TechStat helps federal CIOs with IT reform

Although FCW’s Alyah Khan, in an article on TechStat in May, reminded “Federal IT managers who have not yet gotten acquainted with TechStat [that they] ought to prepare themselves, for better or for worse,” it appears that making the review process’ acquaintance has been for the better for federal CIOs Richard Spires of the Homeland Security Department, Michael Carleton of the Health and Human Services Department and Simon Szykman of the Commerce Department, according to Informationweek.com.

The three CIOs cited TechStat, which uses a data-based approach to evaluate IT programs, as vital to their ability to adhere to the Office of Management and Budget’s 25-point IT reform plan, released last December, and to save some of their struggling IT programs, the article said.

Among the IT programs on the mend thanks to TechStat are DHS’ Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, HHS’ Enterprise Human Resource and Planning project and Commerce’s Next Generation Weather Radar.