WILLIAMSBURG, VA - Federal chief information officers stay in their position for too short a period of time, said Richard Spires, CIO of the Homeland Security Department, while speaking Oct. 25 during the annual ACT/IAC Executive Leadership Conference.

A September Government Accountability Office report found the median tenure of an agency CIO since 2004 has been 25 months (including current CIOs)--and for politically appointed CIOs, 21 months. Lack of continuity in the CIO position has long been cited as a weakness in federal information technology management.

It's also possible that career civil servants might be better suited to the CIO position, added Spires, a political appointee.

"Frankly, if it got us better continuity to make them all career and they got the seat at the table, they had the authorities, that might be the best answer," he said. Many CIOs lack institutional standing within their agencies, Spires also said.

Spires, who is also vice chair of the CIO Council, said the federal government is proceeding with roll out of a collaboration tool despite the announced cancelation earlier this year of FedSpace, which then-Federal CIO Vivek Kundra described as a "space for collaboration among communities, allowing users to explore, discuss, meet others in the same field."  

The new tool, to be piloted among CIO Council committees, Spires said, will allow users "to form groups, be able to share information, be able to post things."

"Essentially what we're talking about is something similar to FedSpace," he said, adding that he believes "we've found a way to do this very, very inexpensively." FedSpace gained about 500 users after an investment of $5 million before being canceled.

Vendors, Spires also said, bear some responsibility for the continued existence of stovepiped information technology systems within the federal government. Vendors oftentimes argue that "this system has to be unique, or it can't be combined with this other system, right, or we can't consolidate because of these special requirements--and a lot of it is just not true," he said.

"There's a self-interest motivation and I get that, but believe me, it can hurt us," he said.

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