Interior Secretary Ken Salazar issued a mandate in 2010 calling for the agency to consolidate its information technology management in order to improve services and reduce cost.
The department’s 3,380-strong IT workforce will begin to receive reassignments this summer to staff the new IT organization created under the mandate, Federal Times reports.
According to the report, most employees will not move locations, but will have refocused duties around providing shared IT services across the department, including cloud computing, telecommunications, email and information security.
Interior Chief Information Officer Bernie Mazer will be the only executive with CIO in his title.
Eleven subordinate CIO positions were relabeled as assistant directors of information resources.
Salazar told employees in an April 19 email that IT leaders had met with 1,500 employees in 18 states to draw out the strategy.
Andrew Jackson, deputy assistant secretary for technology, information and business services, said in an interview with Federal Times last week the plan is meant to help Interior run better.
The department expects to save up to $500 million by 2020 through several efforts in the plan to consolidate data centers and transition to cloud computing services, Salazar said.
Mazer will oversee operations, policies and customer relationships.
Ten internal Interior employees will serve as directors and deputy directors and they will head five shared service areas.
Jackson has been leading a team responsible for determining which employees’ roles change or stay the same.
He said 3,000 employees could potentially be reassigned to Mazer’s new organization and those employees will telework in order to complete their tasks, the report said.
Congress will approve the changes first, but Jackson said he expects the objection may come from employees instead, since there is often a fear of the unknown.
Jackson said he expects the department’s workforce to shrink as a result of cloud contractors and employees retiring.
The department has seen a 3 percent decrease through attrition since January 2011.
