White House: Agency CIOs to play key role in Infrastructure Act implementation and oversight
C-suite IT leaders at federal agencies will play a key role in overseeing and implementing the trillion-dollar Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, under new guidance published by the White House.
The Office of Management and Budget on Friday instructed agencies to create cross-functional teams to monitor how the legislation is enacted. The teams will include chief information officers, chief information security officers and chief data officers from federal agencies, as well as other senior officials such as chief financial officers and customer experience leaders.
In addition to setting up expert oversight panels, each agency must designate a senior accountable official who will be responsible for the implementation of the spending law.
The White House has issued the latest guidance as it seeks to ensure sufficient oversight of the $1 trillion in public spending that was approved in November.
The guidance also includes the requirement that agencies embed sufficient equity expertise within the teams working on projects funded by the act. The equity expertise is intended to support the Biden administration’s executive order on racial equity and supporting underserved communities, which was signed in January last year.
President Biden is today meeting with about a dozen inspectors general and other officials as the White House seeks to make sure the spending plans receive sufficient scrutiny.
An administration official told Reuters that the federal government is working to hire about 8,000 people to implement the infrastructure law, with the majority to be hired in 2022.
