What is the purpose of Capital Planning and Investment Control (CPIC)?

• A. To fund new hardware only.
• B. To ensure IT investments directly support and align with mission and strategic goals, while minimizing risk and maximizing returns.
• C. To centralize vendor management.
• D. To document incident response plans.

Answer: (B)

Capital Planning and Investment Control is a governance process for IT investments. Its purpose is to ensure that IT investments directly support and align with the agency’s mission and strategic goals while minimizing risk and maximizing returns. It guides how resources are allocated across the investment lifecycle—from planning and funding to selecting, controlling, and evaluating projects—so decisions are based on expected value, cost, risk, and alignment with priorities. This means evaluating proposals, prioritizing them against strategic objectives, forecasting benefits and costs, monitoring performance, and making go/no-go decisions through investment review mechanisms.

This approach is broader than just funding hardware, and it’s not about centralizing vendor management or incident response plans. It focuses on choosing and managing the spectrum of IT investments to deliver intended outcomes, reduce risk, and optimize the agency’s overall investment portfolio. Frameworks like the federal CPIC process under policies such as FITARA and OMB guidance support this governance and accountability.