Federal CIO departs Obama Administration

“After Kundra: What next?

By Washington Technology staff

Jun 16, 2011

Federal CIO Vivek Kundra’s departure from government is going to be a serious blow to federal IT programs, if the first wave of reaction to the news is any indication. 

Most of the work Kundra started is “at risk of ending abruptly,” said John Wonderlich, policy director at the Sunlight Foundation. 

Wonderlich praised Kundra’s work to strengthen the Office of Management and Budget’s role as a publisher of government data. “While OMB is still largely unwilling to force agencies to share more information, Vivek built the Data.gov and the IT Dashboard as tools to aggressively pursue transparency that affects how the government works,” Wonderlich said.

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OMB Director Jake Lew announced on June 16 that Kundra will leave his government post in August to become a joint fellow at the Kennedy School of Government and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

Steve Ressler, founder and president of GovLoop social network for federal executives, said he believes Data.gov will be Kundra’s greatest legacy. “It truly took open data to the next level and sparked a movement that spans across many countries and across state and local government,” Ressler said.

However, “with the electronic government fund being cut, and Congress hesitant to codify important transparency requirements, we risk seeing Vivek's successes become temporary gains,” Wonderlich said. “That's why we're hoping the White House chooses a successor for his position who shares his belief that technology can be used to change government for the better, by making it more transparent and accountable.”

Congress recently reduced the e-government fund to $8 million for fiscal 2011, from $34 million enacted last year. The fund covers projects that include USASpending.gov, Data.gov, Performance.gov and the Federal IT Dashboard. Kundra recently announced that due to those cuts, the FedSpace social network for federal employees would be canceled and the other programs would continue to operate but with reduced spending for future capabilities."