Johnson: IT management is job one

GAO's Information Technology Investment Management: A Framework for Assessing and Improving Process Maturity

Office of Management and Budget officials spoke unambiguously last week, telling agencies that OMB has a big stick to prod improved information technology management.

OMB plans to stiffen the consequences for agencies that do not manage IT investments to meet deadlines, budgets and proper functions, officials said last week.

Although agencies have made progress on the e-government portion of the President's Management Agenda, most did not meet the goals that OMB set, said Clay Johnson, OMB's deputy director for management. He testified before the House Government Reform Committee's Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census Subcommittee.

"It's not a question of can we [meet the goals], it's a question of how," he said. "The progress, particularly in security, was not where we planned to be this year, but we plan to correct that