Davis To Chair House Committee That Oversees Federal IT IssuesDavis To Chair House Committee That Oversees Federal IT Issues

U.S. Rep. Tom Davis, one of the most influential lawmakers on IT issues, will have even more power in the new Congress. The Republican leadership has named the Virginia congressman chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, which provides oversight on federal IT issues.

In the last Congress, Davis headed the committee's IT and Procurement Policy subcommittee, a platform he used to help guide federal IT policy, including the enactment of the E-Government Act and IT provisions of the Homeland Security Act. During his stint as subcommittee chairman, Davis also helped usher the Federal Information Security Management Act and Critical Infrastructure Information Act.

In an interview late last year, Davis said he wants to continue to be heavily involved in IT policy and might address technology issues at the committee level, eliminating the need for the subcommittee he had chaired. A final decision on subcommittees has yet to be made. "Decisions about subcommittee jurisdictions and chairmanships have not yet been made, but it's a safe bet that Davis will retain some degree of ownership over them as full committee chairman," says David Marin, Davis' legislative director.

Among the causes Davis says he'll champion as Government Reform Committee chairman is the development of the federal enterprise architecture. "We need to tear down the stovepipe structures that have characterized government technology systems, to improve cross-agency communication and lower costs," Davis said in a statement announcing his appointment, which was made Wednesday night.

Besides federal IT and procurement policies, the committee also provides oversight and reviews legislation regarding how the government functions, including the operations of the city of Washington, D.C.

As panel chairman, Davis pledges to cut billions of dollars in government waste, especially on how the government acquires goods and services. Davis says he wants to give federal contracting officers technology tools and training to allow for smarter procurement decisions. "Too often, we look for fat as though it came wrapped in neat, tidy packages; too often, we cut off fingers and toes," he says. "The reality is that waste is marbled throughout the bureaucracy. It rests within regulations that never should have been written, in filling out forms that should not have been printed, in procurements so complex that our undertrained contracting officers cannot properly manage them."

David McClure, VP for E-government at the Council for Excellence In Government and a former director on IT issues for the General Accounting Office--Congress' investigative arm, says Davis is not a political ideologue. "Davis is very pragmatic," McClure says. "He's focused on getting results to get government to operate better, and he's not into huge policy debates that go on endlessly. He's just a roll-up-the-sleeves kind of guy."

Republican leaders in the Senate are expected to name Susan Collins of Maine to chair the Governmental Affairs Committee. Under the chairmanship of Democrat Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut in the last Congress, the Senate panel addressed IT policy issues at the committee level. Collins has yet to indicate whether she'll continue that practice or establish a subcommittee to oversee technology matters.