OMB Signals Continuity During CIO Transition

Don't expect major changes in the government's IT shop when Vivek Kundra, the nation's first official chief information officer, steps aside for his successor Steven VanRoekel.

Both men stressed that no major policy shifts were in the offing in a meeting with reporters last week and federal Chief Performance Officer Jeffrey Zients, who oversees the CIO's office, joined the chorus, saying the transition was not about "radical changes," but about "continued execution and getting proven results." As the transition approaches, the full machinery of the Office of Management and Budget chimed in with a memo from OMB Director Jack Lew to all agency heads describing the future role of the agency CIO. The contents of the memo itself are decidedly unexceptional -- essentially echoing a planned evolution in the job's responsibilities from policymaking to IT portfolio management outlined nine months ago in Kundra's 25 Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal IT, the master document of his tenure, and in statements the outgoing CIO has made ever since.

The document's intent and timing, though, seem clear: this is not the time to re-think Kundra's IT reform plan but to double down on carrying it out.