Openness vs. Project Management

Two discussions of note occurred on Thursday during the Senate Budget Committee hearing where Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra and other technology executives appeared.

First, Kundra said public, up-to-date information on federal IT projects would act as a strong force to keep information technology projects on schedule and on budget. He argued that in the past (in the Bush administration) the rationale behind the Office of Management and Budget making public information on projects on the so-called watch list didn't make sense. No one knew what the problems were and, theoretically, they were allowed to fester in the darkness. Karen Evans, Kundra's predecessor, argued in 2008 that they didn't make public the details of the troubled projects because federal managers would clam up about their problems if they knew OMB would publicize them.

The second noteworthy topic that came up at the hearing was Kundra's argument that agencies developed projects on too grand a scale. Instead, "We need to break these contracts down into smaller chunks, move toward more fixed price contracts and hold vendors accountable to make sure they're delivering."