DorobekInsider: HHS joins the management reorganization bandwagon — but this time, the CIO seems to get more visibility

We have been telling you about a number of management reorganizations at a number of agencies… Of course, the Agriculture Department has quietly undertaken a significant reorganization of its agency management — read more here… There were also changes at the top ranks of the Department of Veterans Affairs management organization…

The Department of Health and Human Services is also reorganizing its management structure, according to a Federal Register notice, creating the Office of Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management and Office of the Assistant Secretary for Resources and Technology.

Here is an excerpt:

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is reorganizing a portion of two offices, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Resources and Technology (ASRT) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management (ASAM), both of which are located within the Office of the Secretary (OS). The reorganization is designed to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of these two offices by consolidating the resource-related functions, including budget, grants, acquisition, finance, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) coordination, underASRT and the administrative functions under ASAM. The titles of the Assistant Secretary for Resources and Technology (ASRT) and the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management (ASAM) will also be changed to the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources (ASFR ) and Assistant Secretary for Administration (ASA), respectively. This reorganization also will transfer support for the Office of Small &
Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) from ASAM to ASRT, while maintaining the Office’s same direct-line reporting structure to the Deputy Secretary. Finally, this reorganization will transfer direct-line reporting of the Office of the Chief Information Office fromASRT to the Deputy Secretary while moving day-to-day support for OCIO from ASRT to ASA.

Read the full post here.

We’re still trying to ferret out what exactly this means and how it moves the cheese around, but unlike at USDA, where the CIO seems to be buried deeper within the organization, HHS’s reorganization seems to actually give the CIO increased visibility within the organization.

Insiders tell me that the CIO Michael Carlton will now report directly to the HHS Deputy Secretary Bill Corr. Previously, the HHS CIO reported to the agency’s Assistant Secretary for Resources and Technology/CFO.

One insider told us that the HHS Office of the Chief Information Officer is moving from the former Assistant Secretary for Resources and Technology — which will become the new Office of the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources — and the CIO will now become part of the new Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration.

If you know more information, let us know… and we’ll keep trying to track down more information.