Federal, private-sector CIOs mostly alike

Of the 12 functional areas federal CIOs are responsible for, their private-sector counterparts share eight, including systems acquisition and information security, according to the Government Accountability Office.

And of the four areas in which public- and private-sector CIOs differ functionally, enterprise architecture is by far the most significant.

In a report released earlier this month, auditors interviewed 20 private-sector CIOs and found similarities with their federal counterparts in both job functions and challenges.

"In most functional areas, there was little difference between the private and federal sectors in the percentage of CIOs who had or shared a particular responsibility," GAO said.

This report follows another one GAO did in July 2004 reviewing responsibilities of 27 major agency CIOs.

The functional areas where public- and private-sector CIOs had the most in common were systems acquisition, development and integration; capital planning and investment management; information security; and e-commerce initiatives.