Federal IT professionals to receive new program manager status

The Obama administration has proposed creating a new federal position -- information innovation program manager -- to help reverse the multiyear delays and multimillion-dollar losses that agency computing projects traditionally accrue. The new position is part of a 25-point strategy unveiled late last year for changing the way the government buys IT systems and services.

The Office of Personnel Management on Tuesday issued a draft job description for the new title. The position's responsibilities include coordinating, communicating and integrating IT projects and program activities; ensuring such work achieves the outcome specified by IT business strategies; and conducting negotiations and decision-making to execute programs.

IT program manager will be added to a category of jobs known as the IT Management 2210 series. All jobs in the series require knowledge of information research concepts, including data storage, software applications and networking. Other positions in this class include project manager and IT specialist.

Establishing a career path for IT program managers is the centerpiece of the innovation management overhaul, which as well focuses on centralizing purchasing power at the office of the chief information officer, increasing communication with potential vendors early in the bidding process and outsourcing IT services to online hardware and software providers in the cloud.