Treasury's Flyzik gets down to business
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The appointment capped a months-long process during which Treasury's top echelon sifted through dozens of applications for the vacancy created by the departure in January of the department's first CIO, Wushow "Bill" Chou. Flyzik said his promotion, which had been expected for months, does not add to his power but that it will have other advantages.
The appointment capped a months-long process during which Treasury's top echelon sifted
through dozens of applications for the vacancy created by the departure in January of the
department's first CIO, Wushow "Bill" Chou.
Flyzik said his promotion, which had been expected for months, does not add to his
power but that it will have other advantages.
"I don't know that it will give me more power per se," Flyzik said. "But
certainly it will give access to the higher-level management in Treasury and in government
in general."
And Flyzik seems to know exactly what he wants to do with that access and added
recognition.
Internally, he said, he will push ahead with reorganizing the CIO team's structure in
Treasury.
"We are looking to build a CIO organization that rivals the best in the
world," he said. "That organization will be patterned directly on the
implementation" of the 1996 Information Technology Management Reform Act.
That theme has been a favorite topic of Flyzik's since he was appointed deputy CIO in
late 1996.
He had been the department's telecommunications director.
He often has referred to ITMRA as a law that single-handedly redefined the role of IT
chiefs and financial officers within the government. Flyzik said ITMRA pushed the
government toward performance-based contracting, too.
One of his first jobs at Treasury is to fill the half-dozen vacancies in the
department's CIO organization.
"Clearly, there have been a number of issues that have been pending for some time,
and the promotion will clear the way for filling those vacancies," he said. "It
will allow us to put our reorganization into final gear."
Flyzik said another priority that he will tackle is the year 2000 date code work. As at
many agencies, Treasury is still defining the scope of its date code problem and how much
the repair will cost.
Among Treasury agencies, IRS is the agency that cannot afford date code systems
repairs.
Its officials this summer asked Congress for an infusion of funds to deal with year
2000 problems next year.
Because nearly 60 percent of Treasury's information technology budget of $2.03 billion
goes to IRS, the tax agency's Tax Systems Modernization program is also a top priority,
Flyzik said.
IRS has published its TSM blueprint and expects to award a contract for the 15-year
project next year. But TSM is a political hot potato.
Treasury officials have promised congressional leaders closer oversight of IRS. Flyzik
said he expects to spend a lot of time monitoring TSM systems rollouts.
He also praised IRS CIO Arthur Gross and said he expects the two will work well
together.
Flyzik said another item high on his agenda is to complete the Treasury Communications
System's cutover.
As the department's former telecom director, TCS is a project that's close to his
heart, Flyzik said.
The largest Treasury-wide project, the $1 billion TCS will give all Treasury users a
single network backbone.
Flyzik said he also expects that Treasury will make more use of the Internet and an
intranet to deliver services to users inside agencies and to taxpayers.