This Federal Computer Week article puts into print some of the rumors I've been hearing about Gov. Huntsman considering a move of the CIO's office out of the Governor's office and into DAS (dept. of Administrative Services). I assume that that means that the CIO would head ITS (Information Technology Services). That would be a huge mistake.

This seems like a logical move a first. Since the CIO is supposed to be in charge of IT, why not place the position over the largest IT shop in the state. The problem is that ITS has had an adversarial relationship with most of the other IT shops in the State. I'm not using "adversarial" in a pejorative way--I believe that the tension is structural and won't go away because everybody sing kumbaya at the start of a few meetings. There have been and continue to be cordial relationships among the people.

The CIO has the opportunity to be an honest broker between these competing interests. This often requires the convening authority (when you call a meeting people show up) of the Governor's office. For the State's IT infrastructure to be secure and interoperate, the CIO also needs to be in a position to create policy. This is much more difficult to do from inside DAS.

Now, of course, this is all speculation since Huntsman hasn't announced what he intends to do. However, if he moves the CIO out of the Governor's office, I think that spells dark days for eGovernment in Utah.