A review by the Defense Business Board concluded that the CMO had been ineffective and encouraged ending it. Image: Casimiro PT/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe final version of the DoD authorization bill up for final voting this week in Congress drops Senate language to re-establish the position of chief management officer, which was created by the comparable bill for fiscal 2017 and abolished by the one for fiscal 2021.
The role, originally established after a recommendation from the GAO, was for that time in effect the third-ranking position at the Pentagon, with authority over areas such as business operations, real property management, HR and more. However, a review by the Defense Business Board concluded that the CMO had been ineffective and encouraged ending it.
Sponsors of the Senate language argued that the office had not been given enough time to prove itself, although they did not include a detailed justification. The White House opposed that provision, saying it “would only detract from needed focus on meeting key business process and financial management goals” and the House version did not include comparable language.
In dropping the language, House-Senate conferees said that they “note the many ongoing management reform efforts within the Department to help improve their business operations, including several proposed by this Act such as the development of business health metrics, audit readiness metrics, and an independent review of the Department’s business enterprise architecture, among others.”
The GAO recently reported that it is too early to determine the effectiveness of the approach DoD is putting in place for reforming its business operations following abolishment of that office, which stresses using existing department processes to align those efforts with department priorities.
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