CIO Council holds first meeting

The Year 2000 problem information security and multiagency contracts are among the issues that could be on the agenda of the newly formed Chief Information Officers Council according to officials who attended the group's inaugural meeting last Wednesday.

The two-hour session attended by about 40 CIOs deputy CIOs and Office of Management and Budget officials focused mainly on getting the group organ-ized. Members formed several subcommittees to work on issues ranging from capital planning to public outreach.

Joe Thompson CIO with the General Services Administration said the group is off to a quick start because the predecessor CIO Working Group an informal panel of information resources managers and CIOs laid the groundwork.

The CIO Council decided to retain three subcommittees of the working group: a capital planning panel led by Thompson a panel on training headed by Treasury deputy assistant secretary for information systems Wushow "Bill" Chou and a panel on carrying out the Information Technology Management Reform Act (ITMRA) led by Energy CIO S.W. Hall Jr.

In addition the council formed two new subcommittees. One led by Alan Balutis director for budget management and information with the Commerce Department will develop a formal agenda for the council. The second headed by Barry Horton principal deputy to Defense CIO Emmett Paige Jr. will work on ways to involve vendors and other "stakeholders" in the federal IT community.

Chou said the council also discussed CIOs' responsibilities under the Paperwork Reduction Act which include attention to reducing paperwork burdens information dissemination and security issues.

Council members determined that the Year 2000 problem is likely to be a top concern during the next year. An executive branch official said the group would ask the Year 2000 Interagency Committee which is headed by Social Security Administration associate commissioner for office systems design and development Kathleen Adams what type of assistance the CIO Council can provide.

Thompson said planning for future systems development is also "a No. 1 priority" because it involves crafting a government-wide strategy for investment.

"More specifics than that will be coming out of a few of the meetings down the road " he said.Under ITMRA the council is headed by OMB deputy director for management John Koskinen. Next month members expect to elect an agency representative as the vice chairman and select representatives to the Government Information Technology Services Board.

A list of nominees for those positions was unavailable last week.

The council's monthly meetings will be closed to the public although the minutes will be published.