The following 5 point Agenda from Vivek Kundra in his first 100 days in Office as the US Federal CIO is an interesting insight into his thinking (and that of Barack Obama), and I feel, something our National and State Governments could have a good look at.

Here is his 5 point plan:

1. Open and transparent government. Kundra said the level of transparency in the Obama administration will be “unprecedented” so that Americans “know where the money is going.”
2. Lowering the cost of government. “We spend $71 billion on IT annually. Unfortunately some of those investments have not paid dividends,” said Kundra, who used to track the District of Columbia’s IT programs as if they were a portfolio of stock investments. “Historically government has not done a good job of defining its requirements during the bidding process,” he added. Likewise, the private sector has sometimes overpromised the potential for emerging technologies. Kundra wants to see both the public and private sector do a better job when it comes to evaluating technologies before making an investment.
3. Cyber-security. Kundra simply labeled this issue “crucial.” He called for government to be better prepared to respond and highlighted work at the state level, particularly New York’s Information Sharing and Analysis Center as a possible model for cyber-security collaboration.
4. Participatory democracy. To ensure Americans have a voice in government, Kundra is working with his colleague, Dr. Beth Noveck, who is deputy director for open government in the Office of Science and Technology Policy within the executive office of the president. Together they’re creating a platform that engages citizens in a meaningful way. Noveck, who spoke earlier in the day to NASCIO, said many of the existing methods of engaging participation don’t generate useful results. Her office is involved in creating new methods that will fix the problem.
5. Innovation. The CIO hopes that he can urge the federal government to step outside of its typical way of thinking when it comes to IT and find new, innovative and less-costly ways to leverage technology. If that happens, government would become less complex to the ordinary citizen, he said. “In these tough economic times, the public sector needs to think about the promise of technology, How do you leverage innovation and how [do you] bake that into the culture, so you can encourage innovation and boldness?”

The transparency requirement has been highlighted due to the size of the US’s Stimulus Package. ($787 Billion)

I will highlight the IT Initiatives in their Stimulus Package in a separate post… Good to see Technology was significantly considered in their approach to Economic Stimulus.

Regards,

Glenn Irvine
glenn.irvine@collaborativeview.com