Berry to elevate the role of chief technology officer at OPM

The director of the Office of Personnel Management plans to give the agency's chief information officer a larger role in high-level strategic planning, an unusual elevation of status for a government technology chief.

The agency's CIO will play an integral role in the senior management at OPM, a move that is part of an overall organizational realignment, according to a memo issued by OPM Director John Berry and that was first reported by FederalNewsRadio.

The CIO will report directly to Berry and play a significant role in helping implement his strategic plan to overhaul federal hiring and personnel practices.

"I strongly believe that OPM's chief information officer will play a pivotal role in meeting the ambitious goals and objectives outlined in the plan. Accordingly, the CIO's role at OPM needs to change," Berry wrote. "The CIO needs to report directly to me and have broad responsibilities for our IT initiatives and operations. I have spoken to several well-qualified candidates and hope to have someone on board shortly."

Janet Barnes is currently OPM CIO. Barry said he asked Barnes to take on a new position in the management service division, and he appointed Matt Perry to serve as acting CIO until a new chief information officer can be appointed. Barnes is one of the longest-tenured CIOs in the federal government and helped found the Chief Information Officer Council, where she co-chaired the IT workforce committee.

OPM officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Barnes will report to Ronald Flom, associate director for the management services division, and will focus on operational issues and facilities management, according to a former OPM employee with knowledge of the department. Alan Balutis, director of the business solutions group at Cisco Systems and a former chief information officer at the Commerce Department, where he worked with Barnes, called her a "capable and knowledgeable IT professional."

The new CIO will likely be a political appointee, sources said, and Barnes is a career executive. "I bemoan the fact that former career positions have moved to political jobs, but that may be my bias as a former career official," Balutis said. "I've personally known Janet a long time and think very highly of her personally and professionally."

Federal IT executives, who have argued that CIO positions should have a more active role in strategic planning in agencies, praised Barry's move to elevate the CIO position. "This really elevates [the CIO] to the senior management table of the organization," said Ray Bjorklund, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer at the McLean, Va.-based consulting firm FedSources. "That also means the CIO probably has far broader responsibilities. . . . It's recognition that OPM can function more effectively and efficiently if new and different technologies are integrated into day-to-day operations."

Those new technologies could include automating part or all of the federal hiring process, which is frequently criticized for its delay in hiring new employees. The process can take up to a year to hire a candidate. Berry has said one of his main goals is to reduce that time frame significantly.

"One could take this as a reflection that technology issues will be given a greater degree of attention and priority by senior leadership at OPM," Balutis said. "Technology is a big part of business there so I think it's important that's been recognized and they plan to bring in that sort of person with a direct relationship at the top."

Indications are that the next CIO will be a political appointee. Barnes was a career fed.

"I bemoan the fact that former career positions have moved to political jobs, but that may be my bias as a former career official," Balutis said. "I've personally known Janet a long time and think very highly of her personally and professionally."