The Information Technology Association of America's (ITAA) 11th annual survey of federal chief information officers (CIO) and information resource managers in the federal government shows a strong consensus that e-government is a direction firmly set and that it will be the single most important influence on CIOs in the near future.

According to Paul Wohlleben, a partner with the Global Government Group of Grant Thornton, and chair of ITAA's 2000 CIO Survey Task Group, "There is clear understanding among the CIOs that in order for e-government to become a reality, a solid foundation must be built. CIOs identified at least five critical enablers that they are working on to create the e-government bridge linking citizens and government."

The critical enablers identified by CIOs are CIO Leadership and Management, the need for increased authority and leadership to lead the transition to e-government; Enterprise IT Infrastructure, a modern IT foundation must be in place; Information Assurance and Security, dedicated resources and dependable security products must be integrated into any e-government plan; Federal IT Workforce, concerns over aging workers and a tight labor market for IT skills translate to outsourcing of complex technical work and increased project management for government workers; and Strategic Sourcing and Acquisition, e-government development and operation requires that the full-range of sourcing options be available.

"CIOs as a group have little authority or resources to make the transitions that e-government initiatives require," said Olga Grkavac, ITAA executive vice president. "So there is some concern that while they are creating the infrastructure to support e-government, they are not able to lead its definition and implementation from a program perspective."

The ITAA annual survey, the eleventh in a series designed to focus on key issues faced by the senior information managers in the federal government, was based on candid, in-person interviews with 37 CIOs and Information Resource Managers from 34 civilian and defense agencies, as well as Congress. ITAA members conducted the interviews between June and November using an interview guide.

The Arlington, Va.-based ITAA consists of over 450 direct and 26,000 affiliate corporate members throughout the U.S., and a global network of 41 countries' IT associations. The Association deals with issues of IT industry concern including information security, taxes and finance policy, digital intellectual property protection, telecommunications competition, workforce and education, immigration, online privacy and consumer protection, government IT procurement, human resources and e-commerce policy. ITAA members range from the smallest IT start-ups to industry leaders in the Internet, software, IT services, ASP, digital content, systems integration, telecommunications, and enterprise solution fields. The organization maintains a Web site at http://www.itaa.org.

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