OCIO in Government Departments
OCIOs are used across multiple government departments all over the world to facilitate and implement effective change. For example, the Department of the Interior in the United States employs the use of an OCIO to oversee the bureau’s information management and technology services.
In order to successfully serve the multiple missions established by the department, the OCIO implements and applies modern IT tools, approaches, products, and systems to completely overhaul the way business is operated both internally and externally.
A government office with which you may be more familiar that has also utilized an OCIO in the past is the USDA.
What Does the USDA Office Do?
The USDA office provides leadership and policies on agriculture, food, natural resources, rural development, nutrition, and other related issues based on the public interest. The USDA is made up of 29 offices and agencies that have a combined workforce of over 100,000 employees nationwide.
The core values described in the USDA’s strategic framework provide their workforce with direction and goals which are used to measure progress and help guide decisions about programs, budgets, and public services.
To lead their information strategies, Gary Washington was selected as the USDA OCIO in September of 2017. He is the former CIO of the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and has also served as CIO and Director of the Information Technology Division for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Since joining the USDA in 2017, Gary Washington became a full-time CIO and has led an effort to completely overhaul and modernize the USDA’s technology capabilities. He implemented new frameworks that increased the efficiency, productivity, and integrity of the department programs and services.