First Federal CIO Plans to Push Transparency

The appointment of Vivek Kundra as federal government’s first ever Chief Information Officer has “the goverati” buzzing and developers salivating at the chance to get their hands on federal data, one of Kundra’s first goals.

A self-professed fan of cloud computing, 34-year-old Kundra served as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Washington, DC, and was responsible for policy and operations of 86 agencies across the city before his appointment to the Obama Administration. As soon as President Obama announced plans to name a CIO, Kundra’s name was at the top of many lists. According to a press release announcing his appointment, “The Federal CIO establishes and oversees enterprise architecture to ensure system interoperability and information sharing and ensure information security and privacy across the federal government.” Basically a mouthful that means Kundra and his team will be responsible for navigating the murky and often outdated waters of laws and regs that govern how federal employees use technology, and what information is made available (or not) to the public.

According to Kundra, “one of the biggest problems in the federal government is that process has trumped outcome. Everyone is focused on compliance, and no one is thinking about innovation and how to drive change within the government.” It’s in Kundra’s nature to think about the process–last year he switched DC employees from Microsoft Office to Google Apps for email, word processing and spreadsheets. To promote use of city data he created Apps for Democracy, a contest with cash prizes for developers that created useful ways to mashup the info. He said after his appointment one of his first duties will be to create a data.gov site where the public can eventually have similar access to federal data.

With greater innovation, Kundra has said this administration can create transparency and lower costs. In addition to creating what could be a massive repository of federal information, Kundra is also looking for small quick victories. He might want to start over at the White House, which has struggled at doing all the things they planned during the campaign in a technology-hobbled environment.

As a District of Columbia resident I love how the city uses the web to help residents and companies get things done. I’ve been able to do everything from report a downed power line to track crime stats in just a few clicks. Knowing that the man who made much of this possible is now heading up the same efforts for the rest of the country is an extremely promising step.