For Immediate Release: Monday, April 27, 2009

Contact: Oversight and Government Reform Press Office, (202) 225-5051

Towns Recommends Appointment of IT Leader to Oversee Improvements to Recovery.gov

Washington, DC – U.S. Representative Edolphus “Ed” Towns, D-NY, the Chairman of the Committee on House Oversight and Government Reform, is asking Vice President Joseph Biden to consider appointing an IT professional to lead the implementation of best suggestions captured during the online Recovery.gov IT forum. Currently, the RAT Board is hosting a week-long national online dialogue on Recovery.gov to engage information technology (IT) leaders who can identify business models, best practices, proposals and solutions that can be applied to Recovery.gov in order to meet the transparency goals of the Recovery Act. The idea for an online IT forum was first suggested by Chairman Towns last month in a letter to Vice President Biden.

Responding to the Vice President’s decision to convene an online IT forum, Chairman Towns wrote Edward DeSeve, special adviser to Vice President Biden on the implementation of the Recovery Act, to commend the Vice President for acting upon his suggestion to convene an online high tech forum. Chairman Towns adds that equally important to hosting the IT forum is the RAT Board’s ability to conduct an expeditious review, evaluation, and implementation of best suggestions. Therefore, Chairman Towns suggests the appointment of an IT leader to implement best practices captured during the online IT forum.

Chairman Towns states, “In my view, this review process should be led by someone within the Administration with a well respected background in information technology, and with a track record for successfully implementing complex IT architectures within tight timeframes. This individual should be directly responsible for establishing and managing the necessary database to ensure that it is functional, accessible and up-to-date.”

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