Chief Information Officers (CIOs): Agency Roles and Responsibilities (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Aug. 1, 2024 |
| Report Number |
R48147 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Meghan M. Stuessy; Dominick A. Fiorentino |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
In the course of fulfilling their missions, federal agencies constantly consume, create, use, and
store information from a variety of sources, media formats, and technology platforms. In
response to concerns that agencies were not adequately or efficiently managing their information,
Congress required each agency to designate a senior official to oversee this function through
enactment of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980. This position was later renamed the chief
information officer (CIO).
Congress passed the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 to improve agency investment in and
management of information technology (IT) as the use of computing and information
technologies became more widespread. This law required the agency CIO to be responsible for
some aspects of acquisition and management of IT. Over time, executive branch policy initiatives
and legislation have continued to modify and reprioritize the roles and responsibilities of agency
CIOs. For example, the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) in 2014 built upon the ClingerCohen Act to establish a framework for tracking, assessing, and managing federal IT investments.
In general, statutorily established agency CIO positions operate within complex ecosystems of agency officials and
organizations. These institutional relationships usually involve collaboration and division of labor across agency functions
and organizational levels.
In many ways, the development and redevelopment of the CIO position is indicative of Congress’s evolving understanding of
how information should be managed within agencies. While the CIO is often perceived as an IT position, CIOs are
responsible for information management more broadly, of which IT is just one of several means of managing information.
CIO responsibilities related to the management of federal information are located in portions of Title 44 of the U.S. Code,
and responsibilities related to IT management are located in portions of Title 40 of the U.S. Code. Both sets of
responsibilities are ultimately vested in the agency head, and agency heads further delegate these responsibilities to agency
CIOs.
The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 generally amended the federal agency information management responsibilities in
Title 44 and established the seven categories of responsibilities that endure today: (1) information resources management, (2)
information collection and control of paperwork, (3) information dissemination, (4) statistical policy and coordination, (5)
records management, (6) privacy and security, and (7) federal IT. Expanding upon the CIO’s federal IT management roles,
Title 40 also makes the CIO responsible for (1) IT performance management, (2) IT budgeting, and (3) IT capital planning
and investment control.
In addition to the roles and responsibilities described in statute, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular No. A130: Managing Information as a Strategic Resource, “establishes general policy for the planning, budgeting, governance,
acquisition, and management of Federal information, personnel, equipment, funds, IT resources and supporting infrastructure
and services.” Government-wide, the OMB director is authorized by statute to develop, coordinate, and oversee the
implementation of federal information management policies. Multiple offices within OMB may participate in the
development of such policies, which may complicate the resulting guidance.
