Ask the people who work with him anything about Ken Cochrane and they reply with words like "high-level," "strategic," and "authoritative." But their voices soon take on an undertone of unmistakable affection, and they use words like "down to earth," "funny," and "unassuming."

"He carries himself taller than he is," says a colleague. "You know, if you admire a person, you think he's taller than he really is. If you talk to [Cochrane] on the phone you think he must be six-feet-four or six-feet-five." (In reality, he is less than six feet tall.)

"Ken is able to get so much more done than I could have as acting CIO," says Canada's Deputy CIO, Jim Alexander. "He has brought so much credibility with him to this job."

Cochrane conveys a strong belief in the importance of setting a strategic direction to give people a sense of where they're going, but acknowledges that "in every role there's a balance between strategy and operations."

"A big part of the roles I've played in the past focused very much on making it happen," he told an interviewer in 2006. "So, sure, establish a vision, but let's make sure that we can make it happen operationally, and this experience is certainly something that I bring to the table."

Ken Cochrane gained his strategic perspective as a senior executive in the private sector. He spent 20 years at the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife), in positions that included managing director, Individual Business Administration and Customer Service; managing director, Individual Business Re-engineering; Vice-President and CIO for MetLife Canada; and, finally Vice-President of Development for MetLife's U.S. Operations.

After MetLife Canada was acquired in 1999, he joined the Government of Canada, where he has held three increasingly influential positions that have leveraged his technology skill and his executive experience. He was CIO of the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency for four years, then moved to Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) in 2003 as the first CEO for IT shared services across government. After 30 months at PWGSC, he was named CIO for the government of Canada—the largest employer in Canada, comprising about 120 departments and agencies. Based in the Treasury Board Secretariat (equivalent to OMB in the US), the CIO's influence encompasses not only technology, but the management of information, security, privacy and service delivery.

His approach is carefully crafted and speaks to the importance of good overall management in government. Having set a strategic direction, he sets out to "socialize" the strategy, put a consistent model in place, and provide guidance.

One of his strengths is in creating opportunities for engagement and teamwork to achieve good results. "The most important thing for us is to work with communities that include business leaders in government as well as CIOs," he said. "We provide them with direction, but also consult with them. So if we put a dashboard in place, it'll be something they all can live with."

This area of management accountability is important for government, he said, particularly since passage of the Accountability Act that makes (non-political) deputy ministers directly accountable for management of their departments. The Management Accountability Framework includes an annual report card that is used to assess how well departments are doing on 21 indicators of good management.

While this focus on corporate administration may seem mundane, he hopes to build upon the model for how the effective management of internal government systems leads to increased citizen trust in government and enhanced appreciation for the role of the public servant. "The public opinion research behind the public sector value chain shows there is a relationship between the internal and external workings of government. If you don't modernize the back office systems, employees can't deliver the level of services that citizens want.

"This is a new model connecting employee satisfaction to customer satisfaction to citizen trust" he said. "If the public sees the customer service representative is going the extra mile, it increases trust in government institutions. If we can instill a sense in citizens that we manage well, they will develop trust and confidence in government. And this will help achieve what our Clerk (of the Privy Council) wants—public service renewal."

Ken Cochrane came to government as part of the Interchange Canada program after MetLife Canada was acquired in 1999. Interchange Canada promotes the exchange of employees through temporary assignments between government agencies and outside organizations. The program allows the government to bring in business executives with advanced skills to perform public service temporarily.

It was a program that suited him well. "For a man of his stature, money and power are not quite as important for him," says a close observer. "He wants to make a difference."

There's only one catch: the new Interchange Canada program has a hard and fast time limit. Ken Cochrane's time runs out in December 2008.

By then, however, he expects to accomplish the agenda he has set for himself:

• To achieve a sustainable information management program;
• To improve project oversight by putting a policy framework in place complete with guidelines and standards, and a management accountability tool to demonstrate that departments are achieving the results;
• To launch back office modernization of corporate administration, reducing the number of systems but increasing interoperability and consistency of data and processes.
• To implement a secure identity management program.

"Although this may coincide with a political agenda, I'm really dealing with the business of government," he said. "Like any leader in a corporation, you have to explain your vision and bring people along."

"My priority is to get the ship sailing and ensure my successors and the Government of Canada are well positioned to address the challenges ahead.

The 7th annual North America Day talks were held in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, on September 12-14, bringing together delegations of IT officials from the United States, Canada, and Mexico to discuss government IT issues of common interest and concern.

Ken Cochrane, the CIO of Canada, hosted the event this year. Karen Evans, administrator of the OMB Office of E-Government and IT, led the U.S. delegation. Jorge Luis Ibarra, ICT general administrator of the Servicio de Administracion Tributaria, led the Mexican delegation. Each gave an overview of the status of e-government in their respective countries to kick off the talks.

In two days of discussions, the groups considered pressing issues for IT officials throughout the world, including information management, business continuity and crisis management, social software/Web 2.0, identity management, project oversight, and research on citizens' web preferences.

"I am taking a lot of things away that we'll be using from this point forward," said Teri Takai, CIO of Michigan and president of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO), who was also a member of the U.S. delegation.

"We all face similar issues, similar problems," Cochrane said. "We can solve these problems collectively. It's not just about technology, but about using it effectively to deliver good value."

"We're all about putting services out there for citizens," U.S. delegate Evans said.

"All concepts are tied to management," said Mexico's Ibarra. "We no longer talk in terms of IT. Technology happens to be an enabler. We're not addressing IT operations on an isolated basis, but thinking in terms of methodology, standards, and the transformational side of IT. It's not just bricks and concrete; now we're talking in terms of cathedrals."

The annual North America Day talks were instituted in 2001. Their objective is to enable the IT officials of the three North American countries to get together in an informal, trusted environment to learn from one another about IT issues that affect all three countries. The role of host rotates each year. In 2006, the talks were hosted by the United States at Airlie House in Warrenton, VA. Next year, the Mexicans will host.

Other members of the U.S. delegation were Dave Wennergren, Deputy CIO, Department of Defense; Chuck Christopherson, CFO/CIO, Department of Agriculture; Robert Carey, CIO, Department of the Navy; Zalmai Azmi, CIO, FBI; Kimberly Nelson, Senior Analyst, OMB; Martha Dorris, Deputy Associate Administrator, GSA Office of Citizen Services; and Darlene Meskell, Director, USA Services Intergovernmental Solutions.

The CIO Council adopted a set of principles to help achieve consistent, effective IT decision-making across federal government. The Architecture Principles for the U.S. Government provide a framework for IT decision-making across multiple agency business units. The principles are intended to promote comprehensive, coherent, and consistent IT business processes; reduce duplication of effort; and encourage the use of efficient technologies across the federal government. Agency program and technical officials are expected to adopt these principles and to identify others that further support the principle.

Each of the principles contains four parts: statement of principle, a brief description, the rationale for the principle, and the implications or consequences of adopting or ignoring the principle.

The seven principles are:

• The federal government focuses on citizens.
• The federal government is a single, unified enterprise.
• Federal agencies collaborate with other governments and people.
• The federal architecture is mission-driven.
• Security, privacy, and protecting information are core government needs.
• Information is a national asset.
• The federal architecture simplifies government operations.

Federal agencies must develop plans by November 12, 2007, to implement a new import and export processing system to enhance the safety of imported products.

A September 10 memorandum from OMB Deputy Director for Management Clay Johnson directs agencies to designate a senior executive to participate in an interagency team that will coordinate activities to support the use of the International Trade Data System (ITDS). The team will be led by the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Homeland Security.

ITDS is being implemented as part of the Automated Commercial Environment project of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service. Agencies are required to use the ITDS when collecting information to clear or license the import or export of cargo. All agencies are required to fully implement the use of ITDS by 2009. Agency CIOs will receive additional instructions to help develop their agencies' plans.

In Senate testimony September 20, an official of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) challenged OMB to further improve the identification and oversight of high-risk federal IT projects, citing 227 IT projects listed as either poorly planned, poorly performing or both, that represent $10.4 billion in total expenditures.

Karen Evans, OMB Administrator of E-Government and IT, explained how OMB uses its Management Watch List and High-Risk List as tools in its oversight process that are used to manage risk and avoid problems by focusing scrutiny on the most important IT investments.

She noted that 210 projects worth $5.8 billion had already been remediated and taken off the Management Watch List in this fiscal year and that projects are placed on the High-Risk list "due to the size, complexity, and/or nature of the risk of the project, but are not necessarily at-risk."

David Powner, GAO Director of Information Technology Management Issues, acknowledged OMB has addressed GAO's earlier recommendations for improving the identification and oversight of poorly planned and poorly performing IT projects, but called for additional efforts. In particular, he asked OMB to publish the reasons for placing projects on the lists, "to highlight progress made by agencies or projects, identify management issues that transcend individual agencies, and highlight the root causes of governmentwide issues and trends."

The federal officials appeared before the Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services and International Security Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

CIOs Barry West, Department of Commerce; Scott Charbo, Department of Homeland Security; Michael Duffy, Department of the Treasury; and Daniel Mintz, Department of Transportation; and Paul Brinkley, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Business Transformation also testified at the hearing.

Federal agencies have until October 27 to complete full background checks and issue identification credentials for all current employees and contractors who have worked for the federal government for less than 15 years. This requirement stems from the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12) Policy for a Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors.

The policy also requires agencies to complete background checks and credential employees who have worked for the government more than 15 years by October 27, 2008.

2007 WebAward. USA.gov, the U.S. government's official web portal, won the Web Marketing Association's 2007 Government Standard of Excellence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Website Development. The annual WebAward Competition is conducted by the Web Marketing Association, an independent organization founded to evaluate and recognize standards of excellence on the Internet. The award was announced September 18 by GSA, which manages the portal. USA.gov was one of 1,000 entries from 19 countries evaluated on design, innovation, content, interactivity, copywriting, ease of use and use of technology.

Best of Web and Digital Government Achievement Awards. The state of Utah, the city of Tampa, Florida, and the county of Fairfax, Virginia had the best state, city and, county web portals in 2007, according to the Best of Web and Digital Government Achievement Awards. The awards were presented at an awards gala in Las Vegas September 21 by the Center for Digital Government.

Winners, finalists, and honorable mentions were named in eight categories including:

• Government-to-business
• Government-to-citizen local government
• Government-to-citizen state government
• Government-to-government
• Government internal

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) wants state CIOs to be aware of their ever-expanding roles and responsibilities in the e-discovery process.

The brief, Seek and Ye Shall Find? State CIOs Must Prepare Now for E-Discovery!, explains the basics of e-discovery process rules that were amended in December 2006 to include electronic document storage and retrieval. The brief highlights the impact the new amendments will have on the state CIO offices:

• Equal footing for paper and electronic information
• The form of electronic information doesn't matter
• Required production of discoverable electronic information
• No excuse to not produce electronic information
• Less time for finding electronically stored information
• Preservation of electronic information and legal holds
• Identifying potentially privileged information that doesn't need to be produced
• Access to IT systems and staff
• Lost information due to routine operation of electronic information systems
• Managing contractors

In another study, released in August, NASCIO found that states have made significant progress in centralizing computing assets and moving toward a centralized data environment.

NASCIO's Survey on Enterprise Data Center Consolidation in the States: Strategies and Business Justification reports that, while states define an "enterprise data center" in many ways, the universal trend is towards consolidation.

This report lays out the challenges that state governments are facing as they consider and implement enterprise IT data-center consolidation initiatives. Responses received as of June 22, 2007, came from twenty-nine states that participated in the survey.

The National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) concludes that most states can use GSA Schedules to their advantage in its white paper An In-Depth Look at GSA Cooperative Purchasing: The Benefits and Issues Surrounding State Usage of Schedule Contracts.

The September report concluded that further collaboration with GSA can make the Schedules an even more effective tool for states' use. The white paper incorporated results of a survey of NASPO members about GSA Schedule usage that was undertaken at GSA's request.

The American Council for Technology/Industry Advisory Council released a white paper in May 2007 to explain applicable ethics rules for some of the most common situations that arise when government employees interact with industry employees. The Practical Guide to Common Ethics Questions provides examples of potentially unethical conduct and practical explanations for the ethics rules that apply to them.

The statutes and regulations that govern the standards of conduct between these two groups are intended to ensure there are no actual or apparent conflicts of interest. It is the responsibility of both parties to comply with the rules.

The white paper covers the following topics:

• Gifts and Gratuities
• Gifts Between Government Employees
• Bribes
• Kickbacks
• Post-Employment Issues
• Government-Industry Information Exchange
• Maintaining Confidential Information in Federal Procurements

Six communities and news organizations that are using innovative Internet-based technology to foster collaboration and communication on community-based projects were presented with Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism in Washington, DC, September 17. User-generated content was a key to success for several of the winning programs:

The awards were presented by J-Lab, the Institute for Interactive Journalism, at the University of Maryland. Top prizes went to:

• TechPresident.com was awarded the grand prize for its new group blog that covers how the presidential candidates are using the Web and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign.



• First prize went to the Council on Foreign Relations for its Crisis Guides—interactive, multimedia, online guides to international issues of the day.



• The Forum, an online newspaper created two years ago by volunteers in Deerfield, NH—a town with no previous media coverage that became the major source of news for four rural counties in southeast New Hampshire—won the Citizen Media Award. The Forum now has more than 200 bylined contributors and averages 37 original articles each week.



• Varsity MyTeam High School Sports, of the Orlando (FL) Sentinel, received a Special Distinction Award of $1,000 for its highly participative high school sports zone that offers every school a customized sports page and ways for users to upload statistics, photos, and postings.



• onBeing, washingtonpost.com's online "series of videos [that] take you into the musings, passions, histories, and quirks of all sorts of people" won a Special Distinction Award.



• The Reuters Virtual Second Life News Bureau, which pioneered a virtual news bureau that reports on actual news and developments in the online 3-D world on www.secondlife.com, applying journalistic techniques to social networking, e-commerce, and user-generated content for more than 7 million users received the Wild Card Award.

Among those cited for honorable mention was GreatLakesWiki.org, which allows citizens, scientists, industry leaders, teachers, and students to contribute and cross-link content about the culture, recreation, commerce, and environment of the Great Lakes region.

Also available in pdf 37 kb

NASCIO Annual Conference
Tucson, AZ
September 30-October 3

The 2007 Federal IT Summit
Washington, DC
October 9

Emergency Preparedness Information Sharing Initiative
Atlanta, GA
October 10-11

Emetrics Summit
Washington, DC
October 14-17

ACT/IAC 2007 Executive Leadership Conference
Williamsburg, VA
October 21-23

Collaborative Expedition Workshop: None of Us Is As Smart as All of Us: Facilitating Collaboration in the Virtual and Built Environments
Arlington, VA
October 23

The 2007 GCN Awards
Washington, DC
October 24

MILCOM 2007
Orlando, FL
October 29-31

IDEAS 2007
Washington, DC
October 31-November 1

The New New Internet: Web 2.0 Conference
Reston, VA
November 1

ACT/IAC Government IT Speaker Series: Logical Access of HSPD-12
Washington, DC
November 7

National Electronic Commerce Coordinating Council Annual Conference
Austin, TX
December 3-5

The 2008 Technology Leadership Conference (formerly the Western Conference)
San Diego, CA
January 16-18

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The DotGov Buzz is produced by the following individuals in the GSA Office of Citizen Services and Communications:

Darlene Meskell
Andrea Noce
Anne Hartzell
Bryant Jones