COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DEVELOPMENT OF

GOVERNMENT CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER (GCIO)

IN US, THAILAND AND JAPAN
Proposed Approaches for the Philippines

Ms. JINGLE G. CONCON

4204A316-2

PROF. TOSHIO OBI

Global Information & Telecommunication Studies
Waseda University
Tokyo, Japan

September 2006

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter I: INTRODUCTION & METHODOLOGY........................

1.1

Problem Statement .......................................................

1.2

Significance of the Research Topic ..............................

1.3

Purpose of the Study ....................................................

1.4

Research Methodology ................................................

Chapter II:

BACKGROUND - ISSUES & PROBLEMS .....

2.1

Challenge of e-Government ........................................

2.2

Leadership Gap in IT and the Evolution of CIO ............

10

2.3

Emergence of GCIO in the World .................................

12

Chapter III: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ...................

17

3.1

Review of Related Literature ........................................

17

3.2

Definition of terms ........................................................

18

Chapter IV: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF GCIO DEVELOPMENT IN US,

THAILAND & JAPAN ....................................................

20

4.1

United States .....................................................

20

4.2

Thailand ........................................................................

25

4.3

Japan ............................................................................

29

4.4

Comparative Analysis ...................................................

34

4.4.1

Summary of Analysis ....................................................

49

Chapter V: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE PHILIPPINES .

52

5.1

Status of ICT in the Philippines .....................................

52

5.2

Recommendation: GCIO in the Philippines and Factors to Consider in

Developing GCIO in the Philippines ..............................

56

Chapter VI: DISCUSSION ON LIMITATION OF THE STUDY AND FUTURE

RESEARCH ..................................................................

63

Chapter VIII: CONCLUSION .......................................................

64

References ..................................................................................

67

Appendices .................................................................................

70

Chapter I: INTRODUCTION & METHODOLOGY

The popularity of information and communications technology (ICT) in the public
sector continues to surge as demonstrated by international surveys ranking
countries based on e-government strategies and implementation. These include
surveys conducted by business groups, the academe, international organizations
such as Accenture1, Brown University2, Waseda University3, ASEAN4 and the United
Nations

These surveys measure and highlight how governments have

implemented e-government aimed at improving their operations and provision of

public services.
One unique factor addressed by the Waseda University survey is the presence of
chief information officer (CIO) in the government as a main indicator on the
success of implementing e-government. The Waseda survey recognizes the
presence of CIO in the government, as a key factor in providing leadership for
the effective management of ICT. Among the countries surveyed with CIO in
their governments include, US, Thailand and Japan. As such, this study is intended
to trace the growing phenomena of an evolving kind of leaders apt for the new
society characterized by the pervasiveness of ICT in the government, and how
can it be introduced in other countries, particularly the Philippines.
1.1 Problem Statement
This research aims to answer the following questions?
1. How did the GCIO develop in US, Thailand and Japan?
2. How can the GCIO be developed in the Philippines, based on the
experiences of US, Thailand and Japan?

1
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, which conducted a research on
government and came up with a ranking based on the e-Government maturity of 22 selected countries. In 2004, it came out with
its fifth annual global study of e-government (www.accenture.com)
2
The Brown University survey was made under the Taubman Center Public Policy and Political Science Department, devoted to
inter-disciplinary research, teaching, and service in the areas of education, health care, urban, law, and technology policy. The
fifth survey which was released in 2004, covered 198 nations . (www.brown.edu)
3
The Waseda University e-Government Ranking (2006) is the second survey conducted by its Institute of e-Government. The
study surveyed the e-governments of 32 countries. www.obi.giti.waseda.ac
4
The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) conducted the e-Readiness survey to ascertain the preparedness of its
members in the information age.
5
The United Nations (UN) comes out with surveys related to e-Government regularly. Referred herewith is the UN Global eGovernment Survey 2003, which included its 191 member states.

1.2 Significance of the Research Topic

This topic came up as a result of the researchers personal experience working for
the government for more than ten years, specifically in offices involved in
information dissemination, archiving and management of information system
(MIS). At the same time, the researcher has been part of her agencys efforts to
implement its grand computerization project, which was initially planned as early
as 1992. The project suffered numerous setbacks, and one of the main causes
identified was the inconsistency in the leadership of the agency. The Project was
first conceptualized by Senate President Edgardo Angara. However, from 19902000, the Senate leadership went from various headships unceremoniously: from
Angara to Ernesto Maceda, the late Neptali Gonzales (who assumed the post
thrice) and Marcelo Fernan, Franklin Drilon (2000-2006), and Aquilino Pimentel.
The project had to start from scrap everytime a new leader assumed the post.
The highest position for IT management, which was tasked to oversee the
planning up to the implementation stage, had no significant authority to ensure
that the project could be carried on despite changes in the highest level of
leadership.
On the other hand, as early as the first quarter of 1990s, the Philippines was
already witnessing the rise of

CIO position in the private sector, particularly

offices in the ICT sector, multinational corporations and US-based companies

such as Microsoft Philippines, HP, etc. Unlike the MIS and EDP Directors who were
held responsible for the computerization projects in government agencies, the
private CIOs were executive positions with powers and authority apt for their
responsibilities and jurisdictions.
CIOs in the government agencies of United States

were assigned in

1996.

However, ten years later, the Philippines is yet to recognize the importance of
leadership in IT management, and create such position in its government.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The objectives of this research are as follow:

To understand the role and increasing importance of CIO in the

government;

To analyze the development of CIOs in government in US, Thailand and

Japan; and

To propose how to introduce and develop GCIO in the Philippines;

1.4 Research Methodology

Data Gathering
In order to give this research a substance, data were gathered from country
reports, web sites, such as country portals, and news and research agencies,
email correspondences, interviews and presentations during international
conferences and seminar-workshops, and other related materials. The data
collection process exemplifies an interpretive study, wherein through observation,
the researcher learns about the phenomena and good practices.
The research was conducted in the following phases:
(1) reviewing the scenario prior to the development of CIO in the
governments of US, Thailand and Japan;
(2) gathering, organizing and analyzing the information on how CIO in the
government of US, Thailand and Japan developed;
(3) collecting and updating data and information on the status of utilization
of ICT in the Philippines, and the creation of legal framework, policy
bodies and programs and projects related to e-government.
US, Thailand, Japan and the Philippines were chosen to serve as the case studies
for the discussion of this research. The primary reason for the selection of US,
Thailand and Japan, is the significant contribution of these three countries in the
APECTel Project6 05/2005, entitled Establishment of Government Chief Information
Officer and Training Model and Network for e-Government Development, held
from November 2004 December 2005.

The project was in response to the

directive of APECTEL Min 4 and 5, that hopes to benefit member economies,

6
Establishment of Government CIO Training Model and Network for e-Government Development Final Project & Evaluation
Report. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Telecommunications and Information Working group, May 2006

especially for the developing economies in implementing e-Government

strategies. The Project was proposed by Thailand and Indonesia, and cosponsored by APEC Japan, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam.

Research Analysis
The analysis employed for this research is qualitative in nature. Methods include
the phenomenological and comparative analysis.

This phenomenological

approach seeks to discover some of the underlying structure or essence of that

experience through the intensive study of individual cases7. As the rise of CIO in
the government is perceived as a phenomenon, the analytic method employed
was oriented toward the depth and detail that can be appreciated only through
an exhaustive, systematic, and reflective study of its development.
Likewise, comparative analysis was conducted on three selected countries (US,
Thailand & Japan). Parameters were identified as crucial for the development of
GCIO: rationale for creation of GCIO; policy and implementing mechanisms;
core competencies;

institutionalization; and status and existing challenges.

Afterwards, the implications of each parameters were also analyzed on the case
of the fourth country (Philippines), to ascertain its readiness or lack of
preparedness to develop GCIO.
Finally, recommendations were drawn that would address the issues and
problems identified in the early part of the study, based on the hypothesis
inductively formulated herewith, that, the development of GCIO is imminent.

http://ebn.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/3/3/68 accessed 7/28/06

Chapter II: BACKGROUND - ISSUES & PROBLEMS

The questions raised in this thesis were triggered by issues and problems that need
to be understood and elaborated in order to come up with the best possible
answers.

The

environment

surrounding

the

development

of

GCIO

is

characterized by many issues, presented in this chapter include: challenge of egovernment; leadership gap in IT and the evolution of CIO; and the emergence
of GCIOs in the world.
2.1 Challenge of e-Government
E-government is defined as the use of electronic media in the facilitation of
government processes. It covers a wide range of applications making use of
multi-media broadcasting, radio networks, computer networks, mobile phone
communication technologies ad other similar electronic devices.8 E-government
surveys use different methodologies, measuring different aspects of ICT utilization.
The status of e-government engaged by countries around the world does not go
unnoticed. Almost yearly, governments are monitored and ranked on how far
they have taken up the challenge of e-government: from diffusing the number of
PCs, launching of one-stop-shop portals, to changing the management and
structure of government such as the designation of chief information officers.
In 2001, the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
launched the ASEAN e-Readiness Survey to determine the preparedness of its
members for the information age. The methodology defined four stages in the
development of an information economy emerging, evolving, embedding and
extending.

E-Government is considered as one of the components of e-

readiness based on the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement.

E-Government was

measured based on ICT penetration, use type, organization and distribution.

Below, the figure shows the key challenges of e-government from evolving to
extending stages:

Lallana, Emmanuel, et al. e-Government in the Philippines: Benchmarking Against Global Practices. Digital Philippines,
April 2002

Extending

Embedding

Evolving

Key Characteristics
Very high PC and interne
penetration in government
Government uses internet for
providing citizen services, internal
work processing and e-commerce
Very
high
proportion
of
government departments have
websites, with high proportion of
services online
Separate ICT ministry
Moderate/high PC and internet
penetration in government
Government uses internet for
providing citizen services and
internal work processing
High proportion of government
departments have websites, with
moderate proportion of services
online
Separate ICT ministry/Department
Moderate/low PC and Internet
penetration in government
Government uses internet mainly
for e-mail
Moderate
proportion
of
government departments have
websites,
with
moderate
proportion of services online
Separate ICT department

Key Challenges
Reduce
complexity
for
the
citizen/business client
Improve quality of
online services
Improve use of ICT for
government
transformation
Develop roadmap to
describe
transformation
strategies
Gain executive buy-in
and management of
transformation
Increase government
web presence and
utilization in service
delivery
Develop roadmap to
describe
transformation
strategies
Gain executive buy-in
and
management
transformation
Increase government
web presence and
utilization in service
delivery

Fig. No. 1 ASEAN e-Government Readiness (2001)

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) came
out with the World Public Sector Report 2003, entitled, on e-Government at the
Crossroads.

The report concluded that governments worldwide have been

embracing ICT technologies for e-government, and made rapid progress within a
year based on the results of its two surveys which came out in 2001 and 2003,
respectively. The UNDESA e-Government Survey listed 143 Member States as using
the Internet in some capacity in 2001; and by 2003, 91 per cent or 173 out of 191
Member States had a website presence.

The survey used a composite index composing Web Measure Index, the
Telecommunication Infrastructure Index and the Human Capital Index.
Index
Web Measure Index

Characteristic
Measures the generic aptitude of governments to
employ e-Government as a tool to inform,
interact, transact and network. The survey on Web
Measure Index was limited to national portals of
official homepages of each government and preselected
five
government
ministries
and
department (health, education, social welfare,
labor and finance)
Telecommunication
Weighted average index of six primary indices
Infrastructure Index
based on basic ICT-related infrastructure
indicators per 1000 persons: PCs, Internet,
telephone Lines, online population, mobile
phones, and television.
Human Capital Index
A composite of adult literacy rate and the
combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross
enrollment ratio with two thirds of the weight given
to adult literacy and one third to gross enrollment
ratio.
Fig. No. 2 UNESDA e-Government (2003)

The Waseda University Institute of e-Government has come out with its second
international survey in December 2005, which measured the e-governments of 32
countries based

on the following areas: network preparedness, required

interface function and applications, management optimization, chief information

officers, and promotion of e-government. The last two indicators were intended
to measure on the efforts of the government to increase ICT utilization by the
end-users.
Area
Network Preparedness

Interface
functions
applications

Management optimization

and

Indices
Internet users
Broadband users
Digital mobile users
PC users
Security system
Online applications
e-tender system
e-tax system
e-voting system
e-payment system
user-friendly interface
EA-ICT investment
ERP

System optimization
Integrated network system
Administrative and budgetary systems
Public management reform by ICT
National websites/portals
Web design
Renewal
Public disclosure
Link navigation system
Multi-language correspondence
Introduction of CIO
Introduction of CIO
HRD for CIO
Supporting body for CIO
Role and function of CIO
Promotion of e-government
Priority of e-gov planning and strategy
Promotion activities
Legal framework
Evaluation system
Fig. No. 3 Waseda University e-Government (2005)

2.2 Leadership gap in IT and the evolution of CIO

Due to the pervasive application of ICT, resulting in the formation of new society,
which can be variably called as information society, knowledge society or
network society, Wilson III raised the issue of the need for new leaders.
According to him, leadership in the new society needs new attitudes, new skills,
and new knowledge gained through unique professional experiences responsive
to the features of the new society. He identified new different leadership
categories. First,

leadership in the digital age which inclusively refers to

leadership in any institution or sector embedded in the broader transitions toward

a more knowledge intensive society. All leaders whether leaders in health, the
arts or in manufacturing must be aware of the new constraints and opportunities
ICTs provide, and use them effectively
The second, digital leadership refers to leadership in the core sectors of the
knowledge society the three Cs of computing, communications and content
(broadcasting and print), and now multi-media.
He also suggested attributes and skills for the new digital leaders: must be flexible
and adaptable, and possess wide intellectual curiosity and a hunger for new

10

knowledge. He added that, a list of necessary skills would include the capacity
to build coalitions and forge communities of interest; to multi-task; to remain
focused on ones own priorities even while seeking common ground with leaders
in other sectors. Substantive knowledge is especially important in the knowledge
society, including knowledge of how the new technologies function. Leaders
must also know what they do not know, and know how to get that missing
knowledge by mobilizing their own social networks.
Leadership in the digital age breed new leaders, and this include the offsprings
of marriage between traditional leaders, (found in institutions or sectors
embedded in the broader transitions toward a more knowledge intensive
society) and the digital leaders. Among them, is the rise of CIO.
The Chief Information Officers (CIO)
The rise of chief information officers (CIO) in the private sector in 1980s were seen
as a consequences of the need for the appropriate people who understood and
had the capacity to maximize IT

revolutionizing business operations.

The

emerging importance of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) within contemporary

organizations has been well-documented over the past 20 years (Rockart et al.,
1982; Benjamin et al., 1985; Applegate and Elam, 1992; Stephens et al., 1992;
Luftman and McLean, 2004). Over time the CIO has arisen in conjunction with the
information systems function moving from simply a data processing function
supporting

basic

accounting

applications

to

broad-based

strategic

component of successful organizations.

The varied reports on the skills possessed by successful CIOs have also evolved
over time. In the early days, the majority of senior Information Technology (IT)
executives arose within the organization as skilled IT technicians prepared to lead
the development of hardware and software to support the information
processing needs of organizations (Applegate and Elam, 1992). This focus on hard
IT skills was eclipsed over time by the need for CIOs with management skills and
experience in managing divisional units. The evolution of primary skills continued
to be related to business acumen and the ability to bring business process
knowledge together with IT knowledge in a strategic orientation (Enns et al., 2003;
Luftman and McLean, 2004).

11

In the State of the CIO 2006, conducted annually by cio.com since 2002 on
more than 500 heads of IT, the most important skills necessary to succeed in the
position are as follows: (1) ability to communicate effectively; (2) strategic
thinking and planning; (1) ability to lead and motivate staff; (3) understanding
business processes and operations; (4) understanding industry trends, business
strategy; (5) thorough knowledge of technology options; (6) negotiation skills; and
(7) technical proficiency.
2.3 Emergence of GCIO in the World
The Waseda e-Government Ranking 2006 was conducted to measure the status
of e-governments of 32 Member States of APEC, based on five indicators. One of
the indicators was the presence of chief information officers, or mechanisms to
introduce the position in the governments of the surveyed countries. The result
revealed that many countries have already designated GCIO, and scored high
in the survey. Among them, include 9 : Australia, Canada,

Finland, Germany,

Singapore, United Kingdom and United States.

Likewise, the APECTel recognizes that the involvement of GCIO will accelerate
the functioning of e-Government in the region10, and will serve as an important
position that will enable the implementation of e-government strategies. And as
investments for information and communications (ICT) increase and become a
tool for national development (Obi, 2005, Bangkok), many countries including
non-APEC members, have started designating

GCIOs or similar positions,

creating offices and establishing councils or associations.11

Government chief information office of GCIO refers to a similar position in the
private sector, the chief information officers or CIO. The position of GCIO is
introduced in the public sector in the hope that it will provide the same
leadership in IT management similar to its counterpart in the private sector. GCIOs
are expected to lead government agencies in IT management, with the aim of
achieving the targets, such as ,

more effective and efficient operation

Waseda e-Government World Ranking 2006

Establishment of Government CIO Training Model and Network for e-Government Development - Final Project & Evaluation
Report. APEC Telecommunications and Information Working Group. May 2006
11
Waseda e-Government World Ranking 2006
10

12

translated as successful computerization projects, and improved public service

delivery creating more satisfied citizenry.
Roles and Responsibilities
The APECTel adopted the general identification of the roles and responsibilities of
GCIO based on a study conducted by the Department of Defense (DoD) of US,
Model CIO Study (December 200). APECTel defines the roles and responsibilities
of a GCIO as: (1) the enterprise leadership in information and IT management
and provision to support future projects for competitive business value; and (2)
management of the daily delivery of required I/IT services.
The United States pioneered the designation of CIO in all its federal agencies
when it passed the Clinger-Cohen Act in 1996. Thailand followed suit in 1998, and
Japan in September 2002.

US, Thailand and Japan are three of the leading

countries that developed GCIO. Other countries have started to designate similar
positions and offices.
Australia. In Australia, the Chief Information Officer Committee (CIOC) was
created to report to Information Management Strategy Committee (IMSC)
which is the countrys peak information technology strategy body. IMSC
was established after the Australian Government Use of Information and
Communications Technology: A New Governance and Investment
Framework was released as a Management Advisory Committee (MAC)
on 15 October 2002.
The CIOC addresses the priorities determined by the IMSC, provide
'thought leadership' in the ICT arena, identify strategic issues, and serve as
a forum for exchange of information between agencies. The CIOC also
develops options for adoption and implementation of ICT at agency or
whole-of-government level, and support issue-specific working group.
The CIOC is comprised of 27 members and is chaired by the Australian
Government Chief Information Officer of the Australian Government
Information Management Office (AGIMO),

under the Department of

Finance and Administration. The membership is drawn from both key

central agencies and agencies that are high users of ICT.

13

Canada. In Canada, the Chief Information Officer Branch (CIOB), under

the Treasury Board, sets strategic directions for information management
(IM), information technology (IT) and service delivery in its government. It
has been responsible in updating its information policy framework, which
comprise two major policies: Management of Information Technology
(MIT) and the Management of Government Information Holdings (MGIH)
policies, both of which are intended to ensure that government
information technology is used as a strategic tool to support government
priorities and program delivery, and to enhance service to the public
United Kingdom. The Government Chief Information Officer (CIO) Council
in the United Kingdom was recently formed in January 2005. The CIO
Council is the first initiative to bring together CIOs from across all parts of
the public sector to address common issues. The work of the council is
focused on four independent sections. These include: the strategy for
using IT to transform government and to deliver modern public services
more effectively (transformational government);

how government and

the wider public sector can achieve significant savings and increase
effectiveness by modernizing the provision of corporate services; bringing
together IT professionals to create a joined up, government-wide IT
profession; and providing improved leadership to IT enabled business
change programs, and development opportunities to IT professionals in
the public sector
Among Asian countries, aside from Thailand and Japan, the experiences
of Hongkong and Singapore are impressive as well.
Singapore. In December of 1999, the Infocomm Development Authority of
Singapore (IDA) was formed

as a result of a merger between the

Telecommunications Authority of Singapore and the National Computer

Board. Guided by Connected Singapore, the masterplan that maps out
the vision, strategies and goals to entrench the countrys position as one of
the world's premier infocomm 12 capitals, it leads in developing and

12
Infocomm refers to Singpores ICT sector which includes industries engaged in the development of information content and
its transmission, and on the technology facilitating the processing and transfer of information not just the information per se.
(Singapore Country Report, Asia Pacific Information & Communication Technology Technical Meeting, 2004)

14

promoting Singapores vibrant infocomm industry. Since then, IDA has

served as the Government chief information office, which drives
Singapores e-government and national IT plans to achieve its goals.
Hong Kong. The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
(OGCIO) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region OGCIO was set up on 1 July 2004 to provide leadership for the
development of information and communications technology (ICT) within
and outside the Government.
The OGCIO was formed by merging the functions of the former
Information Technology Services Department and the IT-related divisions
of the Communications and Technology Branch (CTB) of the Commerce,
Industry and Technology Bureau (CITB). The OGCIO provides a single focal
point with responsibility for ICT policies, strategies, programs and measures
under the 2004 Digital 21 Strategy, in addition to providing information
technology (IT) services and support within the Government. The GCIO is
accountable for the Government's investment in ICT.
The OGCIO was established to provide a streamlined government
structure for delivering the IT function both within the Government and in
the community, and enable the Government to take a proactive, leading
role in championing IT development.
Concurrent with the establishment of the OGCIO, a high-level Egovernment Steering Committee, chaired by the Financial Secretary, was
formed to set the strategic direction of its E-government program and
coordinate

interagency

implementation.

With

the

Committee's

empowerment, the GCIO drives changes to government business

processes through IT and takes a cross-agency leadership role in driving
the E-government program.
The title GCIO is not largely accepted or used yet in the world, but many
countries have started to establish offices with similar functions.
In Germany, The federal Ministry of Interior established in 2002 the Office of
Chief Information Office, which pool the tasks of the Ministry related to IT
policy and strategy, management and security, and brings together the

15

BundOnline 2005 Project group, the coordination and Advisory Agency for
IT in the Federal Administration (KBSt) and the Federal Information Security
Agency (BSI).
In Indonesia, President Instruction No. 3/2003 has appointed the Ministry of
Communication and Information as the national CIO. Meanwhile, the
Government IT and Internet Committee (GITIC), a national level
committee in Malaysia, chaired by Chief Secretary of The Government
has recognized the importance of having CIO in all government agencies.
In March 2000, an Administrative Circular was sent to all government
agencies highlighting the need to appoint a CIO.
Some countries are recognizing the importance of GCIO by appointing an
official whose role and responsibility are still evolving but close to a GCIO. In Brazil,
the role is not explicitly stated, but an officer is appointed in its Logistics and
Information Technologies from the Ministry of Planning, Organization and
Management. In Peru, it is the Director of National Office for E-Government and
Informatics. Chile has appointed a Governmental Coordinator of Information
and Communications Technologies . In March 2005, Finland designated a State IT
Director for the State IT Management Unit within the Ministry of Finance.

16

Chapter III: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

3.1

Review of Related Literature

In the early 1980s, William A. Synnott and William H. Gruber had observed in their
book, Information Resource Management: Opportunities and Strategies for the
1980s, that the role of CIO in the private sector was evolving from the leadingedge information managers.
"Leading-edge information managers," they said, "will gradually evolve into the
(CIO) role during the 1980s as they integrate technology more effectively with
user and senior management business and information needs."
They added that back then, the CIO was relatively a new management function,
but more and more managers were aspiring to it as a career goal. By bringing
technical expertise and a strong systems management background to the
executive suite, ClOs are able to introduce technology company wide that help
managers use technology more effectively.13
In 1996, the Industry Advisory Council came out with a report, IAC/CIO Task Force
Report, listing the issues that led to the evolution of CIO within the commercial
industry, which included: the increasing role of information technology as a key
component of the core business operations, the realization of the strong coupling
of information technology to a businesss competitive advantage in delivering
products and/or services, and the need for businesses to continue to leverage
their

significant

investments

in

technology

while

facilitating

business

transformation with their individual organizations.14

The report also noted that in light of these, the position of a CIO has been seen to
play a central role in providing the vision and leadership to help organizations
understand and assess potential areas of opportunity in which IT facilitates
transformation and provide competitive advantage. After the creation of vision,
the CIO will be critical in creating the blueprint of the construction of business

13
14

IBM Bulletin, February 1986

IAC/CIO task Force Report, July 15, 1996 http://www.defenselink.mil/nii/bpr/bprcd/3204/

17

plans and performing leverage of existing investment to create the final business
transformation, and achieve the targets.15
In 2003, Wilson III and Duan (2003) made a study on The Contribution of
Leadership to Chinas Information Revolution. With the premise that within China
and beyond, political and economic future will be shaped in important ways by
the expansion of new, powerful ICT, they claimed that (1) the relationship
between ICT and social outcomes is much more ambiguous; and (2) argued that
to understand better ICTs future impacts on Chinese society requires one to
analyze the particular individuals in China who are the agents of these impacts.
They call these individuals as information champions who play motivating and
leading roles in the diffusion of ICTs in China.
In 2006 (May), the APEC Telecommunications and Information Working Group
released the final output of its more-than a year workshop, entitled, Establishment
of

Government

CIO

Training

Model

and

Network

for

e-Government

Development. The workshop was the first regional initiative to promote GCIO and
propose training model for the standardization of the position. The report
recommended three schemes of training, dependent on the maturity level or
concerns

of the countries, from basic, standard to advance. Subjects and

courses were proposed addressing the core competencies required for GCIOs.
3.2

Definition of terms
CIO (chief information officer) operates as an executive rather than a
functional manager, and often reports to either the CEO or one of the
CEOs direct reports. The CIO plays an active role in strategic planning of
information resources. The title varies from vice-president, chief technical
officer, MIS director, depending on the size or nature of the company.
GCIO (government chief information officer) counterpart in the private
sector, but the title was coined and adopted by APECTel to give emphasis
on its origin, the government.
Enterprise Architecture are blueprints for systematically and completely
defining

15

an

organizations

current

(baseline)

or

desired

(target)

Ibid.

18

environment, essential for evolving information systems and developing

new systems that optimize their mission value.

This is accomplished in

logical or business terms (e.g., mission, business functions, information

flows, and systems environments) and technical terms (e.g., software,
hardware, communications), and includes a sequencing plan for
transitioning from the baseline environment to the target environment.
Business process reengineering

is a collection of activities that takes one

or more kinds of input and creates an output that is of value to the

customers.
Ubiquitous

Society

is

an

ideal

society

where

connection

and

communication is possible at anytime (24/7) and anywhere (regardless of

geographic situation), by anyone (including the very young and old,
disabled, illiterate) and anything (machine to people, and machine to
machine).

Similar to the characteristics that define the new society

randomly referred to as the information society,

knowledge society,

distributed, digital age, and so on.

Enterprise refers to the government, and all the stakeholders, including but
not limited to other government agencies, business partners and endusers. The scope in this context as defined and adopted by APECTel and
DoD, are as follows:

All units of the organization, and all subordinate organizations;

Peer organizations within the larger organization of which the subject

organization is part, if the subject organization is part of a larger entity (e.g.
one bureau to another in a larger department, or one department to another
in an overall federal (national) government;

Business partners (e.g. for federal (executive) departments, state and local
governments and other non-profit organizations through which their services
may be delivered and, and suppliers of goods and services);

Customers and other stakeholders who purchase, consume, benefit from, or

use services produced by the organization, and others interested in their
behalf; and
As a related term, single knowledge enterprise represents the fully integrated
knowledge enterprise where business and technology processes, information
and knowledge are corporately shared and built up

19

Chapter IV: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF GCIO

DEVELOPMENT IN US, THAILAND & JAPAN
This chapter discusses in focus the introduction, development and status of GCIO
in US, Thailand and Japan. These countries were chosen for this study due to its
significant contribution in the APECTel Project 05/2005, entitled Establishment of
Government Chief Information Officer and Training Model and Network for eGovernment Development, held from November 2004 December 2005.
The project was in response to the directive of APECTEL Min 4 and 5, that hopes to
benefit member economies, especially for the developing economies in
implementing e-Government strategies. The Project was proposed by Thailand
and Indonesia, and co-sponsored by APEC Japan, Malaysia, Philippines and
Vietnam.
Among the sponsoring countries of this Project, only Thailand and Japan have
already institutionalized GCIO. US was inevitably included in this study, since its
main contribution in the Project is the Clinger-Cohen Act which served as a main
reference for GCIOs roles and responsibilities and list of core competencies for
both Thailand and Japan.
4.1 The United States
Rationale for creation of GCIO
There were three major influences that caused the creation of CIO in the US
federal government : (1) serious shortcomings in major Federal IT acquisitions; (2)
creation of CIO positions in the private sector; and (3) the widely publicized
cases of major success and positive experience with the creation of the chief
financial officers (CFO) position in 1990. 16
The report of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee in 1994, entitled,
"Computer Chaos: Billions Wasted Buying Federal Computer Systems, highlighted
the failure of many computerization projects due to problems with procurement
16

IAC/CIO Task Force Report, July 15, 1996

20

rules and the constant bid protests which usually delayed or eventually caused
the cancellation of the entire project. Likewise, it mentioned that many of the
projects fell short of the expected results.
Based on the report, by focusing more explicitly on IT acquisition and
management of large development projects, those problems could had been
avoided. The alignment of authority and responsibility for large scale system
development projects is clearly one of the tenets of the private sector's
movement to CIO designations, that allowed them to avoid the severity and
frequency of problems suffered by the Federal.
Thus, this report which laid the foundation for Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996, created
and designated CIOs in the government to be responsible for acquisition of and
monitoring the performance of the IT programs of the agency. The clear goal is to
make the CIO part of the agency head's inner council, acquiring the benefits
that the high-performing CIOs of the private sector capture for their firms.17
Further, the CIO was established to follow the passage of CFO Act 1990, credited
for bringing real benefits to the Federal executive branch. The parallels between
the CFO position and the CIO are significant, and present both opportunity and
conflict: they both grow from fiduciary requirements of a technical natureaccounting and information technology whose importance is fundamental to
good management and the overall success of the organization; and the
positions overlap in the IT systems essential for financial management and
reporting.18
The Clinger-Cohen Act
In 1996, the Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996 (ITMRA), or
better known as the Clinger-Cohen Act, established a minimum of 23 Chief
Information Officer (CIO) positions. The ITMRA defines the role of the CIO,
designates the CIO as the senior information technology (IT) official in each
agency, and states general responsibilities for the position. It also specifies duties
and qualifications, and designates Executive Level IV positions in 23 agencies.

17
18

Ibid
Ibid

21

However, this is not the first effort to create senior positions responsible for IT
acquisition and/or management. In 1980, the Paperwork Reduction Act created
chief IRM executives in agencies. This was enacted for the purpose of improving
the management of information resources within the executive branch.
ITMRA amended the Paper Reduction Act, and the changes include the detailed
roles and responsibilities of the CIO, in that they are to provide advice and other
assistance to the head of the agency and other senior management personnel
to ensure that information technology is required and information resources are
managed in a manner that implements the policies and procedures of ITMRA
and the priorities established by the head agency. 19
Under

the Act, the designated CIOs will

have the

following general

responsibilities:
(1) providing advice and other assistance to the head of the executive
agency and other senior management personnel of the executive
agency to ensure that information technology is acquired and
information resources are managed for the executive agency in a
manner that implements the policies and procedures of this division,
consistent with chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, and the
priorities established by the head of the executive agency;
(2) developing, maintaining, and facilitating the implementation of a
sound and integrated information technology architecture for the
executive agency; and
(3) promoting the effective and efficient design and

operation of all

major information resources management processes for the executive

agency, including improvements to work processes of the executive
agency.
Likewise, the specific duties and qualifications of CIO under the Act are as follow:
(1) have information resources management duties as that official's
primary duty;

19

Ibid

22

(2) monitor the performance of information technology programs of the

agency, evaluate the performance of those programs on the basis of
the applicable performance measurements, and advise the head of
the agency regarding whether to continue, modify, or terminate a
program or project; and
(3) annually, as part of the strategic planning and

performance

evaluation process required

(A) assess the requirements established for agency
regarding

knowledge

and

skill

in

information

personnel
resources

management and the adequacy of such requirements for

facilitating

the

achievement

of

the

performance

goals

established for information resources management;

(B) assess the extent to which the positions and personnel at the
executive level of the agency and the positions and personnel
at management level of the agency below the executive level
meet those requirements;
(C) in order to rectify any deficiency in meeting those requirements,
develop strategies and specific plans for hiring, training, and
professional development; and
(D) report to the head of the agency

on the progress made in

improving information resources management capability.

CIO Council
The Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council was established to serve as the
principal interagency forum for improving practices in the design, modernization,
use, sharing, and performance of Federal Government agency information
resources.
The role of the Council includes developing recommendations for information
technology management policies, procedures, and standards; identifying

23

opportunities to share information resources; and assessing and addressing the

needs of the Federal Government's IT workforce.
The Chair of the CIO Council is the Deputy Director for Management for the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Vice Chair is elected by the
CIO Council from its membership which include all the CIOs identified by the law,
and their Deputy CIOs.

Fig. No. 4 Organizational Structure of US CIO Council as of 2004

Core Competencies
In September 1998, the CIO Council endorsed a set of core competencies as a
baseline to assist departments and agencies in complying with Section 5125 (C)
(3) of the Clinger-Cohen Act.

These address a number of areas including

leadership, process/change management, information resources strategy and

planning, project/program management, acquisition, and capital planning. In
detail, the following core competencies are:

24

Policy and organizational

Leadership and managerial

Process and change management

Information Resources Strategy and Planning

IT Performance Assessment: Models and Methods

Project/Program Management

Capital Planning and Investment Assessment

Acquisition

E-Government/ Electronic Business /Electronic Commerce

IT security/information assurance

Enterprise Architecture

Technical

CIO University
The US CIO Council established the CIO University in 1999, in response

to a

number of issues which affect the federal information technology community,

including education.
The CIO University is a virtual consortium of universities which offers graduate level
programs that directly address executive core competencies.
This consortium of universities which includes Carnegie Mellon University, George
Mason University, George Washington University, La Salle University, Loyola
University at Chicago, Syracuse University and the University of Maryland University
College, offers graduate level programs that directly address the executive core
competencies adopted by the Federal Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council.
The purpose of the CIO University is to improve government by enhancing the
skills of its top executives.
4.2 Thailand
IT for sustainable economy
Prior to the creation of

CIOs in the government in 1998, Thailand had been

experiencing economic crisis for a long time. Likewise, it just promulgated its new

25

Constitution, and there were so much idealism to translate the mandates of the
new law of the land. ICT was identified by its leaders as Thailands national plan
for a sustainable economy (Thaweesak Koanantakool, 1999). It was outlined in its
national ICT policy, the IT2000 adopted in 1996.
IT-2000 consists of three pillars which are the foundations for the development:20
1

better

telecommunications

infrastructure,

deregulation

of

Telecommunication and privatization of the Telephone Organization

of Thailand (TOT) and the Communications Authority of Thailand
(CAT), etc.
2

human resource development and education

good governance

The third pillar is the most crucial factor necessary for the sustainable
development of Thailand through less corruption and better services to the
citizen. Projects under this scheme included the government Chief Information
Officer (CIO) programs.
National Information Technology Committee (NITC) and National Electronics and
Computer Technology Center (NECTEC)
ICT policies in Thailand originate from the National Information Technology
Committee (NITC) established in 1992. This committee is chaired by the Prime
Minister, and there are twenty sub-committees dealing with every aspect of
Thailands ICT development and policy formulation. The support arm of the
Committee is the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center
(NECTEC), and in this role is known as the National Information Technology
Committee Secretariat (NITS). The NITC plays a central role in Thailands ICT
Development, through a variety of domestic initiatives and a broad range of
cooperative projects with foreign government agencies, academic institutes,
and private firms.21
As the NITS, NECTEC serves as

the government agency that implements ICT

policy in Thailand. NECTEC was founded in 1986 under the Ministry of Science,
20

Getting ready for the next millennium. Thaweesak Koanantakool, 1999

Alleviating the Digital Divide: Policy Recommendations (Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam. Building
Institutional Capacity in Asia, Report 2002. A Project commissioned by the Ministry of Finance, Japan.
21

26

Technology and Energy. Its role was mainly to pursue research and development
in the ICT area. The NECTEC Board is chaired by the Director of the National
Science and Technology Development Committee. In the 1999 fiscal year,
NECTEC employed 469 persons with a budget of 800 million baht (approximately
US$ 18.6 million). Sixty per cent of the budget went to research and development,
and the other forty per cent was allocated for special projects. According to its
annual report NECTEC worked with 1,776 agencies in both the government and
private sectors.
Thailand introduced GCIO upon the recommendation of the study by National
Information Technology Committee (NITC), entitled, "Utilisation of IT in the Public
Sector, Revision 2". The Chief Information Officer program was proposed to the
cabinet and was approved in June 1998.
According to the Cabinet resolution, every ministry and department and every
state enterprise is to appoint one chief information officer to over see the unified
IT development plans at both the departmental level and the ministerial level.
The designated GCIO, who is usually the 2nd or 3rd in rank officer in the
organization, have the following responsibilities22:
(1) chair its organizations ICT committee
(2) define organizational vision, mission, policy and ICT standard
(3) formulate organizational ICT masterplan
(4) approve and allocate budget for ICT project
(5) monitor and track for integrated system
(6) evaluate the organization information system inform ICT progress to
chief executive officer

Core Competencies
The designated GCIO is expected/required to possess the knowledge that will
enable him/her to undertake the challenge that comes with the position. These
area of knowledge include23:

22
23

Thajchayapong, Pairash, CIO in Thailand. JICA/APEC/ITU Waseda Workshop on ICT, November 22, 2004
Ibid

27

ICT: technology, trend and how to apply them

ICT masterplan formulation

Organizational process re-engineering

Information system development

Information resources management

Information system utilization for organization

Knowledge management

ICT laws

Information security

Computer/ICT center management

Telecommunication and internet

The Chief Information Officer Program

As the CIO program is new to most ministries and departments, NITC
supplemented all CIOs with a special 30-hour compulsory training program. Six
training courses for 15 ministerial CIOs and about 180 departmental CIOs were
managed jointly by National Electronics and Computer Technology Center
(Nectec) and the Office of the Civil Servant Commission.
CIOs attend a "CIO Forum" which is a regular gathering of GCIOs to meet for
technology update and free exchange of ideas and cooperation among the
GCIOs.
Currently, Thailand has a comprehensive capability training curriculum for its
GCIOs. Organized by the Office of Civil Service Commission (OCSC), National
Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC) , Thailand Software Park,
Thailand Computer Clustering Promotion Program. GCIO courses include:

Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO) Training Course

Developing Enterprise IT Architecture

Effective IT Management Course

Strategic IT Outsourcing and Vendor Management

Project Management for Information Systems

Strategic IT Planning

28

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Business Process Management (BPM)

4.3 Japan
Eve of e-Government Program
The country has been witnessing the emerging roles of CIO (chief information
officer) in both private and public sectors. It first became popular in the private
sector in the beginning of 1990's. Since then, it has been essential for companies
to create ICT strategy on cost, security and management system. However, there
is a lack of understanding on the role and responsibilities of the CIO.
It was, the eve of the Program for Building e-government, and most targets of
its ICT strategies have already been achieved. This means that: digitization of
administrative

documents

and

procedures

were

already

advanced

considerably; information dissemination through electronic means was a

common practice; and online and real time processing of administrative
procedures between Government and the public were in place.
The challenge for the CIOs in Japan is to usher the country in achieving its vision
of becoming a ubiquitous network society by effectively implementing its egovernment strategy.
The e-Japan Strategy
In January 2001, the ICT Strategy Headquarters adopted the e-Japan Strategy,
a medium term national strategy to be the worlds most advanced IT nation by
2005. The GCIO position was mandated in the government, under the e-Japan
Strategy.
In July 2003, e-Japan Strategy II was adapted prescribing the second stage of
ICT strategy: a grand design to stay as the world's most advanced nation after
2005. These strategies show the leading principles for formulating priority
programmes, which is a compilation of detailed measures by Ministries
concerned.

29

The former took up Realisation of e-Government as one of four priority policy

areas. In 2002, the CIO council was created to realize the e-Government, and
launched the contents of the Programme for Building e-Government in July
2003.
The e-Japan strategies are decided by the ICT Strategy Headquarters. The
Headquarters was created in accordance with the Basic Law on the Formation
of an Advanced Information and Telecommunication Network Society, or simply
known as the ICT Basic Law adopted in January 2001.
The law was legislated to bridge the international digital divide, and the primary
objective is to promote rapidly and preferentially the policies concerning the
establishment of a society based on advanced telecommunications networks.
For this purpose, it stipulates the basic ideas, principles and policies as well as
organization for promoting measures strategically. The law clarifies the roles and
responsibilities of the State and local governments respectively.
The ICT Basic Law nominates five priority areas for intensive measures, as follows:

Formation of the most advanced information and telecommunication

network.

Human resource development and promoting education and learning.

Promotion of electronic commerce.

Promotion of use of ICT in the public administration and public services.

Keeping the security and reliability of advanced information and

telecommunication network.

Position in the Government. A Ministry CIO is usually the Director-General of

Secretariat of respective Ministries or its equivalent, who

is in charge of

budgeting, staffing, organization, and policy coordination of his Ministry. He is

expected to perform the role and responsibilities of the following position:
(1) chief officer of e-government and enterprise architecture
(2) technical officer of e-procurement
(3) agencys expert in IT security

30

(4) planner of IT budget

(5) communicator and in charge of public relations
(6) promoter of business process reengineering (BPR) and IT solution
management
(7) chief officer in formulating strategy chief officer of performance
assessment

CIO Council.
The CIO Council was set up in 2002 under the ICT Strategy Headquarters. The
council is identified as one of the enabling apparatus of the program, which will
push forward various e-government measures in an integrated manner among
ministries and agencies. All the important policies of e-Government initiatives in
principle have to go through the Council.
It is composed of all the Ministry CIOs. The Council is headed by the Assistant
Chief Cabinet Secretary, and managed in cooperation with the Administrative
Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). Under the
CIO Council, a managing committee is formed of Division Directors representing
respective Ministries. The formal chair is a Councilor of the Cabinet Secretariat,
and the deputy chair is the Director of Administrative Information Systems
Planning Division of Administrative Management Bureau, MIC.

31

Fig. No. 5. The Ministerial Chief Information Officers Council, established in 2002, is the
highest decision-making body. The structure was created to effectively implement the eJapan Strategy.

Council of Assistant CIOs (Technical Advisers to CIO). The role of the private
sector in the promotion of the utilization of IT in Japan is underscored by the
appointment of Technical Advisers to CIO who compose the Council of Assistant
CIOs.
Experts from the private sectors were appointed by December 2003 in each
Ministry and Agency. The missions of these appointees is to support their
respective Ministry CIO in business analysis and formulating plans that will optimize
existing programs, or what they call the Optimization Plan. They also hold interministerial meeting to share the experiences of respective Ministries and discuss
technical matters. As a group, they serve as the Assistant CIOs of the whole
Government, not just of their respective Ministries.

32

As such, the meetings of these Technical Advisors have become a clearance

gateway as far as the technical aspects of e-Government initiatives in Japan are
concerned.

Various policy reviews and optimization plans go through peer

review by the meeting of Assistant CIOs before going to a CIO council meeting
for decision. At the top level, the ICT Headquarters, an expert member was also
appointed in December 2003 too attend the meetings of CIO Council. He also
serves as the chair of the meetings of Council of Assistant CIOs.
Waseda University CIO Course
The Waseda University in Japan, offered the first masteral degree for CIO in 2004.
This was in response to clamor from CIOs both from private and public sector for a
formal education on CIO. This move by Waseda was largely supported and
endorsed by the government, as expressed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and
Communications24.
The Waseda University, under Prof. Toshio Obi of the Graduate School for Global
Information and Telecommunication Studies, has been working to finalize the
core competencies for CIOs both for the public and private sectors. Identified
are 70 core competencies, which also include the skills identified by US, and the
following areas:

24

Role and responsibilities of CIO

Knowledge management principles and practices

Laws and regulations

Strategic business issues and changes in e-Gove, e-Business, e-Commerce

Information delivery technology (internet, intranet, kiosks, etc)

Enterprise architecture functions and governance

Fundamental principles and best practices in information assurance

System life cycle management

Risk management models and methods

Techniques and models of process management and control

http://www.obi.giti.waseda.ac.jp/CIOWEB/html/english/cio_it_1_1.html accessed 7/28/06

33

Subjects given to CIO practitioners and candidates are categorized in basic and
advanced

groups,

which

were

chosen

addressing

the

required

core

competencies. These include the following subjects:

Basic:
z

International Standardization and info-Communication industries

Introduction to Telecommunication Economics

CIO strategy

Corporate and international finance

Introduction to CIO Theory

E-business and technology judicial affairs theory

Introduction to Public Administration in information and Communications

Policy

Advanced:
z

Telecommunications Economics

Media Industrial Organization and Policy

International Standardization and Health and Information systems

Financial economics in information-oriented society

CIO solution and application

Industry-University cooperation and technology transfer theory

Information Technology Policies in the new age

Cyber Journalism Theory

IT Solution

E-government and info communications

Decision Support system

Intellectual Property Law

4.4 Comparative Analysis

(a)

Rationale for the creation of GCIO

GCIO in US, Thailand and Japan developed in different time, surrounding varied
circumstances. The rationale for the creation of GCIO in these countries were
characterized by the scenarios prior to its creation or introduction.

34

Though the scenarios were different, one very clear similarity is the pervasiveness
and attention given to ICT utilization in the public sector. US was already at the
stage of facing problems brought about by serious shortcomings in federal IT
acquisitions25, while witnessing how the private sector was dealing with the same
challenge of managing huge ICT projects, such as the creation of CIO.
The report of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee in 1994, entitled,
"Computer Chaos: Billions Wasted Buying Federal Computer Systems, highlighted
the failure of many computerization projects, but it emphasized also the strategy
engaged by the private sector under the same circumstances: by focusing more
explicitly on IT acquisition and management of large development projects. The
alignment of authority and responsibility for large scale system development
projects is clearly one of the tenets of the private sector's movement to CIO
designations, that allowed them to avoid the severity and frequency of problems
suffered by the Federal.
On the other hand, Thailand, though it introduced GCIO just two years after US,
the environment was quite different. It had been experiencing economic crisis for
a long time. Likewise, it just promulgated its new Constitution, and there were so
much idealism to translate the mandates of the new law of the land. ICT was
identified by its leaders as Thailands national plan for a sustainable economy
(Thaweesak Koanantakool, 1999). It was outlined in its national ICT policy, the
IT2000 adopted in 1996.
Japan, like US, had been witnessing the emerging roles of CIO (chief information
officer) in both private and public sectors. It first became popular in the private
sector in the beginning of 1990's. Since then, it has been essential for companies
to create ICT strategy on cost, security and management system. However, there
is a lack of understanding on the role and responsibilities of the CIO.26
Prior to its designation, Japan was already in the eve of the Program for Building
e-government (2001). This means that: digitization of administrative documents
and procedures were already advanced considerably; information dissemination
through electronic means was a common practice; and online and real time
25
Senate Governmental Affairs Committee in 1994, entitled, "Computer Chaos: Billions Wasted Buying Federal Computer
Systems,
26
Obi, Toshio & Concon, Jingle, Toward U-Government in Japan. Digital Encyclopedia, USA: Idea Group Inc. May 2006

35

processing of administrative procedures between Government and the public

were in place.27 CIOs were designated in government agencies to face the
challenge in ushering the country to achieve its vision of becoming a ubiquitous
network society28 by effectively implementing its e-government strategy.
(b) Policy Mechanism
US, Thailand and Japan set up GCIO in the government architecture, by creating
policies addressing the need for such a position. These policies were
implemented by legal mandate that assigned GCIO in the entire bureaucracies
of these three countries. The legal mandate that set up GCIO were of different
nature and form, and went through different process.
(1) by legislation
The Clinger-Cohen Act is a federal law that required legislation. Legislation is a
tedious process, including a number of committee meetings and public hearings,
and requires the approval of both houses of Congress of the US.29 The Act was
co-authored by U.S. Representative William Clinger and Senator William Cohen in
1996.
The proposed law went through rigorous study, review, debate, revision and so
on. At the bicameral conference committee, where the two houses of Congress
ironed out their differences and came out with the most agreeable report,
highlights were given on Sec 5125, regarding the agency CIO. These included the
amendment of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 by replacing the senior
information resources management official position established within each
executive agency with an agency CIO. Likewise, the following details were also
taken up at the last and most crucial stage of legislation, before it was sent to the
President for signing (after gathering approval of the conference report from
respective houses):
27

Country Report: Japan. ICA 38th Conference, Limassol, Cyprus, October 2004
Ubiquitous Society An ideal society where connection and communication is possible at anytime (24/7) and anywhere
(regardless of geographic situation), by anyone (including the very young and old, disabled, illiterate) and anything (machine to
people, and machine to machine). Obi, Toshio & Concon, Jingle, Toward U-Government in Japan. Digital Encyclopedia, USA:
Idea Group Inc. May 2006
20

29

www.congress.gov

36

The

conferees

anticipate

that

agencies

may

establish

CIOs

for

major

subcomponents or bureaus, and expect agency CIOs will possess knowledge of, and
practical experience in, information and information technology management
practices of business or government entities. The conferees also intend that deputy
chief information officers be appointed by agency heads that have additional
experience

in

business

process

analysis,

software

and

information

systems

development, design and management of information technology architectures, data

and telecommunications management at government or business entities.
The conferees expect that an agencys CIO will meet periodically with other
appropriate agency officials to advise and coordinate the information technology
and other information resources management activities of the various agencies.30

The law likewise repealed, among many others, the Section 111 of the Federal
Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, which was often referred to as
the Brooks Act, and gave the General Services Administration exclusive authority
to acquire computer resources for all of the Federal government. It assigns overall
responsibility for the acquisition and management of IT, previously referred to as
Federal Information Processing (FIP) in the Federal government to the Director,
Office of the Management and Budget (OMB). It also gives the authority to
acquire IT resources to the head of each executive agency and makes them
responsible for effectively managing their IT investments.
The primary purpose of the Clinger-Cohen Act was to streamline IT acquisitions
and emphasize life cycle management of IT as a capital investment.

The

appointment of CIO, which was clearly stipulated in the law, was one of the key
IT management actions required from federal agencies, to realize its real intent.
(2)

by executive actions

In Thailand, the recommendation to establish GCIO came from the National

Information Technology Committee (NITC), submitted to the Cabinet and was
approved as a resolution. Both the NITC and the Cabinet are headed by the

30

HR Report 104-450 Conference Report, Clinger-Cohen Act

37

Prime Minister, thus the process of approval was not as long and difficult, unlike
the Clinger-Cohen Act which required going through legislation.
ICT policies in Thailand originate from the National Information Technology
Committee (NITC) established in 1992. This committee is chaired by the Prime
Minister, and there are twenty sub-committees dealing with every aspect of
Thailands ICT development and policy formulation. The support arm of the
Committee is the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center
(NECTEC), and in this role is known as the National Information Technology
Committee Secretariat (NITS). The NITC plays a central role in Thailands ICT
Development, through a variety of domestic initiatives and a broad range of
cooperative projects with foreign government agencies, academic institutes,
and private firms.31
Thailand introduced GCIO upon the recommendation of the study by NITC,
entitled, "Utilisation of IT in the Public Sector, Revision 2". The Chief Information
Officer program was proposed to the cabinet and was approved in June 1998.
According to the Cabinet resolution, every ministry and department and every
state enterprise is to appoint one chief information officer to over see the unified
IT development plans at both the departmental level and the ministerial level.

(3)

by programs arising from National ICT Framework

In Japan, the provision that set up GCIO was under the e-Japan Strategy (Obi,
2006), adopted in January 2001. The e-Japan Strategy was a medium term
national strategy. This was followed by e-Japan Strategy II in 2005. Yearly, a set
of action plans are identified to roll out the strategy, called, e-Japan Priority
Policy Programmes. These priority programmes, are compilations of detailed
measures by Ministries concerned.
The e-Japan strategies, which serve as the national ICT framework was aimed at
making Japan the worlds most advanced IT nation by 2005. These strategies

31
Alleviating the Digital Divide: Policy Recommendations (Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam. Building
Institutional Capacity in Asia, Report 2002. A Project commissioned by the Ministry of Finance, Japan.

38

were decided upon by the

Strategy Headquarters for the Promotion of an

Advanced Information and Telecommunication Network Society (ICT Strategy

Headquarters), the ultimate ICT government structure in Japan.

Its members

include all ministers, and the chair is the Prime Minister.

ICT Strategy Headquarters was established under the Basic Law on the Formation
of an Advanced Information and Telecommunication Network Society (ICT Basic
Law, January 2001). The ICT Basic Law was the not the first overarching effort of
Japan to address the effective and comprehensive utilization of ICT in the public
sector. In December 1994, its Cabinet passed Master Plan for Promoting
Government-Wide Use of IT, a five-year plan covering from 1994 to 1998. This was
revised by the Cabinet in 1997, which also covered five years, from 1998-2002.32
(c) Implementing mechanisms
(1) Roles & responsibilities & position in the Government
The role and responsibilities of GCIO in the three countries reflect the two major
functions identified in the CIO Model Study (DoD, 2001), that is enterprise
leadership in information and IT management and provision to support future
projects for competitive business value, and the management/oversight of the
daily delivery of required I/IT services.
The leadership of GCIO is underscored, not only in the technology aspect, but in
creation of policies, management of people,

IT budget and planning and

promotion of business process reengineering (BPR). The role of GCIO as a chief

officer, is solidified by the position or authority it assumes, as the second or third
highest official in the agency in all three countries.
As a leader, GCIOs assumes the responsibilities in the organization to chair the
ICT committee; define organizational vision, mission, policy and ICT standard;
formulate organizational ICT masterplan; approve and allocate budget for ICT
project;

serves as chief officer of e-government and enterprise architecture,

among other areas that require final and executive decision.

32

ICA Country Reports Japan. ICA 38th Conference, Limassol, Cyprus, October 2004

39

As a manager, GCIOs are involved in the implementation, monitoring and

tracking

of a sound and integrated information technology architecture;

evaluation of the organizations information system; promotion of effective and

efficient design and operation of all major information resources management
processes, including improvements to work processes; and serves as the agencys
expert in IT systems applications, EA, and security.
Between these two responsibilities: as a chief officer (leader), and member of the
top level management (manager); GCIOs are expected to serve as the chief
communicator and advocate of ICT in the organization. GCIOs provide advice
and other assistance to the head of the agency and other senior management
personal to ensure that IT is acquired and information resources are managed in
a manner that implements the overarching vision and goal of the organization;
promote business process reengineering and other IT solution management; and
is in charge of ensuring that the public is informed of the changes in the
government brought about by IT application in the services.
(2)

Core Competencies

The core competencies identified by US, Thailand and Japan are all important,
but the most important are leadership, management and change management,
and that technology skills are listed last.
Leadership and managerial

are two interconnected skills, but are not always

present in the same person. Leadership is the ability to bring an organization or a

body of people to meet a goal/mission or reach destination by motivation,
exemplary behavior, and strong sense of the leaders dedication, commitment,
among others (even charisma counts as an important characteristic of a good
leader).

Meanwhile,

managerial

skills

require

involvement

and

active

participation and knows who could do a job best, what task is most difficult and
requires more time to finish, what tools or equipment should be procured, or how
to spend financial resources for certain projects. As a manager, the ability to
communicate well is expected

GCIOs are required to become both a leader

and manager to his subordinates, colleagues in the inner circle of chief officers,
and partners from the private sector and other government agencies.

40

As a change agent, the GCIO needs to lead the organization to use IT:

to

change the way it does business; to change the way it works every day, and to
change the way the organization thinks about, plans for and manages its
information and its technology. And as with any change, this must be done in the
context of the organization.
(3) Capacity building
The CIO University was established by the US CIO Council three years after the
Clinger-Cohen Act was passed in 1996. The CIO University

was created in

response to the many issues which affected the federal information technology
community, and one of them is education.
Since the responsibilities, duties and qualifications were clearly indicated in the
Clinger-Cohen Act, it was a big challenge to fill in the positions that were newly
created. Faced with bigger responsibilities and authority, newly appointed CIOs
needed more education and training.
The establishment of the CIO University was a specific initiative of the Council to
address the needs of CIOs in the federal executives for information technology
education. Both the General Services Administration (GSA), the office given the
exclusive authority to acquire computer resources for all of the Federal
government, and the Council asked the best graduate institutions in US to tailor
their respective academic strengths to meet the specific requirements of the
federal IT sector and its leaders, particularly for current and potential CIOs. It was
a unique partnership without precedent, and was the first time the government
directly translated its requirements for its senior information management corps
into a roadmap for universities to develop a special curriculum.33
Thailand and Japan faced the same challenge of the need to provide capacity
building training to newly appointed CIOs who were not familiar with the position,
its roles and responsibilities, and the challenges faced, among other, the fastpaced changes in technology development.

33

www.gsa.gov/ciouniversity.

41

Thailand tapped existing government agencies to provide the capacity building.

Led by the National Information Technology Committee (NITC), all CIOs from
ministries and departments were given a special 30-hour compulsory training
program. The trainings were jointly managed by National Electronics and
Computer Technology Center (Nectec)

and the Office of the Civil Servant

Commission.
Barely five years since the designation of the position in Japan, CIOs both from
the private and the government take the initiative of turning to universities. These
are schools and universities that provide courses on management of technology,
management of information science, and security and intellectual proper rights
(IPR)34 . The first formal CIO education was offered only in 2004. Likewise, CIOs
attend workshops and seminars offered by Waseda University and the
International Academy of CIO (IAC), newly founded in Japan in 2005.
(4) Technical advisers from the private sector
In Japan, to support Ministry CIOs, the services of Technical Advisers from the
private sector are engaged. These advisers complement the position and
activities of Ministry CIOs, and highly depended by the government for business
analysis and formulating plans to optimize existing programs, or what they call the
Optimization Plan.
(d) Institutionalization
US and Japan institutionalized CIOs by creating councils aimed at supporting the
GCIOs in all agencies of respective governments.

The US Chief Information

Officers (CIO) Council was established to serve as the principal interagency

forum for improving practices in the design, modernization, use, sharing, and
performance of Federal Government agency information resources. The council
was codified in the e-Government Act of 2002. At the same year, The Japan CIO
Council was set up under the ICT Strategy Headquarters, to serve as one of the
enabling apparatus of the e-government program to push forward various
measures in an integrated manner among ministries and agencies.

34

Obi, Toshio, CIO in Japan. Apectel Workshop on GCIO, Bangkok, Thailand, 4 April 2005

42

Thailand is at the process of institutionalizing the associations created among

GCIOs who have attended CIO Forum/Workshops sponsored by its government,
and graduates of GCIO program. The forum/workshop are held three to four
times a year, depending on necessity to discuss current topic and technology.
(e) Existing Challenges
It has been 10 years since GCIO was established in US, eight years in Thailand,
and five years in Japan. In terms of years, obviously, there is disparity, but reports
about issues and problems faced by these countries, one is consistent: the lack of
capacity of GCIOs to live up to the challenge, thus failing the high expectations
to carry out results.
In US, the lack of project management skills is still cited as one of the primary
causes of project failures.

35

These failures, for example, according to its

Government Accountability Office (GAO), of 16 IT projects in the Federal Aviation

Administration's massive 25-year-old modernization program, 13 are over budget,
ranging from $1.1 million to $1.5 billion; and the Army's Future Combat Systema
fully integrated set of networks to deliver real-time information to the battlefield
through sensors that pinpoint high-tech weaponscould come in as much as
$130 billion over its original 2001 budget estimate of $70 billion. In all, from January
2004 through March 2006, the GAO issued 98 reports on federal IT management,
with almost every blue-covered report finding serious management flaws that
increased the risk of IT failures.36
The CIO position, as required by the Clinger-Cohen Act, is a position that requires
highly specialized knowledge on IT management, among others, in order to do
the job effectively. However, when the law was implemented, some positions
were given out to political appointees37 who never had any background in IT
management. Today, 11 federal CIO positions are appointed (out of dozens of
CIOs in the federal government), mostly to larger agencies such as Department
of Homeland Security (DHS)38.

35

Holmes, Allan, The Clinger-Cohen Act. CIO Magazine, 15 May 2006

Holmes, Allan, Federal IT Flunks Out. CIO Magazine, 15 May 2006
37
Discretion/privilege engaged by elected officials to grant positions to political allies or friends in return to support provided
during campaign periods.
38
Holmes, Allan, Federal IT Flunks Out. CIO Magazine, 15 May 2006
36

43

Likewise, it has been observed by federal oversight inspectors and project

management experts that federal project managers routinely do not follow even
some of the more basic project management practices, such as conducting ROI
analyses,

developing

thorough

business

cases

or

establishing

project

management officesthe absence of which increases the chances for project

failures.39
Aside from the lack of skills and capability required from a CIO, other issues that
the GCIO in US face now include the CIO's lack of authority, specifically over
budgets; cultural and political resistance that derails sound IT practices; and
paperwork exercises that require CIOs and their staffs to spend huge amounts of
time proving that they are adhering to administration directives.40
In addition to that, there is a clamor for the creation of a central agency and
designation of a national technology czar, similar to a national GCIO, to
coordinate technology issues across the government, and who has close
relationship with the President. This was in reaction to the trends, particularly in
developing countries in Asia, that have aggressively pursued national technology
policies that receive support at the highest level of government. Over the past
several decades, these countries have established cabinet-level ministries of
science and technology and have developed detailed strategies for building a
system of innovation designed to elevate these countries into the worlds top-tier
economies.41
As for Thailand, trainings and capacity building programs are still also very much
needed. The demand to provide human resource development (HRD) support
for GCIOs all across the ministries and departments is not completely met by the
existing arrangement collaborated activities by Office of Civil Service
Commission (OCSC), National Electronics and Computer Technology Center
(NECTEC) , Thailand Software Park, and Thailand Computer Clustering Promotion
Program. Areas that currently need more attention include: good e-service for
citizen, ICT outsourcing, information security, information disclosure and data
protection, paperless/lesspaper system, ICT literacy and the appropriate

39
40
41

Ibid.
Ibid.
Worthen, Ben, Why George Bush needs a technology czar. CIO-Asia.com accessed 10 May 2005

44

technology deployment.42
Likewise, Thailand is faced by the challenge of collaborating and integrating
cross-agency activities to maximize the efforts started by each agencies. GCIOs
from different offices have created their own legacy systems and projects, and
the problem has arisen on how to make them communicate, for the benefit of
the entire national government.
Similar to US and Thailand, Japan is in dire state of the necessity to train and
provide the necessary skills and competencies to all the designated GCIOs. The
issue is complicated by the present set up, wherein the officials tasked as GCIO,
who are usually the Director-General of Secretariat of respective Ministries or its
equivalent,

in

charge

of

budgeting,

staffing,

organization,

and

policy

coordination of his Ministry, stay in office for only two years (Obi, 2006).
Currently, the technical advisers who are hired from the private sector (and who
are called as assistant CIOs), are the ones practically assuming the roles and
responsibilities

of the designated GCIOs.

As such, the lack of skills and

competency for GCIOs in Japan has made an impression to a technical adviser

from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), that there are no GCIOs
in Japan, only a CIO Council.43
Likewise, GCIOs are faced with the challenge of promoting e-government to the
public, with the hope of improving the publics utilization of government online
services.

42
43

Thajchayapong, Pairash, CIO in Thailand. JICA/APEC/ITU-Waseda Workshop on ICT, November 22, 2004
George Mason University Study Trip, May 25-31, 2006

45

(a) Matrix of GCIO development in US, Thailand and Japan

Country
YEAR OF CIO
SCENARIOS
PRIOR TO
CREATION

US
1996
Serious shortcomings in major
Federal IT acquisitions,
Private sector creation of CIO
positions;
Widely publicized cases of
major success and positive
experience with the creation
of the CFO (chief financial
officer) position in 1990

POLICY
MECHANISM

Information
Technology
Management Reform Act of 1996
(ITMRA) - Clinger-Cohen Act
(1996)
Defines the role of the CIO,
designates the CIO as the senior
information technology (IT) official
in each agency, and states
general responsibilities for the
position. It also specifies duties
and
qualifications,
and
designates Executive Level IV
positions in 23 agencies

Thailand
1998
had been experiencing
economic crisis for a
long time
Just
promulgated
its
new Constitution (1997),
and there were so much
idealism to translate the
mandates of the new
law of the land.
ICT was identified by its
leaders as Thailands
national plan for a
sustainable economy.

"Utilisation of IT in the Public

Sector, Revision 2" (1998)

Japan
2001
Eve of e-government program
which means,

digitization of administrative
documents and procedures
were
already
advanced
considerably;

information
dissemination
through electronic means
was a common practice;

online and real time

processing of administrative
procedures between
Government and the public
were in place
e-Japan Strategy (2001)

Every
ministry
and
department and every state
enterprise is to appoint one
chief information officer to
over see the unified IT
development plans at both
the departmental level and
the ministerial level.

A provision is included directing

offices to assign the 2nd highest
official to act as GCIO.

2nd or 3rd in rank position in

the organization

Existing second highest official,

who is usually the DirectorGeneral in charge of budgeting,
staffing, organization, and policy
coordination of his organization.

IMPLEMENTING
MECHANISM
Position/
Authority

Agencys chief information officer

with Executive Level IV position in
federal agencies

Roles and
(1) providing advice and other
Responsibilities
assistance to the head of the
executive agency and other
senior
management
personnel of the executive
agency to ensure that
information technology is
acquired and information
resources are managed for
the executive agency in a
manner that implements the
policies and procedures of
this division, consistent with
chapter 35 of title 44, United
States
Code,
and
the
priorities established by the
head of the executive
agency;
(2) developing, maintaining, and
facilitating
the
implementation of a sound
and integrated information
technology architecture for
the executive agency; and
(3) promoting the effective and
efficient
design
and
operation
of
all
major
information
resources
management processes for

To over see the unified IT Represents his agency in the CIO

Council meetings, and is
development plans:
expected to act as :
(1)
chair its organizations
ICT committee
(1)
chief
officer
of
egovernment and enterprise
(2)
define
organizational
architecture
vision, mission, policy
and ICT standard
(2)
technical officer of eprocurement
(3)
formulate
organizational
ICT (3)
agencys expert in IT security
masterplan
(4)
planner of IT budget
(4)
approve and allocate (5)
communicator
and
in
budget for ICT project
charge of public relations
(5)
monitor and track for (6)
promoter of business process
integrated system
reengineering (BPR) and IT
solution management
(6)
evaluate
the
organization
(7)
chief officer in formulating
information system
strategy
(7)
inform ICT progress to (8)
chief officer of performance
chief executive officer
assessment

46

the
executive
agency,
including improvements to
work
processes
of
the
executive agency.
Core
competencies

In September 1998, the CIO

Council endorsed a set of core
competencies as a baseline to
assist departments and agencies
in complying with Section 5125
(C) (3) of the Clinger-Cohen Act.
These address a number of areas
including leadership,
process/change management,
information resources strategy
and planning, project/program
management, acquisition, and
capital planning. In detail, the
following core competencies are:
Policy and organizational
Leadership and managerial
Process
and
change
management
Information
Resources
Strategy and Planning
IT Performance Assessment:
Models and Methods
Project/Program
Management
Capital
Planning
and
Investment Assessment
Acquisition
E-Government/
Electronic
Business
/Electronic
Commerce
IT
security/information
assurance
Enterprise Architecture
Technical

Capacity
Building

GCIO Courses

Established CIO University in 1999,

a virtual university composed of
Carnegie
Mellon
University,
George Mason University, George
Washington University, La Salle
University, Loyola University at
Chicago, Syracuse University and
the
University
of
Maryland
University College, which offers
graduate level programs that
directly address the executive
core competencies adopted by
the Federal Chief Information
Officers (CIO) Council
The Executive Certificate for
Chief Information Officers
Course
Carnegie Mellon University
Training Course
Master of Science in
Information Technology
Leadership Course

44
45

CIO University Graduate

Certificate Program

The designated GCIO is

expected/required to possess
the knowledge that will
enable him/her to undertake
the challenge that comes
with the position. These area
of knowledge include44:

ICT: technology, trend

and how to apply them
ICT masterplan
formulation
Organizational process
re-engineering
Information system
development
Information resources
management
Information system
utilization for
organization
Knowledge
management
ICT laws
Information security
Computer/ICT center
management
Telecommunication
and internet

Listed 70 core competencies,

which also include the skills
identified by US,
and the
following areas:
Role and responsibilities of CIO
Knowledge
management
principles and practices
Laws and regulations
Strategic business issues and
changes in e-Gove, e-Business,
e-Commerce
Information
delivery
technology (internet, intranet,
kiosks, etc)
Enterprise
architecture
functions and governance
Fundamental principles and
best practices in information
assurance
System life cycle management
Risk management models and
methods
Techniques and models of
process management and
control

CIO
Program.
Tapped
existing
government
agencies National Electronics
and Computer Technology
Center (Nectec)
and the
Office of the Civil Servant
Commission

Turned to schools that provide

courses on management of
technology,
management
of
information science, and security
and intellectual proper rights. The
first formal CIO education offered
by Waseda University in 2004, was
endorsed by the government,
particularly the Ministry of Internal
Affairs
and
Communication
(MIC)45.

Developing Enterprise IT
Architecture

CIO/IT management Course

Effective IT
Management Course

Strategic IT Outsourcing
& Vendor Management

Project Management
for Information Systems

Ibid
http://www.obi.giti.waseda.ac.jp/CIOWEB/html/english/cio_it_1_1.html

47

Integrated Master of Science

Program in Information
Systems Technology Course
Master of Science in
Technology Management
Course

Strategic IT Planning

Customer Relationship
Management (CRM)

Business Process
Management (BPM)

INSTITUTIONALIZ
ATION

M.S. in Information
Management Training
Course
The Chief Information Officers
(CIO) Council was established to
serve as the principal interagency
forum for improving practices in
the design, modernization, use,
sharing, and performance of
Federal
Government
agency
information resources.

The role of the Council includes

developing recommendations for
information
technology
management
policies,
procedures,
and
standards;
identifying opportunities to share
information
resources;
and
assessing and addressing the
needs
of
the
Federal
Government's IT workforce.

CIO associations created

from CIO Forum/ Workshop,
established to gather GCIOs
to meet for technology
update and free exchange
of ideas, and to promote
strong
partnership
and
interactive collaboration of
GCIOs. The forum/workshop
are held three to four times a
year, depending on necessity
to discuss current topic and
technology. 47

The council is identified as one of

the enabling apparatus of the
program, which will push forward
various e-government measures in
an integrated manner among
ministries and agencies. All the
important
policies
of
eGovernment initiatives in principle
have to go through the Council.

The Chair of the CIO Council is the

Deputy Director for Management
for the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) and the Vice
Chair is elected by the CIO
Council from its membership
which include all the CIOs
identified by the law, and their
Deputy CIOs.46

EXISTING
CHALLENGES

lack of project management

skills is still cited as one of the
primary causes of project
failures.49
clamor for the creation of a
central
agency
and
designation of a national
technology czar

The CIO Council was set up in

2002 under the ICT Strategy
Headquarters. The Headquarters
was created in accordance with
the Basic Law on the Formation of
an Advanced Information and
Telecommunication
Network
Society, or simply known as the
ICT Basic Law adopted in January
2001. The ICT Basic Law clearly
stipulated the realization of egovernment.

It is composed of all the Ministry

CIOs. The Council is headed by
the Assistant Chief Cabinet
Secretary, and managed in
cooperation
with
the
Administrative Bureau of the
Ministry of Internal Affairs and
Communications (MIC). Under the
CIO
Council,
a
managing
committee is formed of Division
Directors representing respective
Ministries. The formal chair is a
Councilor
of
the
Cabinet
Secretariat, and the deputy chair
is the Director of Administrative
Information
Systems
Planning
Division
of
Administrative
Management Bureau, MIC.48

trainings and capacity

building programs are
still also very much
needed
collaborate
and
integrate cross-agency
activities to maximize the
efforts started by each
agencies.

train
and
provide
the
necessary
skills
and
competencies to all the
designated GCIOs
promote e-government to
the public, with the hope of
improving
the
publics
utilization
of government
online services.

Fig. No. 6 . Matrix of the Development of GCIO in U, Thailand and Japan

46

www.cio.gov
Thajchayapong, Pairash, CIO in Thailand. JICA/APEC/ITU-Waseda Workshop on ICT, November 22, 2004
ICA Country Reports Japan. ICA 38th Conference, Limassol, Cyprus, October 2004
49
Holmes, Allan, The Clinger-Cohen Act. CIO Magazine, 15 May 2006
47
48

48

4.4.1

Summary of Analysis

The development of GCIO in US, Thailand and Japan preceded scenarios

characterized by the growing importance and recognition of ICT in the
government. Likewise, best practices were witnessed from the private sector,
including the rise and evolution of CIO, who became the responsible leaders in
the strategic management and planning of aligning ICT with the business goals.
GCIOs filled the leadership gap, as ICT and e-government endeavors take
significant role in the way governments are operated, constituents are served,
and e-governance take shape.

US, Thailand and Japan set up GCIO, by creating policies addressing the need
for such a position. However, these policies were implemented by various forms of
legal mandate that assigned GCIO in the entire bureaucracies of these three
countries.
US went through legislation to formally introduce the position in the government.
The Clinger-Cohen Act had to go through two chambers of legislation, the
Senate and House of Representative, and required the majority approval before
it was passed to the President for signing. The passage of a law via legislation is
usually is a long and tedious process.
GCIO in Thailand, on the other hand, was implemented by virtue of a cabinet
resolution.

The authority that set up the designation of GCIOs in Thailand came

from the executive branch, which was less complicated since the document that
contained the cabinet resolution, passed for the approval of Thais Prime Minister,
came from the office (the NITC) under the Prime Minister as well.
In Japan, the mandate was included as one of provisions under the e-Japan
Strategy, adopted by the ICT Strategy Headquarters, headed by no less than its
Prime Minister. Thus, the provision was translated into programs, implemented by
all the ministries.

Chief executive positions, or ranks of 2nd or 3rd from the top, were given to the
GCIOS. These empower the GCIOs to make decisions with finality on matters that

49

concern his jurisdiction. The scope of responsibilities and extent of role are
dedicated to providing leadership in the management of IT resources - which
include but not limited to the information, technology, and manpower. Likewise,
GCIOs are all tasked to oversee policy creation, budget allocation, strategic
planning, and project implementation.
In US, to assist CIOs in federal agencies, organizational support structures are
created . In the DoD Study, the standard support organization suggested the help
of a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO)

to

provide direct assistance to the assigned CIOs. The CTO serves as the technology
visionary for the organization, identifying the technologies necessary to achieve
the business vision, while CKO focuses on knowledge management influencing
the value of information by filtering, synthesizing, interpreting and adding context.
In Japan,

technical advisers from the private sector are provided to assist

Ministries and Agencies. Respective technical advisors support their Ministry CIO
in business analysis and formulating an Optimisation Plan 50 , and hold interministerial meeting to share experience and exchange views on technical
matters. Technical work not only as assistant to Ministry CIO, but also as Assistant
CIOs of the whole Government. Shadowing the activities of the CIO Council, the
meeting of Technical Advisors serves as clearance gateway as far as the
technical aspects of e Government initiatives are concerned. For example,
various Review Policies and Optimisation Plans first go through the peer review
by the meeting of Assistant CIOs before going to a CIO Council meeting for
decision.
US and Japan have institutionalized the CIO councils. The US CIO council serves
as the principal interagency forum for all the CIO, while the Japan CIO Council
was set up as the enabling apparatus of the e-government program for an
integrated manner among ministries and agencies. There are CIO associations in
Thailand, and at the process of establishing a formal council.

Optimization plans aim to make a zero-base review on business processes/systems to make them rational and efficient. This intend to
promote simple, efficient and rational administrative operations strategically and consistently to ensure overall optimisation, measures include
introducing unified systems for back-office operations and outsourcing various operations of routine nature. apan formulated and introduced the
unified procedures and standard description format (Japanese EA) to optimise business processes and systems to be subject to review and
renovation. (ICA 38th Conference, Country Report)

50

50

The core competencies identified by US, Thailand and Japan are all important,
but the most important are leadership, management and change management,
and that technology skills are listed last. To provide capacity building, the three
countries had varying approaches.
The CIO University, a virtual consortium of universities, was established in US.
Thailand tapped existing government agencies to provide the capacity building.
Barely five years since the designation of the position in Japan, CIOs both from
the private and the government took the initiative of turning to universities.

Country

US

Rationale

Implementing

Policy
Mechanism

Mechanism
Position

Role

Institutionali

Capacity

zation

Building

Shortcomings in IT

Clinger-

Executive

Enterprise

CIO Council

CIO

projects; rise of CIO in

Cohen Act

Level IV

leadership,

(1998)

University

private sector; and

(1996)

both on

success of CFO in

long term

govt

and daily

(1999)

delivery of
services
Thailand

Economic crisis; new

Utilisation of

2nd-3rd

Oversee

CIO

CIO

Constitution (1997);

IT in the

highest

unified IT

associations

Program

and ICT as national

Public

position

developme

plan for sustainable

Sector,

in the

nt plans

economy

Revision 2

govt

(1998)

(1998)
Japan

Eve of e-government

e-Japan

2nd

Represent

CIO Council

Waseda

Strategy

highest

agency in

(2002)

University

(2001)

official in

the CIO

the govt

Council

Fig. No. 7 Summary of GCIO Development in US, Thailand and Japan

51

Chapter V: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE PHILIPPINES

The Philippines is one of the developing countries in the APEC region that
participated in APECTEL Project 05/2005 that worked on an adaptive
government CIO training model for its member-economies. As such it is
committed to deploying the final output of the project, and implement the
training model to its government. However, the Philippines is also one of the
sponsoring countries of the project, along with Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam,
that has not established GCIO positions in its government structure.
As such, this chapter provides analysis of the country on areas relevant to the
introduction and development of GCIO. Areas identified are patterned after the
parameters used in the comparative analysis conducted on the experience of
US, Thailand and Japan. Likewise, recommendations are incorporated based on
the implications of GCIO development in the three countries.
5.1

Status of ICT in the Philippines

It has been seven years since the E-Commerce Act 2000 was made into a law,
wherein a significant chapter discusses e-government, mandating all agencies to
automate their operations.
A year earlier, in 1999,

the National Computer Center (NCC) 51 issued Memo

Circular 99-01 requiring all government agencies to submit their 5-year

Information Systems Strategic Plans (ISSP) to NCC for approval which shall serve
as their blueprint for harnessing information technology in the development of
mission-critical applications and in the pursuit of the agency's strategic directions.
The ISSP lays the foundation for the entire bureaucracy on the importance of ICT
utilization by making comprehensive plans and budget allocations for both short
and long terms. As of the latest report based on the monitoring of NCC, 223 of
the total 362 national government agencies (NGAs) have submitted their ISSPs of
which 73(20%) are active, 98 (27%) have lapsed ISSPs and 52 (14%) have
submitted but not endorsed.

51
In 1971, the National Computer Center (NCC) was established by Executive Order 322. But it was only in 1978 that it was
designated as the primary agency in the government responsible for directing the use of information technology (IT) for national
development and rationalizing computerization in the country. www.ncc.gov.ph

52

The NCC is now under the Commission on Information and Communications

Technology (CICT) created under Executive Order 269 in early part of 2004. CICT
which is headed by a chief commissioner with a ranking similar to a cabinet
position, now serves as the highest policy and implementing body related to ICT.
There are four groups under CICT, focused on addressing key areas for ICT
development:

strategic business development; e-government development;

information infrastructure management; and human capital development.

The e-Government Fund.

In 2005, the Congress of the Philippines ratified an

additional P1 billion as e-government fund included in the governments 2005

budget. The budget department approved the allocation, which marked the first
time that a fund for ICT would be a line item in the annual budget.
The eGovernment Fund was created as an alternative funding source for missioncritical, high-impact and cross-agency ICT projects: This means, the fund is
intended to:

Institutionalize a facility and mechanism that would provide full funding

support for mission-critical government ICT projects;

Ensure successful completion of high-impact ICT projects that would

jumpstart the

development and

implementation

of eGovernment

throughout the country; and

Facilitate the professional evaluation, selection and monitoring of ICT

Projects that would lead to more effective and/or efficient cross-agency
interfaces.

In terms of Government ICT Projects, as of 2005 June, based on the report from
the NCC, e-Government fund cost from P10-678 million; under the Built-OperateScheme (BOT) is from $0.4 82 million; while from Grants/Loan, around P140 641
million.52

52

$1 = P51; P1 = Y0.45 (approx. value as of May 2006)

53

Despite the big amount allocated to ICT projects, only two government agencies
have positions similar to GCIO, the Bureau of Customs (BoC) and Bureau of
Internal Revenue (BIR).
Currently, government officials from different government departments and
agencies, whose responsibilities are all related to e-government initiatives and
utilization of ICT, have initiated to form a private, non-stock, non-profit group,
called CIO Forum Inc.

CIOFI serves as an advocacy and consensus-building

group to address key IT policy issues and concerns; provide the venue for
technology solutions and information exchange, and resource and experience;
and promote wider and more active government-private sector linkages and
networking.
As of 2004, there are more than 500 members from national government
agencies,

local

governments,

independent

commissions,

government

corporations, and other agencies. There are very few members from the private
sector as well, like HP and Oracle. The position of members vary from as high as
commissioners to regular staff members

of MIS/EDP.

Majority are from the

MIS/EDP division (see appendix for list).

In the private sector, Edwin Fallorina, Director for IT and Head of Systems, e-Scribir
Inc.

Medical

Transcriptions,

and

IT

consultant

for

the

Department

of

Transportation and Communication (DOTC), observed that the Philippines is in

parallel with the US in terms of standards in creating CIO positions.
He added that there are a lot of organizations established in the Philippines like
the Microsoft CIO Forum, CIO Group of the Philippines, and mPluse CIO. CIOs in
the Philippines had been in existence since 1998 at the start of IT evolution. Almost
all IT and non-IT firms have their own CIOs like Call Centers, business process
outsourcing (BPO), medical transcriptions, animations, among other and CIOs are
the Operations person which the CEO depends on in managing the IT
infrastructure

from

systems,

network,

physical

security,

network

security,

communications, power, etc.

54

Clamor for GCIOs and IT Leadership. CICT commissioner and e-government

committee head Angelo Timoteo M. Diaz de Rivera highlighted in an interview53
the growing necessity to have CIOs in the government, and added that just as
CIOs are considered the second- or third-highest ranking executive next to the
chief executive officer in private corporations, government chief information
officers will soon have bigger roles in their respective agencies.
A government CIO should be at least the number two or number three
executive in an agency, said Tim Diaz de Rivera, echoing sentiments by BoC
Deputy Commissioner Alexander Arevalo BIR Deputy Commissioner Lilia Guillermo.
Arevalo and Guillermo are both the number two officials in their respective
agencies, giving them more leverage to chart the ICT direction of their agencies,
Diaz de Rivera said.
He further stressed that as the number two or number three official in government,
he or she has more power to direct implementation of information and
communications technology projects and policies, and simplify decision-making.
Call for Champions. Likewise, studies on e-government in the Philippines have
already identified the importance of leadership. The Digital Philippines, a nonprofit organization, calls them champions 54 within the various

agencies of

government that make e-Government projects happen. These champions set

goals and targets for their respective agencies, determine the types of
applications they feel their constituents need and find creative means to deploy
resources behind the initiative.
Victor Magdaraog of Philippine Computer Society, posed the challenge to fill in the
absence of leadership, particularly to the chief information officers in the country
to contribute in the effort to improve the countrys position in various world
rankings

on

e-government.

Proposed legislative measures. Pending before the Senate of the Philippines

is House Bill No. 3218 (Substituted as House Bill No. 5282). This is the second
time that the bill is proposed to the Congress. The Philippines has similar
government structure with the US, composed of three equal branches

53

Government CIOs will play bigger roles, says CICT. Inq7.net, 29 June 2005
Lallana, Emmanuel, et al. e-Government in the Philippines: Benchmarking Against Global Practices. Digital Philippines,
April 2002

54

55

executive, judiciary, and legislative. The third branch, the legislation (called the
Congress), is composed of two houses, the Senate and the House of
Representatives. The Congress is responsible for making the laws of the land
through legislation. 55 The proposed bill which emanated from and approved by
the House of Representative, has been sent to the Senate of the Philippines.
Unfortunately, the bill has been facing opposition from some members of the
Senate, and is divided on its main intent, which is the creation of the Department
of ICT.

In Section 11, the bill proposes the appointment of CIOs in all government
agencies and department, with the rank of Assistant Secretary for Departments
and Director V for agencies/offices/bureaus under the Department.
Under the same section, these CIOs will form a proposed CIO Council.The
chairman of the Council will be the Secretary of the proposed Department of ICT
under the same bill, while the President of the Council shall be the ViceChairman.
Department CIOs were proposed to occupy positions higher than assistant
director levels, who could be any of the

agency's assistant secretaries or

undersecretaries.
The House Bill No. 3218, also referred to as the E-Government Bill was patterned
after the United States' Electronic Government Act of 2002 and the US
Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996.

5.2

Recommendation and factors to consider in developing GCIO in the

Philippines
The Philippine environment is ripe for the introduction of CIO in its government it
has legal framework for ICT utilization, ICT policy and implementing bodies, and
e-government initiatives take up considerable amount of the nationss budget.
Not only it is witnessing the designation of CIO in the private sector and GCIOs in
the neighboring APEC countries, ICT advocate from public and private sectors,
and even non-government organizations believe it has to address the leadership
55

The legislative mill: how a bill becomes a law? www.senate.gov.ph

56

gap in the IT management and implementations of e-government initiatives and

endeavors in the country. Similar to US, Thailand and Japan, the Philippines can
no longer ignore the pervasiveness and importance of ICT in the government,
and has to deal with issues arising from the absence of leadership in ICT, by
introducing the GCIO position.
At the moment, there is no existing policy measure addressing or identifying the
significance of leadership in IT management and e-government implementation
in the country. Though, there is a pending law in the Philippines that proposes the
creation of CIO in the government.

(a) Proposed approaches on introduction and development of GCIO position in

the Philippine
To introduce and develop GCIO in the Philippines, following are proposed
approaches, taking into considerations lessons learned from the experiences of
US, Thailand and Japan:
Policy mechanism ensure the passage of the proposed bill or secure
alternative ways such as, issuance of department orders assigning the
responsibilities of a GCIO to one of the chief officers of every
organizations.
The proposed bill in the Philippines is patterned after the Clinger-Cohen Act of US.
Though, both US and the Philippines have similar pattern of government, the
approach engaged by Thailand and US in setting up GCIO can be also be
applicable. Other forms of policy measure can be utilized, to introduce the
position. The CICT can issue memorandum or orders advising all agencies to
appoint a GCIO or assign the responsibilities of a GCIO to one of the chief
officers, such as to department undersecretaries, commissioners or deputy
secretaries.
Enabling mechanism led by the Commission on ICT, engage the
collaboration of other government agencies providing trainings to civil
servants, and universities and private institutions that have existing training

57

programs/module that address the skills/core competencies required from

a GCIO.
In anticipation of GCIO designation, the CICT, through the National Computer
Center (NCC), has been conducting surveys of ICT manpower and requirements
and offers courses for ICT users, managers and executives. NCC also collaborates
with CIO Forum Inc. and the private sector (i.e. Microsoft Philippines) in
conducting activities such as forums and workshops, in the bid to support the
capacity of existing government officials who are tasked with responsibilities of
implementing e-government endeavors in their respective agencies.
Aside from the existing efforts of CICT and NCC, other government agencies can
be tapped to provide trainings and other capacity building activities, similar to
the approach of Thailand. These agencies can include the Civil Service
Commission (CSC), Local Government Academy (LGA) and Development
Academy of the Philippines (DAP). Just recently, CSC, an independent
commission responsible to improve and develop the capacities and protect the
welfare of all civil servants in the Philippines, received a 750,000 US dollars in
grants and government budget that will be used to modernize its ICT
infrastructure and the establishment of a centralized information resource web
portal targeted at third-level government executives. LGA was created to build
and strengthen the capabilities of local government officials and department
personnel

through continuing education, training, and human resource

development. While, DAP was established with the main purposes to foster and
support the developmental forces at work in the nation's economy through
selective human resource development programs, research, data-collection,
and information services, to the end that optimization of wealth may be
achieved in a manner congruent with the maximization of public security and
welfare.
Likewise, universities and colleges can be encouraged to align existing curriculum
to create a new course for formal education of GCIOs. These universities can
include the University of the Philippines (UP) and De La Salle University (DLSU),
both partners of e-University for HRD, launched in coordination with Japan.
Further, the Philippines is a co-sponsoring country of the APECTel Working Group

58

that developed a training model for GCIO, and can benefit from the output
report and the network established among sponsoring countries.

Support mechanism promote the role of GCIO by collaborating

agencies or individuals from the government, business and IT sector,
academe, non-government associations, and international associations.
Support for the promotion of GCIO in the government can be led by CIO Forum
Inc, (CIOFI), since the members of this group are currently assuming the roles and
responsibilities of GCIO, within limited capacity, in their respective agencies. This
can be intensified by the launching of International Academy of CIO (IAC)Philippines, the association of leaders from the academe, business and
government aimed at promoting and advancing CIO as an emerging distinctive
career, and a fast and rising new area in the field of research and development.

(b)

Recommendation: GCIO in the Philippines

There are IT or MIS managers and directors who are responsible over a specific
unit within government agencies in the Philippines. Though, practically, they
dictate the information and IT requirements of the entire organizations, and
advises their superiors on how and what to procure, their proposals still has to go
through the scrutiny of other departments, such as the finance, property and
procurement, and the legal departments, to name a few. At the same time, IT
managers receive very insignificant salary, as compared to the amount of the
large-scale computerization project.
To differentiate a GCIO, it is important to note that as a chief officer himself, he
belongs to the inner circle of the top level management. His decision has finality,
next to the Department Secretary, or the President. Though, most of his decisions
are based on the advises and facts provided by different agencies under him,
including the IT/MIS unit, the GCIO approves or disapproves a plan with finality.
It is possible that a GCIO holds other responsibilities other than the
abovementioned, however, what is important is that an organization knows to
whom these

gigantic tasks are designated. Thus, there is a point man on

59

whose lap falls the duty of overseeing large-scale projects which has become an
investment and strategy for national development.
The role and responsibilities of GCIO in US, Thailand and Japan revolve around
enterprise leadership in the utilization of ICT in both long term, and daily delivery
of services. These mean the implementation, supervision, and strategic planning
for future development of e-government endeavors. The same is recommended
for GCIOs in the Philippines. E-government initiatives are planned for five years
(through the submission of Information System Strategic Plans), but the challenge
to utilize existing ICT resources, to improve the way government performs and
operates, is present everyday.
For GCIOs, the scope of enterprise leadership puts weight, not just on the
government itself, but inclusive of all stakeholders it has to deal with. Thus, GCIOs
have the responsibility towards citizens (G2C), business (G2B) and other
government agencies (G2G).
GCIOs are also responsible to ensure that the national policies/masterplan of the
government on ICT, are well in place and reflective in his own organizations
computerization projects or services.
GCIOs are tasked to ensure public satisfaction and make certain that ICT projects
and services will also survive in term of business. For instance, once the services
are in place, the performance should satisfy the expectation of the public, but
has to consider on how much to charge them to help sustain the cost for
maintaining such services.
Given the long list of responsibilities, hereunder are three main factors to consider
for GCIOs in the Philippines:
GCIO as an e-Leader, directs and drives the implementation of e-government
initiatives and achieving the objectives of its ICT masterplan. As a leader, the
decision made by the GCIO has finality, next only to the head of the agency. To
enable this, GCIOs should have a high rank, or executive position. GCIO assumes
the responsibilities in the organization to chair the ICT committee; define
organizational vision, mission, policy and ICT standard; formulate organizational
ICT masterplan; approve and allocate budget for ICT project; serves as chief
officer of e-government and enterprise architecture, among other areas that

60

require final and executive decision.

E-leaders are distinguished by their different combinations of attitudes, skills,
knowledge and their professional and personal experiences. Driven by unique
attitudes appropriate for the distributed, digital age, they must be flexible and
adaptable , and posses wide intellectual curiosity and a hunger for a new
knowledge. A list of skills would include the capacity to build coalitions and forge
communities of interest; to multi-task; to remain focused on ones own priorities
even while seeking common ground with leaders in other sectors. Substantive
knowledge is especially important, including how the new technologies function.
They must also know what they do not know, and know how to get that missing
knowledge by mobilizing their own social networks.56
GIO as a partner in strategy building, joins the inner top management of the
organization. The main concern of GCIO is the strategic planning for utilization of
ICT resources, which includes not only technology such as computers, LAN, and
systems, but the hiring and training of people, allocation of budget and creative
ways of formulating policies that will support or enhance ICT utilizaiton.

As a

manager, GCIOs are involved in the implementation, monitoring and tracking of

a sound and integrated information technology architecture; evaluation of the
organizations information system; promotion of effective and efficient design
and operation of all major information resources management processes,
including improvements to work processes; and serves as the agencys expert in
IT systems applications, EA, and security.
Managerial

skills

require

involvement

and

active

participation

in

the

implementation of initiatives, and requires the wisdom to decide on who could

do a job best, what task is most difficult and requires more time to finish, what
tools or equipment should be procured, or how to spend financial resources for
certain projects.
GCIO as an integrative force, serves as the chief communicator who advocate
to enlighten the organization from the chief executive, co-managers, IT and
non-IT personnel, and the end-users, the public - on the use of ICT. GCIOs provide
advice and

56

other assistance to the head of the agency and other senior

Wilson III, Ernest, Leadership in the Digital Age. The Encyclopedia of Leadership, Sage Publications, US, 2004

61

management personal to ensure that IT is acquired and information resources are

managed in a manner that implements the overarching vision and goal of the
organization; promote business process reengineering and other IT solution
management within the organization;

and is in charge of ensuring that the

public is informed of the changes in the government brought about by IT

application in the services.
Communication skills will also help the GCIOs in his role as an agent of change,
and still manage to keep it in tact, by explaining and preparing the organization:
to change the way it does business; to change the way it works every day, and
to change the way the organization thinks about, plans for and manages its
information and its technology. And as with any change, this must be done in the
context of the organization.

62

Chapter VI: DISCUSSION ON LIMITATION OF THE STUDY AND

FUTURE RESEARCH
The concept of GCIO is still in the infant stage, and in need of recognition as a
definitive position in the governments around the world, thus there are very few
scholastic publication to serve as a main reference for this research. Likewise, the
three countries chosen for this study have different languages English, Japanese
and Thai adding more difficulty in securing equal volume of reference materials.
Given the limited resources and time available for the writer, the scope of the
research was focused on the comparative analysis of GCIO development in US,
Thailand and Japan, which served as basis for the proposed approaches on how
to introduce GCIO in the Philippines.
For future research, the creation of an adaptive GCIO model for countries with
different structure is hereby recommended. The GCIO model should discuss and
provide recommendation for roles and responsibilities, structure, relationships,
and other areas relevant for the CIOs in the government. The model is meant to
take into consideration the uniqueness of challenges and problems of working in
the government, given the peculiarity of its dynamics, culture and structure.
Likewise, taking from the initiative of this research, more comparative analysis of
countries with GCIO is also suggested. An in-dept discussion on the difference
between CIO in the private sector and GCIO is also a good topic for future
endeavors. Lastly, further studies should be conducted on core competencies in
light of emerging technologies that GCIOs will have to deal with.
Finally, to better prepare the Philippines in the development of GCIO in its
country, a national survey can be conducted to ascertain the readiness of
government leaders and officials to assume the position, and identity areas that
require further training and education.

63

Chapter VII: CONCLUSION

GCIO in US, Thailand and Japan developed in different time, surrounding varied
circumstances.

Though there is one common denominator:

information

technology, its increasing importance and pervasiveness in the delivery of public

service and operations of the government. In order to minimize or avoid failure in
US federal IT acquisitions; advance Thailands national plan for sustainable
economy; and lead the way for effectively implementing Japans e-government
strategies to achieving its vision of becoming a ubiquitous society, the evolution
of GCIO has become very imminent.
US, Thailand and Japan set up GCIO, by creating policies addressing the need
for such a position. However, these policies were implemented by various forms of
legal mandate that assigned GCIO in the entire bureaucracies of these three
countries.
US went through legislation to formally introduce the position in the government.
The Clinger-Cohen Act had to go through two chambers of legislation, the
Senate and House of Representative, and required the majority approval before
it was passed to the President for signing. The passage of a law via legislation is
usually is a long and tedious process.
GCIO in Thailand, on the other hand, was implemented by virtue of a cabinet
resolution.

The authority that set up the designation of GCIOs in Thailand came

from the executive branch, which was less complicated since the document that
contained the cabinet resolution, passed for the approval of Thais Prime Minister,
came from the office (the NITC) under the Prime Minister as well.
In Japan, the mandate was included as one of provisions under the e-Japan
Strategy, adopted by the ICT Strategy Headquarters, headed by no less than its
Prime Minister. Thus, the provision was translated into programs, implemented by
all the ministries.
All three countries give the same importance to the GCIO , assigning the position
with a rank from second to third highest in their respective organizations. Likewise,
the scope of responsibilities and extent of role are dedicated to providing

64

leadership in the management of IT resources - which include but not limited to

the information, technology, and manpower. Likewise, GCIOs are all tasked to
oversee policy creation, strategic planning, and project implementation.
US created organizational structure to support CIOs, with the help of chief
technical officers (CTO) and chief knowledge officers (CKO). In Japan, technical
advisers from the private sector were assigned to ministries and agencies to
provide assistance not just in technical expertise, but business analysis as well,
particularly for the formulation of Optimisation Plan.
The core competencies identified by US, Thailand and Japan are all important,
but the most important are leadership, management and change management,
and that technology skills are listed last. To provide capacity building, the three
countries had varying approaches.
The CIO University, a virtual consortium of universities, was established in US.
Thailand tapped existing government agencies to provide the capacity building.
Barely five years since the designation of the position in Japan, CIOs both from
the private and the government took the initiative of turning to universities.
However, the lack of necessary skills and competencies to perform their role and
responsibilities as GCIO remain as top issue for all three countries.
US and Japan have institutionalized the CIO councils. The US CIO council serves
as the principal interagency forum for all the CIO, while the Japan CIO Council
was set up as the enabling apparatus of the e-government program for an
integrated manner among ministries and agencies. There are CIO associations in
Thailand, and at the process of establishing a formal council.
It has been 10 years since GCIO was established in US, eight years in Thailand,
and five years in Japan. In terms of years, obviously, there is disparity, but reports
about issues and problems faced by these countries, one is consistent: the lack of
capacity of GCIOs to live up to the challenge, thus failing the high expectations
to carry out results.
The Philippines can learn a lot from the US, Thailand and Japan, as it prepares to
introduce GCIO in its government.

There is a pending bill that proposes the

65

designation of GCIO, but no other specific measure that addresses the clamor for
IT leadership in the government.
As such, there are three approaches suggested for the development of GCIO in
the Philippines:
(1) policy mechanism ensure the passage of the proposed bill or secure
alternative ways such as, issuance of department orders assigning the
responsibilities of a GCIO to one of the chief officers of every
organizations;
(2) enabling mechanism led by the Commission on ICT, engage the
collaboration of other government agencies providing trainings to civil
servants, and universities and private institutions that have existing
training programs/module that address the skills/core competencies
required from a GCIO.
(3) support mechanism promote the role of GCIO by collaborating
agencies or individuals from the government, business and IT sector,
academe,

non-government

associations,

and

international

associations.
The necessity of appointing or designating GCIOs in the government is very
imminent. The assimilation of ICT in the government is quite prevalent and
pervasive to be ignored, and e-government has become a staple strategy for
national development.

The development of GCIO in US, Thailand and Japan,

and the direction taken by other countries are manifestation that it will imminently
evolve as an established position in the modern administration of governments.
Lastly, it is recommended that GCIOs in the Philippines, should serve as e-leaders
(with unique combination of skills, attitudes, knowledge, professional experience,
apt

for

the

demands

managing

information

resources,

which

include,

technology, manpower, authority, among others); partners in strategy building;

and

integrative

force

in

their

agencies.

66

REFERENCES:
Articles/Papers
Auffret, J.P., The Development and Evolution of CIO University. JICA/APEC/ITU-Waseda
Workshop on ICT, Tokyo, Japan, 22 November 2004.
Auffret, J.P., Federal CIO Background and Recent US CIO Initiatives. APECTel 2nd GCIO
Model Workshop, AOTS, Japan, 12 September 2005.
Holmes, Allan, The Clinger-Cohen Act. CIO Magazine, 15 May 2006
Holmes, Allan, Federal IT Flunks Out. CIO Magazine, 15 May 2006
Koanantakool, Thaweesak Tools for Government ICT Personnel Skills and Career patch
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Kudo, Hiroko, ICT Policy and e-Government in Japan: How e-Government Changes Public
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Lallana, E.C et al., e-Government in the Philippines: Benchmarking Against Global Best
Practices. Philippines, 2002
Obi, Toshio, APECTEL Workshop on GCIO in Japan, APEC Telecommunications and
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Obi, Toshio & Concon, Jingle, Toward U-Government in Japan. Digital Encyclopedia, USA:
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Worthen, Ben, Why George Bush needs a technology czar. CIO-Asia.com accessed 10 May
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Government CIOs will play bigger roles, says CICT. Inq7.net, 29 June 2005
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Broadbent, Marianne & Kitzis, Ellen, The New CIO Leader: Setting the Agenda and Delivering
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_______________, Alleviating the Digital Divide: Policy Recommendations Malaysia,
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67

United States of America, The Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996 or
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IAC/CIO task Force Report, July 15, 1996
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Websites/URL
http://canada.gc.ca
http://ebn.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/3/3/68 accessed 7/28/06
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://see.thaigov.net/cio-apectel/
www.agimo.gov.au
Australian Government Information Management Office
www.aoema.org/
www.cict.gov.ph
Commission on Information Communications and Technology
www.cio.com
www.cio.gov
Federal Chief Information Officers Council
www.comcentrum.ph
www.computerworld.com.ph
www.digitalphilippines.org
www.dotc.gov.ph
Department of Transportation and Communications
www.gov.ph
Republic of the Philippines, Official Website
www.ida.gov.sg Infocomm Development Authority
www.ncc.gov.ph
National Computer Center
www.ntc.gov.ph
National Telecommunication Commission
www.oecd.org/puma/Egov
http://www.ogcio.gov.hk/eng/ Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
www.globalpinoy.com
www.inq7.net.ph
www.itmatters.com.ph
www.itnetcentral.com
www.mctimes.net
www.pstm.net
www.unpan.org
www.worldbank.org

68

Workshop/Seminars
ITU/Waseda/APEC E-Government, ICT/CIO Seminar. Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan,
November, 2004
Establishment of Government CIO Training Model and Network for e-Government
Development, First Joint Research Team Workshop. Bangkok, Thailand, 11-13 July 2005
Establishment of Government CIO Training Model and Network for e-Government
Development, Second Joint Research Team Workshop. Tokyo Kenshu Center (TKC),
AOTS , Japan, 11-14 September 2005

69

APPENDICES:
Appendix 1. List of offices with members in the CIO Forum Inc.*
AFP Computer Service Center
Agricultural Credit and Policy Council
Agricultural Training Institute
Air Transportation Office
Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC)
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
Bases Conversion Development Authority
Board of Investments
Bureau of Animal Industry
Bureau of Customs
Bureau of Export Trade Promotion, DTI
Bureau of Fire Protection
Bureau of Food and Drugs
Bureau of Internal Revenue
Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics
Bureau of Patents, Trademarks & Technology
Transfer
Bureau of Plant Industry
Bureau of Product Standards
Bureau of Soils and Water Management
Bureau of Treasury
Bureau of Women and Young Workers
Career Executive Service Board
CDSEA
Center for International Trade Expositions &
Missions
City Government of Caloocan
City Government of Makati
City Government of Mandaluyong
City Government of Mandaue
City Government of Marikina
City Government of Muntinlupa
City Government of Olongapo
Civil Service Commission
Civil Service Commission
Commission on Audit
Commission on Elections
Commission on Higher Education
Commission on Human Rights
Commission on Information and Communication
Technology
Commission on Population
Cooperative Development Authority
Cottage Industry Technology Center
Council for the Welfare of Children
Crimson Logic
Cultural Center of the Philippines
Dangerous Drugs Board
Deparment of Foreign Affairs
Departent of Education, Culture and Sports Records Management & Archives Office
Department of Agrarian Reform
Department of Budget and Management
Department of Education, Culture and Sports
Department of Energy
Department of Energy and Natural Resources
Department of Finance
Department of Foreign Affairs
Department of Health
Department of Interior and Local Government
Department of Justice

Municipality of San Fernando

NAMRIA
National Book Development
National Bureau of Investigation
National Commission on the Role of Filipino
Women
National Computer Center
National Conciliation & Mediation Board
National Conciliation & Mediation Board
National Dairy Authority
National Development Company
National Educational Testing & Research Center DECS
National Electrification Administration
National Food Authority
National Home Mortgage Development Fund
National Housing Authority
National Irrigation Administration
National Kidney Institute
National Labor Relations Commission
National Library - National Commission for
Culture and Arts
National Maritime Polytechnic
National Police Commission
National Police Commission
National Power Corporation
National Security Council
National Statistical Coordination Board
National Statistics Office
National Telecommunication Communication
National Telehealth Center
National Tobacco Administration
National Transmission Corporation
National Water Resources Board
Office of Muslim Affairs
Office of Presidential Protocol
Office of the Press Secretary
Office of the Solicitor General
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration
Palawan Council for Sustainability Dev't
Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and
Astronomical Services Administration (PAG-ASA)
Philippine Center on Transnational Crimes
Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office
Philippine Convention & Visitors Corp.
Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and
Natural Resources, Research & Dev't (PCCARD)
Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine
Research and Dev't (PCASTRD)
Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation
Philippine Economic Zone Authority
Philippine Fisheries Development Authority
Philippine Gaming Corporation
Philippine Health Insurance Corporation
Philippine Heart Center
Philippine Heart Insurance Corp.
Philippine Information Agency
Philippine Institute for Developmental Studies
Philippine Insurance Commission
Philippine International Trading Corporation
Philippine National Police

70

Department of Labor and Employment

Department of National Defense
Department of Public Works and Highways
Department of Science and Technology
Department of Social Welfare and Development
Department of Tourism
Department of Trade and Industry
Development Academy of the Philippines
Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau
Energy Regulatory Commission
Environmental Management Bureau
Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority
Food and Nutrition Research institute
Government Arsenal DND
Government Social Insurance System
Home Development Mutual Fund (PAG-IBIG)
Home Guaranty Corporation
Home Insurance & Guarantee Corporation
House of Representatives
Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board Reg IV
Institute for Labor Studies
Intellectual Property Office
Intramuros Administration
John Hay Poro Point Development Corporation
Laguna, Lake Development
Land Management Bureau
Land Registration Authority
Land Transaportation Franchising and Regulatory
Board
Land Transportation Office
Livestock Development Council
Local Water Utilities Administration
Malacaang Records Office
Manila International Airport Authority
Metal Industry Research & Development Center
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority
Metropolitan Waterworks & Sewerage System
Mines and Geosciences Bureau
Movie & Television Review and Classification
Board
Local Government of Quezon City

Philippine National Police, Communication &

Elec. Services
Philippine National Police, Computer Service
Philippine Nuclear Research Institute
Philippine Ports Authority
Philippine Postal Corporation
Philippine Racing Commission
Philippine Rice Research Institute
Philippine Science High School for the Arts
Philippine Sports Commission
Philippine Sugar Commission
Philippine Systems Product, inc.
Philippine Textile Research Institute
Philippine Tourism Authority
Philippine Trade Training Center
Philippine Veterans Affairs Office
PNOC-Energy Development Corp.
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Presidential Broadcast Staff-RTVM
Presidential Management Staff
Professional Regulatory Commission
Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau
Provincial Government of Bulacan
Public Estates Authority, Office of the President
Quedan & Rural Credit Corporation
Research Institute for Tropical Medicine
Sandiganbayan
Science & Technology Information Institute
Science & Technology Information Institute
Securities and Exchange Commission
Small Business Guarantee and Finance
Corporation
Social Security System
Statistical Research & Training Center
Sugar Regulatory Administration
Supreme Court of the Philippines
Tariff Commission
Technical Education and Skills Development
Authority
Technology and Livelihood Resource Center
Telecommunications Office (TelOf)
The National Library
Trade and Investment Development Corporation
of the Philippines

*Excerpts only. Complete file for private use only of CIOFI.

71

Appendix 2. List of positions of members in the CIO Forum Inc.*

Commanding Officer

Acting Chief, EDP

Acting Assistant Manager

Administrative.. Officer V

Assistant, Policy and Int'l Affairs

Assistant Director, Head, MIS
Division
Assistant General Manager,
Corporate Planning
Assistant VP-IT Department

Assistant Commissioner
Assistant Director, Management
Services Dept.
Assistant Secretary

Asst. Administrator
Asst. Dept. Head II
Asst. Weather Services Chief
ICT Head - con-current
Chief Information Officer
Chief SE Specialist
Chief, Crime and Information
System
Chief, EDP Services

Assistant Division Chief, MIS

Supervising Trade - Industry
Dev't Specialist
Asst. Chief, Test Dev't Division
Asst. Director, IT Coordination
Staff
AVP, Planning & Standards
Office
Chief of Staff, Office of USEC
EHVP
Chief, AIMED
Chief, Defense Information
Management Office
Chief, EDP Services Division,
Adminstrative Department

Chief, Information Technology

Unit

Chief, Information Service

Chief, Information Systems

Operations Division
Chief, International Recorded
Mail Sec
Chief, MIS Division

Chief, Information Tech. And

Promotions Section
Chief, Labor & Employment
Officer
Chief, Monitoring & Information
Services
Chief, Planning and MIS Services
Unit
Chief, PMID

Chief, Planning & Info Div

Chief, Plans and Programs
Division
Chief, Research and Statistics
Group
CIO
Executive Assistant II
Committee Secretary
Consultant
Corporate Management Staff
Department Head
Department Head, Record &
Management Center
Dept. Head
Deputy Commissioner,
Information Systems Group
Deputy Director, Enterprise
Systems & Special
Projects/Information Systems &
Technology Dept.
Deputy Exec. Director Info

Acting Chief, Micrographic &

Corp. Division
Assistant Secretary for Plans
and Programs
Assistant Director General
Assistant Division Chief, MIS
Assistant VP
Asst Division Chief, MIS
Asst. Commissioner
Asst. Vice President, Corporate
Business Affairs Group
Chairman
Chief Science Research Specilist
Chief, Budget Division
Chief, EDP
Chief, Electronic Data
Procesing/Information Trade
Resource Center
Trade and Industry
Development Specialist (CTIDS)
Chief, Information Systems
Consultancy Division,
Information and
Communications Technology
Center
Chief, Information Technology
Division
Chief, MIS
Chief, Multimedia Division
Chief, Planning Division
Chief, Procurement Division

Chief, Systems Development

Division
City Councilor

Chief, Systems/Database
Administration
Commissioner

Computer Programmer
III/Project Manager
Consultant, AMLC
Data Management Chief, EDP
Corporate operations & Systems
Office
Department Head, ISSO
Department Manager III
EDP Department Management
Dept. Head, Data Center Oprns
Deputy Director

Congressman

Deputy Director, Info.

Management and Analysis Staff
Development Management

Consultant, Mayor's Office

DEMO III
Department Head, IT Office
Department of Trade and
Industry
Deputy Commissioner
Deputy Director General for
Policy and Planning
Deputy Director, Police Senior
Superintendent, PNP Computer
Service
Director

72

Services Management Group

Director for Information
Technology
Director II
Director for Finance &
Administration
Director III/Asst. Director, MIS
Director, Corporate Operation
Office
Director, GAFMIS

Officer
Director General

Director, IT Center
Director, IT Infrastructure
Directorate
Director, IV

Director, IT Coordination Staff

Director, ITCSO

Director II/Management and

Administration Department/IT
Project Manager
Director IV
Director, Electronic Data
Processing Services
Director, ICT Center

Director, MIS

Director, National Statistical

Information Center
Director, Policy & Planning
Standards Office/ITO III
Div. Chief, TIDS
Division Chief, Library Resource
Center
Division Chief, System
Management Division

Director, Planning & Research

Service
Director, Policy Plans &
Information Systems Bureau
Division Chief
Division Chief, Management
Information System Division
Division Manager

EDP Chief
EDP Head (IO V)
Executive Assistant IV

EDP Division Chief

Engr.
Executive Director

Executive Officer
Head, Computer Services Unit
Head, Hospital Information
System
Head, ISSP Review Group
Planning and Program
Monitoring Office
Head, MISD

First VP & CIO

Head, Data Mgnt. Section
Head, ICT Strategic Studies

Head, Planning and Information

Management
Head, Revenue Executive
Assistant
Info Tech Officer III
Information Officer IV, Staff
Director, Management
Information System Division
Information Technology Officer
IT Consultant
IT Manager
Department Manager
Systems Engineer &
Administrator
Manager I, Department
Manager I, EDP Department
Manager, Corporate Planning
and Management Service
Manager, investments and
Promotion Dept.
Manager, MIS Division
Manager, Research

Head, ITC
Head, Planning and
Coordination Group
Head, Research Info &
Technology Division
ICT Administrator/ISA III
Info. Technology Officer
Information Officer V

Director General/Commissioner
Director III, Director, Policy
Systems
Director, Administration
Director, Field Office
Directorate
Director, Information
Technology Service
Director, IT Department
Director, ITMS
Director, National Computer
Institute
Director, Plans and Programs
Director/Doctor
Division Chief III, MISD
Division Chief, MIS
Division Manager, Information
Technology Services Division,
Information Technology and
Communications Services Dept.
EDP Head
Executive Assistant III
Executive Director, Planning
Office
General Manager
HEAD, EDP
Head, Information Education &
Communication Division
Head, MIS Operations
ITO II
Head, Revenue Data Center
In-charge, Central Management
Information Office - IT Group
Information Officer III
Information System Analyst III

ISA III, Technology Management

Department
Instructor - PUP CMIT
IT Officer

IT Director
IT Officer III

IT Representative

ITECC Secretariat

Manager, Administration
Department
Manager, Energy Information
Department
Manager, IT Ventures and
Services
Manager, MIS Division

Manager, Corporate
Management Staff
Manager, Food and Drud
Regulation Office III
Manager, MIS Department

Managing Director

IT Anchorperson

Manager, Planning & Standards

Office
MD, Acctg. & Info. Tech Dept.

73

MIS Chief
MIS Manager
National Security Specilist V,
Policy and Strategy Office
OIC Division Chief, Central
Operations Department
OIC Manager, Planning &
Standards Office
OIC, CTO
OIC, Geodetic Surveys Div
OIC, MIS
OIC, MIS
OIC, MIS
OIC-Director
P/Supt.
Planning Director
Planning Staff
President
Private Consultant

Project Manager
Project Manager, PANP-PIA
PSO V
Regional Director, NCR
Science Research Specilist II
Section Chief, MIS; Info Sys
Analyst II
Senior Vice President for ITMG
Sr. Insurance Specialist
Statistician
Supervising Economic
Devlopment Specialist

Supervising EDS
TIDS, Asst. Manager, Catalog
Online, Information
Management Group
Vice President
VP-IT Department

MIS Dev't Chief

MIS Staff
Officer-in-Charge, Systems
Management Division
OIC Head, MIS
OIC, Bureau of Regulation
Division
OIC, Director IV
OIC, Info.Tech.Division
OIC, MIS
OIC, MIS
OIC, MISG
OIC-Multimedia
Patent Trademark Exec.
Patent Trademark Registry
Planning Officer II
Police Inspector, Asst.
Executive Controller for IT
Matters
Presidential Protocol Officer
Program Advisor-Ateneo
Graduate School of Business
Co-Chairpersom, Govt' Frontline
Services-Special Working Group
Project Manager I
Project Supervisor
OIC Systems Software Admin.
Department
Public Information Officer
Retired
SEC Director, Economic
Research and Information
Department
Section Head
SLSO I
Sr. Trade Industrial
Development Specialist
Supervising Chief, Labor &
Employment Officer
Supervising Investments
Specialist, information Systems
Development Division
Technology Management
Department
System Administrator
Undersecretary, Operations
Caparity Building Group
Vice President - Logistics

MIS Head
MISD Chief A
OIC Director, Industrial Tech
Dev't Institute
OIC Information Tech. Info.
Service
OIC, Chief, Planning and
Programs Division
OIC, EDP Division
OIC, IT Services
OIC, MIS
OIC, MIS
OIC, RID
P/Sinspector
PC Computer Services
Planning Officer III
Postmaster General
Presidential Staff Officer IV
Project Director

Project Manager, MIS

Department
PSInp.
Purchasing Chief
Science Research Specialist III,
Tech. Devt Section
Secretary
Senior Agriculturist
Special Project Department
SRS II
Supervising Data Analyst
Supervising Labor Employment
Officer

TIDCORP
Unit Head, Management
Information Systems Unit/IS
Planner
VP, MIS and Planning Sector

*Excerpts only. Complete file for private use only of CIOFI.

74

Acknowledgment
Above all, I thank God for the fulfillment of this study.
Likewise, my heartfelt appreciation to all the people who have helped
me complete this report, especially to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Prof. Toshio Obi

Marivic Castillo
Wilfredo Tatlonghari
Elmer Guizano
Samuel Allam

75