The Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Information Technology is stumbling with modernization efforts due to high CIO turnover, Federal Times reports.
Experts testified on the situation at an April 2 House VA Committee hearing. One expert — Carol Harris, director of IT acquisition management for the Government Accountability Office — told the committee that the average tenure of the VA's CIO is two years, but that the agency has had three CIOs since 2017, according to Federal Times. She reported that GAO research shows a CIO needs three to five years in office to be effective in their role, and even longer to lead major changes in a public sector organization.
The VA's IT office has attempted three modernization efforts over nearly 20 years, which Ms. Harris said were characterized by high costs and interoperability challenges.
With constant CIO churn, the agency experiences fits and starts on IT projects. The CIO must sign off on technology acquisitions and projects, according to the report.
Read more here.
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