House targets chief architect

A little-noticed provision in a spending bill passed by the House would eliminate the position of federal enterprise architect from the Office of Management and Budget.

The House passed the Transportation, Treasury and Independent Agencies appropriations bill, which controls OMB's funds, on Sept. 22. The job of chief architect has been vacant since Bob Haycock stepped down in April. Richard Brozen, a NASA employee, has since been loaned out by the space agency as acting architect. The office of chief architect has no additional staff.

"The committee is not convinced that a one-person program management office will be able to have any appreciable impact on the development of governmentwide information technology policy," states the report from the House Appropriations Committee. "The committee believes this detail position should return to the host agency and the office should be closed."

Similar language is not included in the Senate's version, which cleared the upper chamber's appropriations committee Sept. 14, but hasn't been voted on by the full Senate. Congress is in recess until after the election in November.