NCD CIO recommendation letter
March 18, 2020
Margaret Weichert
Chairperson, CIO Council
Suzette Kent
Director, CIO Council
General Services Administration
Care Of: CIO Council
1800 F Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
Dear Ms. Weichert and Ms. Kent,
I write on behalf of the National Council on Disability (NCD), an independent, nonpartisan federal agency charged with advising Congress and the President on matters of disability policy and law, to urge the Executive Committee of the Chief Information Officers Council (CIO) to appoint a representative, as is permitted by your statute,[[1]](https://ncd.gov/publications/2020/ncd-cio-recommendation-letter#_ftn1) from the US Department of Defense (DOD) Computer Electronic Accommodations Program (CAP). Given that CAP is responsible for fulfilling reasonable accommodation requests to federal employees throughout multiple federal agencies (beyond just the DOD), in compliance with the Rehabilitation Act, and the many technology accommodations that are now available and the need for CAP to determine best practices in this space, it is vital that a CAP representative be appointed to your Council.
NCD makes this recommendation after having studied CAP’s role as a federal centralized accommodation program and analyzing ways in which the federal government can improve upon its reasonable accommodation fulfillment function. During our examination, NCD learned that CAP would benefit from participation in an organization such as the CIO Council whereby CAP could best keep pace with the latest technological developments regarding accommodations and the need for CAP to determine best practices in this space.
NCD acknowledges and continues to be grateful for the service of both the CIO Council, in promoting a bright and prosperous future for the United States through the strategic use of federal information technology, and CAP in helping federal government employees with disabilities obtain reasonable accommodations. We believe our recommendations will be useful in those continued endeavors. Should you have any additional questions or comments concerning these recommendations, please do not hesitate to reach out to Lisa Grubb, Executive Director, at (202) 272-2113, or by email at lgrubb@ncd.gov.
Sincerely,
Neil Romano
Chairman
[[1]](https://ncd.gov/publications/2020/ncd-cio-recommendation-letter#_ftnref1) Per 44 U.S.C. § 3603(b)(7), the CIO Council may include “any other officer or employee of the United States designated by the Chairperson.”