had no impact on their IT budgets,
even though a portion of those funds are set aside for management and
administrative purposes. Close to half of the CIOs report they are not
involved in leading Recovery Act efforts in their agencies.

4. 2
Survey methodology
Purpose The Task Group developed an interview guide
TechAmerica (formerly the Information Technology and questionnaire that reflects this year’s theme:
“Transparency and Transformation through
Association of America) has conducted an annual
Technology,” which included these topics:
federal government chief information officer (CIO)
• Top challenges facing CIOs
survey for 20 years. Through the survey, top IT • Transparency and transformation
officials, oversight groups and congressional staff through technology
share their views of the challenges federal CIOs face • Cybersecurity
• Cloud Computing
now and in the future. As in past years, TechAmerica
• IT workforce
received outstanding support from the federal CIO • Performance management and accountability
community and from Grant Thornton LLP, which • Acquisition reform and sourcing
helped sponsor and conduct this survey. • The American Reinvestment and
Recovery Act of 2009
We conducted this year’s survey interviews • Web 2.0
during the fall of 2009 and early winter of • Emerging technologies
2010. The purpose of the survey is to provide • Thin Client
the IT community with a point-in-time assess- • Green IT
ment of the thinking of key federal IT opinion In order to obtain point-in-time and trend data,
leaders on the significant issues they face now the interview teams also administered a multiple-
and in the future. choice “State of the CIO” questionnaire to
Methodology participants who are CIOs. Both interviewers
TechAmerica’s Federal Committee sponsored and those interviewed were free to explore and
and conducted this year’s in-person interviews discuss areas of particular interest in more depth.
from October 2009 through February 2010. Visit www.grantthornton.com/publicsector
Teams of TechAmerica interviewers met with under Publications to download a copy of the
more than 40 CIOs, information resources man- survey guide and questionnaire.
agement officials and representatives from the Our survey’s report reflects the words of intervie-
White House Office of Management and Budget wees to the maximum extent possible. However,
and congressional oversight committee staff. The to preserve anonymity we do not quote or attri-
TechAmerica CIO Survey Task Group selected bute responses to specific individuals.
interviewees based on their involvement in pre-
vious years, enterprise challenges and relevance
of information technology to agency mission.

5. 3
Transparency and transformation
through technology
“Transparency will set you free,” says a federal CIO Benefits of transparency
we interviewed for this survey. His feeling is shared Commenting on public sector transparency’s
core concept of openness, CIOs saw many
by most of the CIO participants in the study, who benefits of broadening public participation and
are excited about President Obama’s ambitious involvement in government. The most impor-
program to create a more transparent, participatory tant benefits include:
and collaborative federal government. One reason for • Greater trust between citizens and government
their energy is that, in the President’s first budget, the • Increased value in what government
provides to citizens
administration stated its intent to leverage the power • Innovation in government/citizen
of technology to transform the federal government. collaboration and in government services
CIOs in our survey are buoyed by the key role they • A better foundation for
public-private partnerships
have been asked to play in transforming how the
• A move from anecdote-based
government and its constituents interact through to fact-based government
information technology. Federal IT leaders also
IT approaches to transparency
share a high-level understanding of what transparent CIOs in the survey appear to be progressing
government is intended to deliver. Yet, as a group, toward transparent government by focusing on
they have a wide range of views on what the desired two tactical areas: increasing access to information
and collaboration and participation.
end state will look like, the opportunities to be
Access to information
leveraged and the barriers to success.
Survey CIOs pointed to the most visible proj-
ects that President Obama’s administration has
focused on to improve the access to various
types of information from and about govern-
ment, including Data.gov, USASpending.gov,
Recovery.gov and the Federal IT Dashboard,
shown in Table 1.
According to our CIOs, although the four
information resources in Table 1 are designed
for different data access and users, they have
more common elements than differences. Each
resource is maturing, still in its implementa-
tion and operational phases. As such, they all
have similar issues such as data quality, lack of
operational rhythm and defined requirements
and low customer demand. Still, say the CIOs,

6. 4
each resource promises to be effective in easy and finance status and information. They say
access to federal information—definite progress this form of internal organizational transparency
toward more transparent government. will deliver the benefits that President Obama’s
administration expects government-wide, with
Several CIOs say they have extended the attri-
increased trust and collaboration being para-
butes of the Federal IT Dashboard into their
mount. One CIO says that he and his organiza-
internal customer base (or are starting to do this).
tion’s chief financial officer (CFO) are working
Their intent is to focus attention on customer
together on a CIO Operational Dashboard.
service, security, mission support, and budget
Table 1: Federal access to information projects
Project Purpose Features
Data.gov Increases public access to high- • Searches raw data by single
value, machine-readable datasets or multiple categories and by one
generated by the Executive Branch or more agencies
of the federal government • Provides hyperlinks leading to
agency tools or Web pages that
allow mining of datasets
• Accesses government geodata,
or a combination of geospatial
and other information
USASpending.gov Provides a single searchable Web • For each federal government
site, accessible by the public for free award, gives the name and
that includes information concerning location of the entity receiving it,
federal awards (contracts, loans, amount, transaction type, funding
grants, insurance, direct assistance, agency, and other information
other payments) • Searchable by awardee, agency,
type of award
• Gives summary information such
as top recipients of awards, etc.
Federal IT Dashboard Provides details of federal • Tracks progress of IT investments
government IT investments • Gives performance information
for major IT projects
• Shows contractors and
contract awards
Recovery.gov Gives public access to data related • Reports ARRA funding by state/
to spending under the American territory, zip, congressional dis-
Reinvestment and Recovery Act of trict, type of award
2009 (ARRA) • Shows locally reported and fed-
eral agency-reported spending
• Geodata provided
• Allows for the reporting of poten-
tial fraud, waste and abuse

7. 5
Collaboration and participation Figure 1: How would you categorize the current state
CIOs say they are increasing efforts at collabora- of your agency’s involvement with social media, such as
tion and participation, including social media, Twitter and FaceBook?
Web 2.0 and Government 2.0 initiatives such as
40%
blogs, wikis, public dialogues and next generation
Web sites. For example, in the State of the CIO 35%
portion of this survey we asked CIOs about their
30%
involvement with social media such as Twitter and
FaceBook, which tie into the Obama administra- 25%
tion’s emphasis on transparent government. 20%
40%
As shown in Figure 1, almost 30 percent report
that they provide access to social media capa- 15% 30%
bilities to employees and encourage their use in 10%
interacting with people both within and without 15% 15%
an agency; 15 percent give access to employees 5%
only. Just fewer than 40 percent are working on 0%
0%
the policy foundation they deem necessary for Currently Currently Currently Currently No current
providing access/ providing access/ developing policy tracking other plans to use
opening access to and use of social media. The encouraging use encouraging use for use of agencies’ social media
both inside and inside agency social media experience
rest are watching the experience of other agencies outside of agency
before starting their own initiatives.
Although CIOs reported few specific achieve-
and agencies are expected to implement new
ments related to these initiatives, most believe the
capabilities. CIOs also anticipate that the direc-
activities facilitate the seamless exchange of ideas
tive will lead to a more robust policy framework
and information within and among government
that will enable the significant changes required.
entities and between government and citizens. To
this end, CIOs seem willing to engage in activities Opportunities and barriers
they consider experimental in nature, believing CIOs see both opportunities for and barriers to
that these are the right things to be doing and that, transparent government. Opportunities include:
in the end, the new ways will deliver important
• Leveraging existing applications and data by
benefits. Several CIOs use personal blogs or other
improving access and collaboration
social media to improve strategic communications
• Becoming a more agile government that is
and participation within their organizations and,
better able to adapt to change
they are frank in saying, to gain personal experi-
• Using transparent government to improve sup-
ence with the social media in vogue.
port to and achieve core missions
Our CIOs also say that the administration’s new • Providing visibility and momentum to enable
directive on open government will identify addi- eliminating low-value applications
tional initiatives that are important to moving • Cascading metrics from department-level
the program forward. The directive also will dashboards down to individual performance
establish the specific pace at which departments objectives, thereby improving accountability

8. 6
Barriers to transparency include the following,
say our CIOs:
Haiti earthquake aftermath proves IT value
• Opportunity cost of investments in transparent
Tragedy struck Haiti while we interviewed CIOs for this government (a minority of CIOs say that such
survey. After the January 12, 2010, earthquake, several investments would be better used for direct
CIOs reported that Twitter, text messaging, FaceBook improvements of government operations)
and other social media helped improve communication • Improved tools, especially related to search,
among disaster victims, rescue teams, relief organiza- analytics and data quality
tions and charity-minded citizens, to name a few exam- • Better definition of what the public wants
ples. The CIOs think that post-event assessments will and needs with respect to government infor-
show how that technology improved government and mation. Lacking clarity about citizen desires,
relief organization response. Indeed, the CIOs believe several CIOs say that there is too much trial
that the Haiti experience has transformed how such and error in current initiatives. This may be
organizations will use technology to improve their tac- one reason that a CIO we interviewed says,
tics during future disasters. “I will know what open and transparent
government is when I see it.”)
• Inadequate or inappropriate governance for
projects aimed at transparent government
• Policy to support transparent government,
especially for security and records manage-
ment. Says one CIO, “We are moving fast
without a policy framework.”
• More reliable, proven security
• Legacy systems that impede agility
and hinder transparency
• Data quality
In summary, federal CIOs we interviewed know
they are a bit fuzzy on what the transparency end
state will be and the plans to get there, and they
see that there are some barriers along the way.
However, they think that increasing transpar-
ency is the right thing to do because it will help
lead to transforming government, working more
effectively in the public sector and achieving
better collaboration with citizens.

9. 7
Key CIO challenges
What do federal CIOs consider their most important compliance activities of agencies more efficient
challenges? In the recent past, our annual CIO and less costly, is being implemented in some
agencies now. It does not address another
surveys show that these include cybersecurity, IT reported issue, which is that there is too much
infrastructure, the IT workforce and IT management, emphasis on compliance versus operational
which in 2010 are still high on the list of concerns. security, but instead simply addresses the cost
of compliance.
Many CIOs report progress in meeting some of the
• FISMA reform. Congress is considering
challenges. CIOs have redefined other challenges as several reform bills that address criticisms and
understanding of them has matured. shortcomings of the current FISMA. Our
CIOs support reforms that would make the
FISMA process more of a technical review
Cybersecurity
than, as one CIO says, “. . . a question-and-an-
Several CIOs say they see millions of malicious
swer document asking rudimentary questions.”
attempts per day to access their networks. Many
• Trusted Internet Connection (TIC). Most
are by recreational hackers, and there are increased
CIOs think this program is a good strategy
attempts by sophisticated criminals looking for
and will produce better protected govern-
financial gain, say some CIOs. More alarming,
ment Internet connections. On the other
say our survey participants, is the growth in cyber
hand, several CIOs express concern that TIC
attacks backed by countries looking for classified
will narrow the focus of cyber enemies and
information or ways to control critical parts of our
potentially mushroom the damage should
military and critical infrastructure.
they break in.
No wonder, then, that once again cybersecurity tops • Federal Desktop Core Configurations
the list of federal IT challenges. CIOs described to (FDCC). CIOs say this effort to direct security
us a set of threats that are increasing at an alarming investments into standard configurations
rate, maintaining and sometimes widening the gap has made good progress. They think FDDC
between the current and the desired security state. is good strategy and allows the government
This has happened despite a great deal of funding to focus its resources on testing and protecting
and attention invested in trying to close the gap. a more defined universe of desktop software.
Based on these discussions, four major cybersecurity Some CIOs were concerned about the level
topics emerge: the status of CIOs’ current efforts, of effort and investment required to keep the
trends, issues and priority needs. FDCC current, considering the rapid pace
at which technology evolves.
Status of current efforts
• Identity management. Several CIOs say
Our CIOs provided a status on several cur-
that identity management is critical, especially
rent cybersecurity initiatives which were started
for sharing information, because it creates
during the Bush administration:
trust across organizations and boundaries.
• Automated Federal Information Security Our CIOs expect a government-wide strategy
Management Act (FISMA) reporting tool. will soon emerge to guide progress in this
This effort, which aims at making FISMA important security component.

10. 8
Trends Issues
CIOs say there is continuing movement Much of the security issue discussion we heard
toward centralizing security programs across from CIOs seemed to involve a balance between
the enterprise. This parallels trends to consoli- opposite ends of the IT spectrum. Primarily, this
date infrastructure, architectures, certain types was balancing security against the following:
of application systems and IT management access to information; transparent, participatory,
components. Several CIOs say that the size of collaborative government; Cloud Computing;
security breaches is trending downward while the mobile/wireless computing; and social media.
number of attempts is going up. The same CIOs They also report issues of privacy versus access
say that their efforts to monitor and protect to information. CIOs say they are challenged
networks and systems are having a positive effect. and frustrated by the difficulty in establishing
the right balance between security and improved
Several CIOs mentioned infrastructure trends
access to information.
that have security implications or are driven by
security strategy. For example, some organiza- Other issues include:
tions use Thin Clients, where devices do not
• Getting users to take security seriously.
support local storage but instead store all data
Several CIOs say that a high percentage of
and software on protected servers, with improved
security breaches occur because internal users
security being a key benefit. Several CIOs who
are careless or fail to follow procedures.
deploy personal computers (PCs) as clients say
• Legacy applications. Some CIOs say that
that all local storage is encrypted. Some of those
legacy applications are their greatest area of
CIOs report that they no longer allow removable
security exposure, because of the programs’
storage devices such as thumb drives. CIOs in
older technology and lack of security architec-
organizations whose missions have national secu-
ture built into them.
rity implications and data report a continuing
• Human capital. CIOs say that the ability
trend to operate parallel networks for classified
to attract and retain certified security profes-
and for less sensitive administrative uses.
sionals is an acute and severe problem.

11. 9
Priority needs will support current and future needs? For the
CIOs say their short- and long-term critical last decade, the government’s answer has been a
cybersecurity needs include the following: slow but consistent push toward a more consoli-
dated infrastructure. CIOs we interviewed say
• Insight into all devices on their
that the benefits of consolidating IT infrastruc-
respective networks
ture include improvements in:
• Two-factor authentication for network access
• Active monitoring with predictive tools • Security, efficiency, cost management
• Standardization across an enterprise and and containment
between enterprises • Ability to manage
• Unity of command to improve governance • Responsive service
and accountability • Agility and ability to adapt to change
• Access controls at both the domain • Ability to focus on core mission
and data levels • Energy consumption
One CIO described a “spectrum of cyber capability” CIOs say that the Obama administration is con-
that he expects to implement over a four- to five- tinuing this approach, but with more emphasis
year period. His approach integrates improvements on technology solutions than on management
in security human capital and security infrastructure strategies to overcome organizational problems
(i.e., more consolidation and upgraded security and resistance. Following is a summary of the
infrastructure). This CIO says his approach will “… CIOs’ comments on enterprise-level moderniza-
avoid the death spiral mode of patching exploited tion initiatives.
security holes and instead move to active moni-
Data center consolidation
toring that anticipates and identifies threats before
CIOs we interviewed say that data center
they occur and that has ready counter responses.”
consolidation is an important part of IT infra-
IT infrastructure structure modernization and will help deliver
Our CIOs say the state of the federal govern- the benefits listed in the previous section. Most
ment’s IT infrastructure still presents a huge consolidation activity started before President
challenge. They portray the current state in Obama took office in January 2009, but in the
several ways, but most characterize it as: first year the administration has not emphasized
it. However, in the FY 2011 budget the Obama
• Dated technology
administration introduced a new initiative to
• Lacking standards
create a government-wide strategy with specific
• Security not architected in
agency-level plans to consolidate federal data
• Costly to operate and maintain
centers, reducing their number and cost. Also,
• Cannot scale or adapt to meet changing
the new budget calls for centralizing IT services
mission requirements
for non-military agencies.
• Low interoperability between application systems
At the time of this survey, CIOs were not
Major parts of the infrastructure must be mod-
familiar with the details of the FY 2011 budget
ernized, but how best to implement and main-
but knew enough to have opinions on its broad
tain an affordable IT infrastructure platform that

12. 10
strategies. The CIOs’ consensus Some CIOs say they already use Cloud
was that the budget’s consolidation Computing. Examples given include
initiatives were valid and appropriate internal active directory management ser-
approaches to push large portions of the federal vices; cross-servicing for financial management
IT infrastructure to greater efficiency and effec- and e-travel services; a mission system hosted
tiveness. Some CIOs expressed concern about in a private cloud by a large IT services firm; a
losing control of operations and the ability to hosting of Web portals; and using the Defense
serve their customers. Information Service Agency’s private cloud
offering. Several CIOs say they have Cloud
Cloud Computing
Computing pilot projects, such as a cloud-based
Federal CIOs emphasize Cloud Computing
applications suite, cloud email and scientific
as an IT infrastructure solution, according to
computing in a cloud environment.
survey participants. As shown in Figure 2, most
CIOs in the State of the CIO portion of our Most CIOs see cybersecurity and privacy as
survey say they have initiatives in their organiza- barriers to widespread use of Cloud Computing.
tions that support Cloud Computing. Some are Until overcome, such barriers may confine
waiting to see what other agencies and OMB do Cloud Computing to public-facing or low-
before committing to the cloud solution. (One risk applications, pilots, testing, open-source
CIO says that he did not want to be an early solutions that are not mission critical and
adopter, but would rather let another agency be similar uses. Near term, says one CIO, Cloud
the cloud “pioneer.”) CIOs opinions on Cloud Computing would be used for low-level sensitive
Computing technology ranged from it being systems, public clouds and community clouds.
“innovative” and “emerging” to “time-sharing Another CIO believes that Cloud Computing
with a new engine under the hood.” promises improved security because of its ability
to respond quickly to and mitigate threats.
Figure 2: How would you categorize the current state of your
Our CIOs suggest several areas where govern-
agency’s involvement with Cloud Computing?
ment and industry could remove perceived
60% barriers to and speed adoption of Cloud
Computing, including:
50%
• Addressing security and privacy concerns
40% • Developing government standards for cloud
30% solutions for security, records management,
54%
privacy and disability issues
20%
• Determining how best to fit the Cloud
10% 22% Computing model into the federal appropria-
16%
8% tions process
0
Active project to move Undertaking pilot of Tracking OMB/ No current plans • Pushing cloud providers to adopt standard
to Cloud Computing Cloud Computing awaiting direction to utilize Cloud approaches to application hosting to ensure
Computing
portability for customers

13. 11
• Addressing access to and identity management they call spot solutions. A CIO whose organiza-
for the cloud tion is deploying a Thin Client solution says that
• Creating an affordable way to convert legacy an earlier pilot test resulted in:
applications to Cloud Computing
• Reduced cybersecurity threat because all data
Virtualization were bunkered in protected server environ-
Virtualization is a hot topic among our CIOs ments and local storage was eliminated as a
and most report some form of server virtualiza- point of malicious access
tion. One says he used virtualization to reduce • Lower implementation costs because
server count by 60, and another reports 66, of reduced cost of equipment and longer
percent. Several CIOs say virtualization is a expected life
“smart” practice, which we interpret as the same • Reduced operations and maintenance costs
as a best practice. These CIOs did not report because all software and data are hosted
any major challenges or issues with adopting on fewer centralized devices
server virtualization. • Improved service, chiefly because of simplified
desktop management
Software as a Service (SaaS)
• Reduced energy consumption, which delivers
Several CIOs use or plan to use SaaS as they
green IT (see the next section for more on this)
continue to standardize and consolidate their
IT infrastructures. Frequently mentioned uses User resistance to giving up their PCs is a big
for SaaS for basic enterprise systems were email, issue, say our CIOs, but several say they over-
instant messenger, calendaring and office suites. came it by offering versions of “blade” com-
Expanded uses reported were for Web portals, puting where users get a PC-like experience
social media and collaboration tools. One CIO through a Thin Client.
says that a great benefit of SaaS and Cloud
Green IT
Computing will be to enable aggregation and self-
CIOs in our survey clearly support green IT
provisioning; she intends to start by consolidating
initiatives for reducing the energy consumed by
fundamentals such as Voice over Internet Protocol
computer technology. Green IT initiatives have
(VoIP), e-mail and identity management.
been important to broader federal strategies for
Most CIOs involved in SaaS say they will use efficient energy use and have received increased
Cloud Computing providers. Several say the emphasis in recent years.
General Services Administration’s Apps.gov ser-
All our CIOs report agency-level initiatives or
vice will be their way to access cloud tools.
strategies to reduce energy consumption. Most say
Thin Client these are small “low-hanging fruit” activities. They
Several CIOs say they are incorporating Thin indicate that larger successes must wait until major
Client technology in their target state infrastruc- modernization of IT infrastructures and consoli-
ture in the planning, pilot or implementation dations such as reducing data centers or moving
phase. While most have an enterprise view for portions of their computing use to the cloud.
Thin Client use, several want to apply it for what

14. 12
Several survey participants say they are part of a offer a challenging, innovative environment
broader, agency-wide full energy efficiency audit (one CIO made the comparison of “Google
that will produce recommendations for the CIO versus government”)
and other senior executives. They expect that • Agency processes may put all vacant positions
IT consolidation initiatives mentioned earlier in in a pool, requiring re-justification before a
this section will be part of their agency’s energy replacement can be recruited
savings plans. • Making insourcing a priority:
• In an internal pilot, one CIO found that
IT workforce
while insourcing costs less, it reduces flex-
As in years past, the IT workforce is one of the
ibility. Which is more important?
top concerns of federal CIOs. Those in our
• It is much easier to bring in contractors
survey believe the government has a broad oppor-
than to recruit and hire federal employees
tunity to enhance its human capital manage-
• In the near term, contractors are the only
ment and strategies and to reshape its workforce.
alternative for many positions
Human capital management includes recruiting,
• Forcing insourcing with arbitrary
hiring, retaining and developing an IT workforce
goals established without analysis
capable of supporting government needs. Under
is the wrong approach
the previous administration of President Bush,
• Young people are generally reluctant to
outsourcing where possible was an important
embrace IT as a career
human capital strategy. The Obama administra-
• Forced rotations among staff, especially those
tion emphasizes insourcing instead, a significant
involving geographic moves, hurt retention
change in direction. Either way, our CIOs say
because many people do not want to move
success in IT human capital initiatives is critical
• The performance evaluation systems need to
to the future of the federal government.
be redesigned to ensure that individual perfor-
Issues mance is linked back to organizational goals
Survey CIOs listed several issues they think are • The blended (federal employee/contractor)
barriers to achieving an effective IT workforce: workforce is a reality; agencies need guidelines
and best practices to achieve better performance
• Recruitment processes move so slowly that
• Developing skills and keeping them current is
an agency’s IT workforce candidates are often
a major concern, as is obtaining certifications
hired and working for other employers for
and retaining certified personnel
six or more months before receiving a federal
• More training is needed, along with a reliable
offer. (One CIO says that these processes are
source of funding
the antithesis of agile and adaptive.)
• Removing nonperformers from the federal
• Human resources organizations are
workforce is almost impossible, but with con-
unequipped and in some cases seemingly
tractors it is easy
unmotivated to provide required support
• Timely security clearance is an issue, especially
• A perception exists, especially among young
for contractors
people, that the federal government does not

15. 13
Solutions Governance
CIOs in the surveys offered these suggestions for Many CIOs say IT governance is a challenge.
improving the IT workforce: They have agency executive councils and the like,
but report that at times it is difficult to reach
• Use internships because they produce a high
consensus on some issues and to make decisions
percentage of hires
stick through implementation. One survey CIO
• Use social media to reach out and improve
believes that enterprise IT governance is working
information flow to prospective employees,
fairly well, but that working-level governance
especially young, entry-level prospects
continues to be a challenge, especially related
• Promote social media to transform the federal
to project decisions and project scope.
image to be more innovative and interesting
• Build and extend a sense of mission among To deal with such issues, one CIO implemented
staff to help retain them a new governance process standardized around the
• Offer easy access to on-line training; several Information Technology Infrastructure Library
CIOs report good results and increased flex- (ITIL) and change management. Another says his
ibility through this solution organization is incorporating a collaboration tool
• Use knowledge management to capture called e-Room into the governance process and
institutional knowledge from experienced expects to gain improvements as a result.
employees and facilitate its transfer to others
Project management
• Use an agency alumni network to attract and
CIOs say they continue to struggle with imple-
recruit candidates
menting projects that meet user needs, deliver
• Create and maintain a good culture for
desired benefits and are on time and within
employment
budget. They think that processes based on
One CIO says, “The personnel system was set the Project Management Book of Knowledge
up to protect the status quo, not to enable hiring (PMBOK) offer the best alternative for a disci-
the best and brightest.” If this is a common per- plined agency systems development life cycle,
ception, it calls for much broader, fundamental which is needed for better project planning and
reform to fix what ails the federal workforce. execution. Naturally, the CIOs want better trained,
more experienced project managers as well.
IT management
Most CIOs in the survey say their basic IT man- Our CIOs are fully aware of the IT Dashboard
agement processes are in place and fairly mature. (see Table 1) and the TechStat accountability ses-
This includes capital planning and investment sions introduced in January 2010, both of which
control and enterprise architecture. Several CIOs provide details of federal government IT invest-
consider their portfolio management processes to ments, and the CIOs are working to improve
be mature, while others are still working toward the data they input to this database. Although
this goal. they are concerned about decisions that might
be made based on IT Dashboard data, in general
the CIOs support it and think it will improve
IT visibility within their organizations.

16. 14
Efficiency and effectiveness They report improving Web-based interfaces with
This section reports on issues such as cost man- customers and back office integration that reduces
agement and containment, process streamlining, complexity and customer effort. CIOs also believe
innovation and level of resources. We were that the Citizen Services Dashboard described in
also able to obtain comments from some CIOs the FY 2011 budget will add impetus to stream-
on the FY 2011 federal budget’s “Analytical lining and improve the customer experience.
Perspectives” chapter, which addressed informa-
Innovation
tion technology and specific sections dealing
A major difference between the Bush and
with making the IT infrastructure more efficient
Obama administrations has been in the new
and effective.
administration’s focus on innovation. Some
Cost management and containment examples include President Obama’s appoint-
Getting more bang for the buck is something ment of a federal chief technology officer (CTO)
federal CIOs are familiar with after years of tough to promote innovation through technology,
economic times and pressure on discretionary especially in the private sector and between
budgets. The Obama administration has empha- government and the private sector; the focus
sized this through new initiatives that promise on unleashing innovation through the various
to increase efficiencies and decrease costs. Many components of open government; and the inno-
of issues our CIOs discussed relate to IT infra- vation expected from key initiatives like Cloud
structure and are reported under that heading Computing and social media.
earlier in this report.
We asked our CIOs about their views on this
Another cost management initiative on consoli- new focus on innovation, and they gave us the
dated acquisition is designed to add efficiency following comments:
mechanisms such as Federal eMall ordering
• Use technology to drive a culture of innova-
portals, Smart Buy and Apps.gov. Our CIOs
tion, including using social networking to
support acquisition programs that leverage the
improve communications and collaboration
government’s buying power to reduce costs and
around innovation
make procurement more efficient. They think
• Establish agency CTOs to continue the focus
that Smart Buy has been a solid success, and
on innovation
that Apps.gov holds much promise. CIOs say
• Use open-source applications and solutions
the concept of a Federal eMall is sound, but that
to spur innovation
they do not know enough about its operational
• Apply crowd sourcing to innovation, and
details to make any definitive comments.
improve its use through better communications
Process streamlining and collaboration, open source and competitions
Streamlining activities are designed to make • Do outreach to world-class organizations to
processes and systems more efficient and effec- help import innovation (several CIOs say that
tive. Our CIOs say they support and are involved the White House conference between private
in efforts to streamline systems that have direct sector executives and federal CIOs drove home
interface with citizens and other constituents. the core strategy of innovation)

17. 15
• CIOs serving health care organizations say that • The IT budget needs to be better aligned
IT innovation is critical to making health care to priorities and expected results
more responsive, affordable and universal • Performance frameworks should be specific
in calling out and motivating transforma-
Resources
tional results
Many CIOs say that their IT activities continue
• Split missions across several agencies continue
to receive too few resources to provide their
to be a significant performance challenge
organizations with expected levels of support.
• Best practices need to be shared and collabora-
Although several CIOs expect modest increases in
tion across organizations encouraged
budget, none anticipates getting all the resources
• Centers of excellence like OMB’s Lines of
needed to get their jobs done well. As a result,
Business deliver better performance, and should
CIOs agree that they will have to make trade-offs,
be supported and continued as part of an overall
even though this will increase the risk that some
performance and accountability strategy
components of their programs will suffer less than
optimal performance or even failure. Department- and agency-level
CIOs also commented on their own organiza-
Performance management
tions’ performance and accountability systems:
and accountability
We asked CIOs to describe the federal perfor- • Most CIOs say they have fairly current enterprise
mance management/accountability environment and IT strategic plans, though most of these need
and how they try to drive performance and updating to include new administration priorities
accountability within their respective agencies. • Most link their operational plans to strategic
plans and measure performance
Government-wide
• Several report say they cannot make a good link
When asked about a performance framework,
between IT plans and enterprise strategic plans
some CIOs harked back to the Bush administra-
• Several use balanced scorecards to measure
tion’s President’s Management Agenda. Most CIOs
performance and internal dashboards to com-
think that the Obama administration has not yet
municate results
put in place and communicated a similar well-de-
• Several use portal or collaboration tools
fined framework of performance management and
to communicate performance and evaluate
accountability. Despite this, CIOs say they have a
operational results against plans
good take on where the current administration is
• Several measure customer satisfaction
headed with performance and accountability. They
with IT services
just are not clear about the details.
• Most cannot link individual performance plans
Our CIOs offered some general observations to IT operational and strategic plans; several
about what the federal IT performance and said this is a goal and described their vision
accountability program has been, is now and of how the performance system would work
should become: • Many lamented the lack of responsive, accurate
financial management systems in their agencies,
• The current system is based too much on com-
which causes them to struggle in developing
pliance and not enough on outcomes and results
cost baselines and measuring cost performance

18. 16
• One said that his ability to create an envi- However, they are concerned with what one
ronment of shared goals and performance CIO called “dysfunctional” behaviors resulting
measures has led to successful use of blended from gaps in the GSA senior leadership team.
workforce teams of employees and contractors
Most CIOs say their acquisition organizations
• One uses a measure/review/improve cycle to
are overworked because of shortages of qualified
manage processes that provide direct support
staff and excessive oversight. One CIO suggests
to customers
that innovation is punished in federal acquisi-
Acquisition tion organizations.
Acquisition and procurement have been less
Some CIOs report positive signs such as more
of a problem since the mid-1990s because
acquisition personnel coming on board and reor-
of reforms that streamlined their processes
ganizations that better align acquisitions groups
and authorities and enabled CIOs to pro-
and their customers. Still, several CIOs remain
cure needed technology with shorter cycles.
concerned that the pool of experienced acquisi-
Although the rules of the procurement game
tion personnel is not growing fast enough and
no longer handicap federal CIOs, executing
that agencies will continue to “poach” acquisi-
acquisitions well and getting desired results is
tion staff from each other. Most CIOs also say
still a significant challenge.
they recognize that the personnel problem is
One survey participant says that, from the not limited to their agency’s acquisition group;
CIO perspective, the goal of acquisition is to CIO offices desperately need more qualified and
minimize the time gap between when a need experienced program managers and contracting
is identified and when its solution is made officer representatives.
operational. Other CIOs in the survey agree
Our CIOs are also firm that more acquisition
with that; here are their comments on what
reform is not necessary. Instead, they advocate
is working in acquisition, its problems and
implementing the current statutes and regula-
new directions coming out of the Office of
tions properly, which one CIO describes as a
Management and Budget.
basic “blocking and tackling” issue. Contrary
As mentioned above under the heading “Cost to what some critics believe, says one CIO, the
Management and Containment,” the CIOs type of contract vehicle used for IT products
support consolidated federal buying methods and services is not a problem. Used in the right
such as Smart Buy, Apps.gov and federal eMall. situations, says this CIO, cost plus fixed fee
Several report good results using Smart Buy (CPFF), time and materials (TM) and firm fixed
for enterprise licensing and service agreements, price (FFP) are all appropriate approaches. All
but are less familiar with operational details CIOs agree that improvement requires effective
of Apps.gov and federal eMall. CIOs say that leadership and adequate, trained staff, plus good
GSA plays an important role in the product and governance over the acquisition process.
service acquisition and provisioning processes.

19. 17
Effect of the Recovery Act
The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (Recovery Act)
channeled new funds into some federal IT programs and created new data
collection and reporting requirements for others. Only one in ten CIOs
in our State of the CIO Survey reported that the Recovery Act had an
impact on their IT budget, either with funds from the Act or other sources.
As shown in Figure 3, about half of the CIOs interviewed say they have
been involved in Recovery Act planning and implementation within their
department or agency, with 20 percent serving on their entity’s leadership steering group and
32 percent carrying out assigned tasks related to the Act.
Figure 3: What has your involvement been within your agency Monitoring and reporting the
with Recovery Act planning and implementation? use and impact of recovery
50% funds is important to the Obama
45% administration and Congress,
so we had anticipated that CIOs
40%
would be more involved in leading
35%
Recovery Act activities. Instead,
30%
it appears that government chief
25% 50%
financial officers (CFOs) led the
20% efforts and used the financial
15% 33% systems they control as the main
10% reporting mechanism.
17%
5%
0%
0
Serving as Serving as part of Leading assignments No involvement
the agency lead agency leadership that involve IT
steering group

20. 18
State of the CIO Survey
The State of the CIO Survey is a series of short, Barriers to progress
closed-ended questions about CIOs’ demographic We asked CIOs to rank order the greatest barriers
to increased effectiveness of CIO offices. As shown
backgrounds, professional profiles and opinions. in Table 2, in FY 2010 the top barrier is “shortage
This is the sixth year we have included these of time for strategic planning and thinking,” which
questions, which allows us to do trend analysis. has risen in importance every year since FY 2007.
The latest boost to the time shortage problem may
be FY 2010’s second greatest barrier, “new exter-
Time in office
nally directed initiatives.” In our opinion, this “new
The first question we asked was “How long
initiatives” issue reflects the significant change in
have you been in your current job?” Figure 4
direction and strategy introduced by the Obama
combines the FY 2007 through FY 2010
administration, especially with respect to open and
responses that CIOs gave to this question.
transparent government. This is not to say that the
We expected that CIOs interviewed in FY 2010
new initiatives are bad; it simply means that they
would have served less time in their jobs than
consume a good deal of CIOs’ time.
CIOs in previous years because of the transition
to a new presidential administration. Figure 4 A second thing to note about Table 2 is the persis-
bears this out: in FY 2010, one-third of CIOs had tence of some of the other barriers. “Conflicting
less than one year’s tenure in their office, versus priorities among program units” has remained
8 percent in FY 2009. However, those serving in the top five barriers for five years, along with
four or more years in their current position also a related problem of “aligning IT efforts with
increased from 25 percent in FY 2009 to 33 per- agency goals.” “Inadequate budgets” has been
cent in FY 2010, a slight growth in what appears on the list four out of the past five years. New
to be a cadre of experienced career CIOs. CIOs should be aware of these seemingly unshak-
able problems, which appear to be part of the job
Figure 4: How long have you been in of the federal government’s top IT executives.
your current job?
Value of IT initiatives
FY 2010 33% 17% 17% 33% Table 3 shows how our CIOs ranked the initiatives
they think will yield the greatest value to their orga-
FY 2009 8% 13% 54% 25%
nizations in FY 2010. As with the barriers shown
FY 2008 28% 44% 19% 9%
in Table 2, there is a good deal of consistency in the
items that make the top five list, although the year-
FY 2007 33% 9% 29% 29% to-year rankings differ somewhat. For example,
since FY 2007 CIOs say that the two highest-value
Response initiatives relate to integrating systems and pro-
Less than 1 year Between 2 and 4 years
cesses and to implementing security and privacy
measures. In FY 2010, transparency and perfor-
Between 1 and 2 years More than 4 years
mance management initiatives joined the top five,
indicating that the Obama administration’s goals
are rising on the CIO radar screen.

21. 19
Table 2: Greatest barriers to increased effectiveness of CIO offices
Initiative FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010
Shortage of time for
strategic thinking/planning
4 4 2 1
Conflicting priorities
among program units
1 1 1 1 4
Lack of key skill sets 4 5
Which are the
Inadequate budgets 2 2 3 3 3
greatest barriers Difficulty proving the value
to your offices’ of IT
5
increased
Aligning IT efforts with
effectiveness?
agency goals
3 2 5
(Rated on a
Ineffective communication
scale of 1 to
with users/unrealistic 2
5, with 1 being
customer expectations
greatest barrier)
Other – Culture 5
Overwhelming pace of
technology change
4
Disconnects with
executive peers
5
New externally directed
initiatives
2
Table 3: Initiatives that will provide greatest value
Initiative FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010
Integrating systems
and processes
2 1 1 2 1
Strategic planning/aligning
IT and agency goals
4 4
Which initiatives
will be of the Project management
greatest value to improvements
1 5 4 3 3
your organization
Implementing security
in FY 2010?
and privacy measures
3 1 2 1 2
(Rated on a
scale of 1 to
Lowering costs 5 3 3 4 4
5, with 1 being Line of Business initiatives 5 5
highest value)
Staff development,
retention and recruitment
5
Transparency and
performance management 5
initiatives

22. 20
Observations from industry
Earlier sections of this report reflect the views We are delighted to see elements of each of these
of federal CIOs. This one presents opinions from observations included in the federal IT strategy
represented in the FY 2011 budget. In the spirit
industry executives who represent member companies of government/industry partnership, and with a
of TechAmerica. Here, we want to offer observations sense of shared ownership for federal IT, we offer
that may help federal CIOs with their strategies, these observations in 2010.
implementations and operations. Explain the vision
In budget documents and pronouncements
Last year, we offered a set of observations the Obama administration has identified the
that dealt mainly with management structure, initiatives it expects to focus on for the next
approach and perspective, which included few years. This vision of the future needs to be
the following: presented more robustly in order to gain the
full effect of the administration’s strategy and
• Strong leadership drives change to engage the collective energies of the federal
• Employ laser-sharp focus CIO community and the industry that serves it.
• Demand and verify results We believe the administration should broaden
• Achieve good IT governance strategy discussion to describe more fully the
• Fix IT infrastructure problems and issues it is intended to address.
• Fund priority initiatives This includes describing the desired end state
• Continue to standardize and consolidate in enough detail that the federal IT com-
• Strengthen the blended workforce munity can visualize it. Explain the full range
of expected benefits, and then connect them
to expected performance and results, to the
budget to gain them, to the vision and to how
people are to address the underlying problems.
Proceeding with this strategy-in-depth approach
will improve understanding and unleash the
federal IT community to achieve the vision.
Position Cloud Computing
Cloud Computing is an important initiative
in the federal IT budget. It is being evaluated
this year, with deployment starting in FY 2011.
In keeping with our general observation about
explaining the vision, we believe the adminis-
tration can lessen confusion and make greater
headway on Cloud Computing by describing in
detail how and where this technology should be
considered for use over the next several years.

23. 21
Add context to open government Improve acquisition
IT is a critical element in transforming “open through resources and
government” from presidential pledge to admin- operational excellence
istration policy to government-wide programs As was stated earlier in this report’s section on
and culture. As a concept, open government has acquisition, the important challenges do not
been broadly defined and targeted for substantial involve contract type or the statutes governing the
innovation. However, to make optimal prog- process. Instead, they are about the quality of the
ress, we believe the administration should add contracting process, administration and opera-
context to the concept. This includes supplying tions. We think the government should continue
more details about the shape, form and benefits to acquire and develop a capable and sufficient
expected for open government in the near term. workforce to handle acquisitions. Also, look for
Because open government will be transformative, ways to streamline acquisition operations and
the administration should define a longer-term improve their performance. Consider including
view for it, including desired results and priority in solicitation documents a description of the
focus areas. linkage between an acquisition and the soliciting
organization’s mission and strategy. Also, add to
Define the target state
solicitations inducements such as incentives or
for cybersecurity
evaluation criteria in order to motivate contractors
Cybersecurity has been a critical challenge for
to leverage existing investments and infrastructure.
the last decade, and will continue to be into
the future. As shown in Table 3, CIOs consider Work with the Office of Personnel
cybersecurity a top-value initiative. There has Management to improve the
been much debate about the appropriate level of IT workforce
focus on compliance activities versus operational Government has a rare—even historic—oppor-
activities, but for now we will set that aside for tunity with respect to human capital. Everyone
something we think is more fundamental: the concerned understands that workforce issues are
administration should create a roadmap for critical. Many federal employees are at or near
achieving the appropriate level of operational retirement; the recession makes federal employ-
security. The map needs to include the envi- ment look more attractive; and the administration
sioned level of consolidation and standardiza- and its new leadership at OPM want significant
tion, how and where third-party services (like change in government. Seize the moment and
cloud) should be employed, the role of Thin work with OPM to create a better IT workforce
Clients, how mobile devices should be deployed environment. In doing so, government organiza-
and secured, the appropriate use and security tions should use existing best practices such as
for removable storage media, required moni- those found in the Department of Defense, to
toring and incident response facilities and other train employees and develop new leaders. In addi-
practical issues. tion, push the use of technology-based tools to
streamline administrative process and for training.