Federal agencies should hold at least one internally-managed "TechStat" meeting by March 31, says the Office of Management and Budget in a "TechStat Toolkit" newly available on cio.gov.

TechStat is the rubric Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra has given to hour-long meetings heretofore held at OMB to review information technology systems the White House says are in danger of running over cost or schedule--or which already have done so. OMB has selected systems for TechStat review according to data available on the IT Dashboard, although the Government Accountability Office has questioned the reliability of data posted there.

Agency TechStat meetings should be co-chaired by the chief information officer and chair of the agency investment review board, the OMB guidance states. IRBs to date "have failed to take the corrective actions necessary to establish successful projects and sustain a healthy IT portfolio," Kundra states in a memo dated Jan. 28 that's part of the toolkit (downloadable as a zip file).

"IRBs will be restructured according to the TechStat model," he adds. The new guidance is part of White House efforts to restructure federal information technology management and procurement according to a 25-point plan.

According to toolkit, TechStat meetings should last exactly 60 minutes, with 2 minutes for introductions, 10-15 minutes for a briefing of findings, 30-35 minutes for discussion of potential corrective actions, and 5-15 minutes for decision-making on corrective action items and assigning ownership over the actions and their deadlines. The guidance does not offer advice on what to do should one segment run long.

The guidance also provides a TechStat seating chart.

For more:
- download the TechStat Toolkit

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