Federal IT Capital Planning and Investment Control (with CD)

CHAPTER 1

Overview of Capital Planning and Investment Control

Perfect order is the forerunner of perfect horror.

—CARLOS FUENTES, MEXICAN AUTHOR

After the Clinger-Cohen Act became law in 1996, its implementation progressed slowly. By the early 2000s, federal agencies were still struggling to implement IT investment management principles, largely because of resistance to changing long-standing approaches, power arrangements, and organizational culture. Substantial effort and resources were expended to implement CPIC processes to comply with Clinger-Cohen requirements, but many implementations were guided by two principles: (1) merely comply with OMB requirements and (2) do so in a way that does not interfere with “how we do business because we ...