Guidehouse-AFERM Survey: Agencies See Cybersecurity, Privacy as Top Risk Mgmt Priorities

A new survey conducted by Guidehouse and the Association for Federal Enterprise Risk Management has found that cybersecurity and privacy issues remain as the top priority for agency attention in current and future efforts.

The 2020 Federal Enterprise Risk Management Survey also found that federal personnel perceive operational or programmatic risk and human capital risk as two of the top three priorities for management attention, Guidehouse said Tuesday.

According to Guidehouse and AFERM’s survey, federal organizations with chief risk officer-led programs comprised 65 percent of respondents that reported high levels of agency engagement in COVID-19 response.

Thirty-nine percent reported that their agencies do not have a CRO-led initiative, while 83 percent said their agencies have a formal ERM strategy. Sixty-four percent of respondents said they expect changes in their agencies’ ERM programs to include pandemic response.

David Fisher, partner and risk consulting Leader at Guidehouse, said CROs can help agencies “avoid another kind of crisis when resuming operations” by managing risk analysis and developing proactive response strategies 

Guidehouse and AFERM’s study serves as the sixth annual survey on the current state of federal ERM. Survey results have been presented during AFERM’s 13th Annual ERM Summit.