Vivek Kundra, CIO of the United States, is responsible for paring down government operations by way of a sound Information Technology strategy. Previously deemed Government Technology magazine’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers, he believes in the ideal of open government and the smart use of technology in government. Vivek Kundra was part of President Obama’s transition team and he worked on tech sector policy for the administration.
In his role as Chief Technology Officer in Washington D.C. Vivek Kundra sought out ways to use technology to make systems and services run more economic. He inducted many tax-saving technology crusades. One certain project resulted in more than 4.5 million digitized employee files for that school system. He also altered the software that government used for spreadsheets and e-mails to the Google version. He even originated a developer contest to use the best technology applications for the Washington D.C. web site. As well, he led efforts to increase the accessibility of government info to the public while decreasing the cost of providing said information.
In 2008, as CTO of Washington, D.C., he promoted the use of government information. He formulated a contest called Apps for Democracy, which invited developers to come up with original ways to use feeds. Washington, D.C. makes information available to the people, and they offer roughly 240 feeds. These feeds offer a variety of information from the local government authorities. These include building permits and crime reports and more. Vivek Kundra wanted to move away from a model of hiring a costly government contractor to build technologies based on the feeds. His goal was to encourage citizens in the District of Columbia area, nationally, and internationally with the contest. Consequently, the contest ensued in Web and mobile applications used to help people find parking and to help tourists explore the city. This is among other applications created because of this contest.
Vivek Kundra is now applying his expertise to the important tasks at hand as Federal Chief Information Officer. The experience gained during his time as Chief Technology Officer for Washington, D.C. is conducive to the initiatives he is fulfilling as part of President Obama’s administration. He wants the government’s IT efforts applying private sector platforms that are imperative to efficient sharing of information.
