Federal Computer Week provides a unique rundown on the changing role of CIOs who work in government agencies. In particular, the article, "CIOs chart new path of partnership," examines what chief information officers are actually in charge of when the work’s being done by a service provider.
The story cites the $65 million "outsourcing pact" that the Department of Health and Human Services has with Unisys. In this contract, Unisys acquired the network and computer assets of eight of HHS’ agencies. Now the internal group — consisting of "technical representatives, engineering employees and support staff" — is dedicated to managing the program with Unisys.
The CIO had to reorganize the organization at HHS to address the changed nature of the work.
Federal CIOs are now finding themselves pursuing project management certification and learning how to use earned value management (EVM) tools (which are only recently becoming prevalent in government IT projects).
This new CIO may even consider participating in a new exchange program run by the Office of Personnel Management, which encourages private and public professionals to trade jobs for months at a time in order to learn about private industry best practices and gain up close experience with the challenges faced by federal agencies in meeting demand for government services.
