GAO has called on OMB to update its guidance on the role of agency chief information officers in order to establish accountability measures to be used to ensure that their IT management responsibilities are fully implemented, and to require agencies to establish internal processes for documenting lessons learned for effectively managing IT.
According to GAO-11-634, CIOs do not consistently have responsibility for 13 major areas of IT and information management as defined by law or deemed as critical to effective IT management, though they have continued to focus more attention on IT management-related areas.
GAO said most CIOs are responsible for seven key IT management areas: capital planning and investment management; enterprise architecture; information security; IT strategic planning, e-gov initiatives; systems acquisition, development, and integration; and, IT workforce planning.
By contrast, CIOs are less frequently responsible for information management duties such as records management and privacy requirements, which they commonly share with other offices or organizations within the agency, said GAO.
