The Commerce Department's Office of the Chief Information Officer leads the strategic management of informa­tion technology (IT) resources throughout the Department of Commerce, helping to ensure that programs make effective and efficient use of IT. The Office of the CIO is responsible for providing policy, direction, oversight, and risk management for the Department’s estimated $2.5B IT portfolio, which includes the major IT investments that support the Department’s missions, as well as spending on computer, networking, and telecommunications hardware, software, and services.

Among the priorities being led by the OCIO are strengthening the Department’s cyber security, improving IT risk management and integration of IT risk management with the Department’s enterprise risk management program, and IT cost efficiencies initiatives ranging from strategic sourcing to consolidation of IT infrastructure and services. The OCIO is also responsible for providing Department-level leadership for the Administration’s IT management agenda.

The OCIO is involved in a variety of activities aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of IT spending at DOC. These range from consolidation of data centers and other IT infrastructure and services to contract consolidation, to strategic sourcing and other efforts aimed at using standardization to reduce acquisition and/or operations and maintenance costs. Several of the initial strategic sourcing initiatives being pursued within DOC fall in the domain of IT (sourcing of computers, printers/copiers and related services, as well as wireless phones/devices and wireless plans).