Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996

The Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996 is a United States federal law, designed to improve the way the federal government acquires, uses and disposes information technology (IT). It was passed as Division E of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 (; ). Together with the Federal Acquisition Reform Act of 1996, it is known as the Clinger–Cohen Act. The Clinger–Cohen Act supplements the information resources management policies by establishing a comprehensive approach for executive agencies to improve the acquisition and management of their information resources, by:
focusing information resource planning to support their strategic missions;
implementing a capital planning and investment control process that links to budget formulation and execution; and
rethinking and restructuring the way they do their work before investing in information systems. The Act directed the development and maintenance of Information Technology Architectures (ITAs) by federal agencies to maximize the benefits of information technology (IT) within the Government. In subsequent guidance on implementing the Act, the Office of Management and Budget stipulated that agency ITA's " should be consistent with Federal, agency, and bureau information architectures " In keeping with this mandate, in 1999 the US Federal CIO Council initiated the Federal Enterprise Architecture, essentially a federal wide ITA that would " develop, maintain, and facilitate the implementation of the top level enterprise architecture for the Federal Enterprise."

In February 1996, Congress enacted the Clinger–Cohen Act to reform and improve the way Federal agencies acquire and manage IT resources. Central to implementing these reforms is the need to establish effective IT leadership within each agency. The law requires each agency head to establish clear accountability for IT management activities by appointing an agency chief information officer (CIO) with the visibility and management responsibilities necessary to carry out the specific provisions of the Act. The CIO plays a critical leadership role in driving reforms to:

The Act emphasizes an integrated framework of technology aimed at efficiently performing the business of the Department. Just as few businesses can turn a profit by allowing their employees to purchase anything they want to do any project they want, the Department also cannot operate efficiently with hardware and software systems purchased on an "impulse purchase" basis and installed without an overall plan. All facets of capital planning are taken into consideration just as they would be in private industry.