For years now, as the government payroll has gotten smaller, federal agencies have been told they must learn to use technology to 'do more with less.' In the coming years, doing more with less likely will mean outsourcing some IT projects altogether, which creates a new set of management problems.
For years now, as the government payroll has gotten smaller, federal agencies
have been told they must learn to use technology to "do more with less."
In the coming years, doing more with less likely will mean outsourcing some
IT projects altogether, which creates a new set of management problems.
Renny DiPentima, president of SRA International Inc.'s government sector
and former IT chief at SSA, says government will have to rely on the private
sector for specialized skills such as security, networking and database
management.
For those IT leaders who are left to manage the increasingly outsourced
technical work, they must be highly IT literate but able to overlay business
judgment, he said. "You'll get some person who was the greatest database
administrator in the world," DiPentima said. "What does that have to do
with managing the IRS or Social Security or DOD? Nothing."
Outsourcing for agencies will mean future IT leaders also will have
to juggle numerous contract vehicles and manage people who don't work directly
for the government, said Anne Reed, vice president of the global government
industry group at EDS. As that aspect of an IT leader's job increases, resources
rules will have to change to acknowledge that requirement, she said.
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