Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced today the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) has honored the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) with three national information technology (IT) awards. The new honors bring the District’s total IT awards to 10 in 2008.
NASCIO named OCTO the winner of its Recognition Award in the IT Project and Portfolio Management Category, an award for state initiatives that develop governance processes, policies and systems for the efficient management of IT investments from concept, funding, implementation and operation to retirement.
The award-winning project was the “stock market model” developed by Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Vivek Kundra for managing the District’s IT investments. Kundra’s innovative idea was to manage IT projects as a portfolio of stocks, with each project as a company, its team as the management, its schedule and financial status captured in market reports and customer satisfaction as the market reaction. By applying these stock-market practices to government technology, Kundra was able to identify problem projects early and either switch managers or kill the projects, freeing resources for more promising initiatives. Earlier this year Kundra was honored for his ground-breaking stock market model by both the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, which recognized Kundra among outstanding IT innovators, and by InfoWorld Magazine, which named Kundra among the nation’s top 25 CTOs.
NASCIO also awarded OCTO its Recognition Award in the Government to Business Category. This award recognizes innovative applications that reduce business costs for regulatory compliance, help companies establish and grow a business, or improve day-to-day government-to-business interactions.
OCTO’s winning project was its Certified Business Enterprise (CBE) online Resource Center. District CBEs are businesses certified by the District’s Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD) to participate in the District's contracting program. The program directs spending to District-based businesses to create local jobs, strengthen the local economy, and increase the District’s tax base. To maximize participation and benefits from the program, DSLBD needed a user-friendly, comprehensive online certification and contract compliance application. OCTO developed the application in consultation with DSLBD, the District’s Office of Contracts and Procurement (OCP) and the Office of the City Administrator (OCA). The result was a application that:
- Allows qualified business owners to submit online applications for CBE certification;
- Enables DSLBD to process the applications via the District’s Intranet;
- Provides a transparent and efficient process to verify agency compliance with CBE participation requirements;
- Tracks prime contractor payments to subcontractors to verify compliance with CBE participation plans; and
- Provides outreach tools to inform the CBE community about upcoming business opportunities, training classes and DSLBD/District business events.
The site has enhanced agency and prime contractor compliance with District CBE requirements, it has dramatically increased the accuracy of DSLBD data and it has improved the efficiency of certification processing and compliance tracking.
The third NASCIO award OCTO won was the Recognition Award in the Government to Citizens category for governmental applications that provide innovative and/or more efficient services to citizens. OCTO won the award with its CapStat “Building A City That Works” website. The site supports CapStat, a cross-agency accountability program launched by District Mayor Fenty. The Mayor and City Administrator hold regular meetings with agency directors to review agency performance data, assign action items, and hold the managers accountable.
The CapStat website is central to the program. CapStat meetings are recorded by video and broadcast on the site. The site offers performance data from CapStat sessions as well as agency performance reports. It is updated after each session to provide links to full-length session videos, resulting action items, and a revised schedule of upcoming topics. The site offers data catalogs and live feeds on a wide variety of District performance measures, such as violent crimes, service requests, permits, and many more. An interactive map illustrates the reports and shows, for example, where each crime occurred or which buildings received permits. By providing the detailed data District leaders need to assess agency performance and hold managers accountable, and by creating a vehicle for the District to share all of this data with the public, the CapStat website has played a vital role in delivering on Mayor Fenty’s commitment to transparency and accountability in District government.
“For my administration, improving services for citizens and ensuring accountability and transparency in government are paramount goals,” said Mayor Fenty. “These important awards from NASCIO, along with many other recognitions OCTO has received in the past two years, testify to the key role technology plays in meeting our objectives for the District.”
“I’m honored by these awards that reflect the evaluation of our peers around the country,” said District CTO Kundra. “We have assembled some of the smartest and hardest working people at OCTO so the District can lead the nation in innovation and service delivery.”
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