[Analytical Perspectives]
[Crosscutting Programs]
[9. Integrating Services with Information Technology]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]


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           9. INTEGRATING SERVICES WITH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

  This year the President is proposing to spend nearly $60 billion for 
computers, software, and services used to deliver benefits and services 
to American citizens. It is a priority for agencies to focus this 
investment on the achievement of goals that will result in benefits to 
the American people.
  There are three major efforts underway to assure the Federal 
Government's investment in Information Technology brings the greatest 
value to the public:
    Management for Results
    Successful Uses of Electronic Government
    Modernization Blueprints

                         MANAGEMENT FOR RESULTS

  The Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 calls for Federal departments and 
agencies to find ways to use technology to accomplish their mission; to 
operate more proficiently; and to make better purchasing decisions. The 
Act requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
to submit a report to the Congress on the results we're achieving from 
Federal IT spending. This Budget chapter fulfills the statutory 
reporting requirements of the Clinger-Cohen Act through Chapter 9, Table 
9-1, Effectiveness of Agency's IT Management and E-Gov Processes, 
included on the CD-ROM, which summarizes the results of IT management 
processes at major agencies.
  As a result of the Administration's oversight, agencies' capital 
planning activities have improved. Agencies are now better able to 
identify ``net program performance benefits achieved'' by their IT 
investments and ``how the benefits relate to the accomplishments of the 
goals'' of their agency. However, much work remains to move beyond good 
explanations to good--and measurable--results.
  Performance of Government.--Agencies need proper management practices 
and support systems to deliver projects on time, within budget, and 
performing as expected. Once the IT projects represented by these 
investments move from planning to operations, agencies must be able to 
determine whether or not the projects continue to accomplish the 
intended outcome while staying within the approved budget.
These projects must have:
    Sound risk management strategies; and
    Strong links to agency mission and strategic goals.
While ensuring the projects are:
    On schedule and within the approved budget;
    Achieving performance goals; and
    Included in the modernization blueprint for the agency, 
          called an enterprise architecture
  The Government continues to improve productivity and demonstrate 
results from its IT investments. The Administration requires all cabinet 
agencies to prepare ``business cases'' for any planned or operational 
system that is critical to the mission of the agency. These investment 
rationales are graded on specific criteria including:
    the value they will provide to the agency
    the likelihood they will succeed
    the cyber-security plans planned or in place
    the acquisition strategy
    the project management plans
    the analysis of viable alternatives
  Government agencies continue to make significant improvement in their 
efforts to guarantee the prudent expenditure of taxpayer dollars. All of 
the 59 business cases submitted by the Department of Veterans Affairs 
passed the scoring criteria without revision of the original business 
cases. To achieve this, VA developed a project management agenda and 
trained more than 500 project managers while instituting a rigorous 
internal review process to pre-score their business cases before 
submission to OMB.
  The Administration continues to monitor the performance of its IT 
projects long after the original budget request is made. For example, of 
the $60 billion in the 2005 Budget for IT investments, 621 major 
projects representing $22 billion are currently on the ``Management 
Watch List.'' This list includes mission-critical projects needing 
improvement in the areas of performance measures, earned value 
management and/or IT security. Agencies must remediate the shortfalls 
identified in their business cases or the Administration will not 
support the expenditures until agencies have demonstrated their ability 
to address these weaknesses.
  The Agency IT Investment Portfolios (available in Exhibit 53 on the 
Internet at www.whitehouse.gov/OMB) provide details of the 
Administration's proposed 2005 IT investments. Related documents on IT 
security and Electronic Government (E-Government) will also be available 
at www.whitehouse.gov/OMB and will be published by March 1, 2004.
  As part of the process by which the Administration evaluates IT 
business cases, investments are studied to determine whether there is 
duplication across Government entities. If an investment is found to be 
duplicative, the Administration brings together the appropriate agencies 
and helps them consider broad based solutions that will allow inter-
agency data sharing and cooperation to build a single system, rather 
than maintaining separate investments.

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  This Administration leverages Government buying power while reducing 
redundant purchases. As an example, the Government is developing common 
solutions that meet multiple agencies' needs in the areas of Financial 
Management and Human Resources.
  As part of its management responsibilities, OMB continued using one of 
the key authorities established in section 5113 ``Enforcement of 
Accountability'' of the Clinger-Cohen Act (CCA). Under this authority, 
the Director is required to evaluate information resources management 
practices of the executive agencies with respect to IT investments. As 
part of this evaluation, OMB issued one Clinger-Cohen letter, M-03-14 
``Reducing Cost & Improving Quality in Federal Purchases of Commercial 
Software'' (06/02/2003). The purpose of this letter was to coordinate 
and leverage the buying power of Government by creating the Software 
Managed and Acquired on the Right Terms (SmartBUY) initiative. This 
letter is available at www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/m03-14.html. In 
addition, management guidance titled ``Streamlining Authentication and 
Identity Management'' was issued on July 3, 2003. This memorandum 
provides agency Chief Information Officers (CIOs) with the appropriate 
guidance to coordinate and consolidate investments related to 
authentication and identity management and is available at 
www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg/eauth.pdf.
  The Government IT Workforce.--As part of the President's Management 
Agenda (PMA), analysis is underway to develop a strategy for the 
recruitment, development, retention, and management of the Federal IT 
workforce and to insure that expenditures in technology are 
professionally delivered and managed. The immediate focus is to assess 
the current ``bench strength'' among existing employees, identify gaps 
in needed skills, and develop plans of action to fill critical workforce 
needs for project managers, solution architects, security specialists, 
and other need areas as identified in the Federal workforce survey 
completed in the fall of 2003 by the Office of Personnel Management 
(OPM) and the Federal CIO Council.
  Electronic Government..--Expanding Electronic Government makes it 
easier for citizens and businesses to interact with their Government and 
saves taxpayer dollars by reducing the cost of delivering those 
services. The Administration developed specific E-Government projects 
and an overall agenda of bringing the principles of E-Government to all 
Government programs, allowing taxpayers to conduct business with 
Government in their own time and on their own terms.
  For the past five years the Government has been aggressively 
implementing the Government Paperwork Elimination Act. The Act required 
the Government to provide the option for electronic filing and 
electronic signature for the full range of Government activities unless 
it is not practicable to do so. During the first two years of the Act's 
implementation, 1,800 transactions could be conducted electronically. As 
of December 2003, 4,000 government transactions could be conducted 
electronically. This represents 57% of the 7,000 potential transactions 
between citizens and their government. For instance:
    The Department of Agriculture is implementing an agency-wide 
          system to conduct business electronically; and
    The Department of Transportation established an efficient 
          online method for motor carriers to apply for operating 
          authority and register for a USDOT number.
  As the Government continues to use new technology our business 
processes continue to improve. One specific example is the way we keep 
records. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) will 
preserve our electronic records for future generations just as it has 
for paper records in the past. NARA's Electronic Records Archives 
project will preserve and provide access to digital records from Federal 
agencies. NARA's work on the Electronic Records Management initiative 
will provide agencies with the policies and procedures necessary for 
managing these electronic records. Because of this foresight, historians 
will be assured of continuing access to essential evidence documenting 
the rights of American citizens, the actions of Federal officials, and 
the national experience.
  Securing Government Systems..--Over the last three years the Federal 
Government has improved considerably in identifying and resolving long-
standing, serious, and pervasive IT security problems. Agencies report 
both annually and quarterly on their efforts to address IT security 
weaknesses against key IT security performance measures.
  As one example, the Environmental Protection Agency has excelled at 
protecting their information technology assets. EPA has evaluated the 
risks to, and certified the security of, its IT systems. Beyond 
documentation, however, EPA has implemented quantifiable measures of 
repelled attacks and blocked viruses. Internal scorecards are used to 
measure success and managers are encouraged to compete for top scores. 
By focusing on cyber-security, EPA has taken great steps to protect the 
integrity of the agency.
  In addition to assessing each agency's IT security performance, the 
Administration also established the following three Government-wide 
goals in the 2004 President's Budget.
    Goal 1.--By the end of calendar year 2003, all Federal 
          agencies were to have created a central remediation process to 
          ensure that program and system level IT security weaknesses, 
          once identified, are tracked and corrected. Each agency 
          Inspector General (IG) was to verify whether or not the agency 
          had a satisfactory IT security remediation process in place.
            Status.--While each Federal agency does have an IT security 
          remediation process, the maturity of those processes vary 
          greatly. Out of 26 Federal agencies, 10 agencies have a 
          remediation process verified by their IG as meeting the 
          necessary criteria. The Administration will continue to work

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          with the remaining Federal agencies to achieve this goal by 
          the end of calendar year 2004.
    Goal 2.--By the end of calendar year 2003, 80 percent of 
          Federal IT systems were to be certified and accredited.
            Status.--Based on agencies' reports 61 percent of Federal IT 
          systems were certified and accredited at the end of calendar 
          year 2003. At the end of calendar year 2002, only 47 percent 
          had met this goal. Many agencies are not adequately 
          prioritizing their IT expenditures to be assured that 
          significant IT security weaknesses are appropriately 
          addressed.
    Goal 3.--By the end of calendar year 2003, 80 percent of the 
          Federal Government's 2004 major IT systems were to have 
          appropriately integrated security into the lifecycle of the 
          expenditures.
            Status.--Based on agencies' reports for 2003, 75 percent of 
          Federal IT systems planned and budgeted for IT security 
          requirements as part of the overall development or 
          maintenance. At the end of calendar year 2002, this number was 
          slightly more than 60 percent. While agencies have made 
          improvements in integrating security into new IT systems, 
          significant problems remain, particularly in ensuring security 
          of legacy systems.
  Additionally, the Federal Government has placed increased emphasis on 
prevention of negative impacts from worms and viruses through the 
installation of patches for known vulnerabilities. Further, improved 
information sharing allows agencies to rapidly identify and respond to 
cyber threats and critical vulnerabilities. These steps have led to 
stronger Government-wide processes for intrusion detection and response.
  While notable progress in resolving IT security weaknesses has been 
made, challenges remain and new threats and vulnerabilities continue to 
materialize. Agencies continue to improve the security of the 
information and systems supporting the Federal Government's missions. To 
address the above challenges the Administration works with agencies, 
Inspectors General, the Congress and the General Accounting Office (GAO) 
to assure appropriate cost-effective IT security programs, policies, and 
procedures are in place to protect Government systems.
  Additional information and detail concerning the Federal Government's 
IT security program and agency IT security performance can be found in 
OMB's Annual Report to Congress on IT Security. The next such report 
will be issued by March 1, 2004 and will be made available on OMB's 
website.
  Protecting Privacy.--The promise of E-Government can only be realized 
if people use the services provided by the Government. Citizens will 
only use these services if they trust their information will be 
protected and their privacy maintained. The obligation to maintain the 
public's trust is demonstrated by the passage of the E-Government Act, 
which reflects the Government's commitment to the privacy and security 
of the citizen's confidential information. Specifically, the E-
Government Act requires agencies, as they develop new information 
technology systems or information collections, to:
    Conduct Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) taking privacy 
          into consideration in the design of the system or in any 
          information collection activities.
    Publicly post standardized web privacy policies regarding 
          the handling of personal information provided electronically 
          to the Government.
  The greater challenge for Government is clearly the PIAs. These 
assessments demand the combined analysis of individuals with technical, 
programmatic and legal expertise. With varying degrees of success, 
agencies attempted to comply with the new statutory mandate. Going 
forward, the Government must continue to meet the challenges presented 
by privacy concerns and ensure PIAs include consideration of alternative 
business processes or systems designs. The Administration anticipates 
greater transparency on the part of Government agencies as the PIA 
effort continues. This will inspire greater trust in and greater use of 
E-Government products.
  Making Government Accessible to All.--The Government is making its 
websites and information technology accessible to persons with 
disabilities by providing new standards for accessibility, developed in 
accordance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. These new 
standards assume access to Government information and data is a civil 
right. The Government is engaged in a variety of activities to fulfill 
the requirements that agencies, industry, and the public understand 
these standards. This year, the Administration conducted extensive 
outreach with industry, the public, and Federal agencies to assist in 
implementation. Additionally, the General Services Administration (GSA) 
developed a web-based tool to help agencies procure information 
technology accessible to persons with disabilities. In the next year, 
GSA will issue a survey to assess how Federal agencies are implementing 
the Section 508 accessibility standards and to allow agencies to share 
best practices.

                SUCCESSFUL USES OF ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT

  E-Government seeks to leverage information technologies to make 
Government services available to the citizen while guaranteeing the 
security of those systems, the privacy of citizen information and the 
prudent use of taxpayer money. E-Government is about helping the 
citizens, businesses and Government conduct business with one another 
more efficiently and effectively.
  Previously, the agency was the focus of the process because the 
citizens had to adjust their schedule and circumstances in order to 
accommodate the transaction

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with the Government. Now, the citizen and the assistance they require 
are the focus of the process. The service is more important than the 
bureaucracy.
  For Governments and agencies, the benefit comes in the form of 
improved business processes, the way and the speed with which business 
is conducted. By collecting the data electronically, agencies benefit by 
reducing the processing time for transactions. This allows agencies to 
share data more easily, and speeds transactions conducted between and 
within agencies.
  Examples of successful adoption of the tenets of E-Government to 
deliver services to the citizen and make the government more effective 
include the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Office of 
Personnel Management. NSF's FastLane system is used by more than 200,000 
scientists, educators, technology experts and administrators to conduct 
business over the Internet. OPM manages five Presidential E-Government 
initiatives including USAJOBS, which receives on average 200,000 visits 
per day by Federal employment job seekers who can create resumes using 
the tools available on-line. Federal employees have taken more than 
160,000 courses through the Gov Online Learning Center (GoLearn.gov), 
while E-Payroll is consolidating agencies payroll services into four 
service providers
  Government agencies have traditionally considered themselves as 
separate businesses with each serving its own mission. Citizens, 
however, may not draw distinctions between different agencies and agency 
missions; they simply want access to information in a timely fashion. 
Through the PMA, the Presidential E-Government initiatives and the 
efforts to provide a Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA), Government 
is managing itself as one business with many subsidiaries. Through 
multi-agency E-Government initiatives such as Regulations.gov and 
Grants.gov, multiple agencies work together to provide service to the 
citizen from a single location.
  Regulations.gov makes it easier for citizens and businesses to easily 
find, review, and submit comments on proposed rules in the Federal 
Register that may affect them.
  Grants.gov makes it easier for grant seekers to find and apply for 
more than $350 billion in Federal grant opportunities across more than 
900 programs in 26 agencies. Equally important, grant-seekers won't have 
to visit each federal agency's website every day to find or apply for 
grant opportunities.
  Chapter 9, Table 9-2, Status of the Presidential E-Government 
Initiatives, included on the CD-ROM, provides an update for each 
project.

                        MODERNIZATION BLUEPRINTS

  Over the past three years, as a result of the implementation of this 
Administration's Electronic Government initiative, dramatic changes have 
begun to occur in the way the Government uses information technology to 
provide services to citizens. Federal agencies are rapidly developing 
and implementing sophisticated IT management policies and practices for 
their Capital Planning and Investment Control, professional project 
management practices and processes, and comprehensive security 
management practices
  Computers and related IT equipment and services are a means to an end, 
not an end in and of themselves. They are a tool to do a job and must 
support the business of the agency in order to be effective. IT, 
properly managed and focused, can help deliver government services and 
results to the public faster, cheaper, and with better quality than 
current methods. To gain the maximum benefit from IT systems, Agencies 
must understand how technology fits into and can support their missions.
  The FEA and the companion efforts of the agencies' Enterprise 
Architectures together provide the ``blueprint'' for completing analysis 
in the areas of common business practices, opportunities for 
consolidation, and acceleration of service delivery. OMB, in 
collaboration with the Federal CIO Council, is developing the 
Government-wide FEA to provide a common view across the Government of 
the work agencies do and the technology used to deliver services. The 
FEA creates the blueprint to identify where agencies share common 
functions and consequently can use shared technology solutions. With 
these efforts, the Government is completing the design of a common, 
shared information technology support structure within and across 
agencies.
  Historically, data communications, databases, office automation and 
security have been planned and deployed to support individual agencies, 
or even individual organizations and applications within an agency. This 
process has led not only to duplication but also to difficulty in 
operating effectively across lines of business. To address these 
deficiencies, the Administration asked agencies to plan for the 
integration of their common infrastructure and office automation 
environments. Included in these plans were strategies to move towards an 
integrated support environment while using the Government blueprint. The 
final result of these plans, migration strategies and support systems 
will be a comprehensive Government-wide view of the technologies being 
used to support the implementation of agency and cross-agency systems.
  To support the implementation of the agencies' modernization efforts, 
the Administration initiated programs like SmartBUY. This initiative 
leverages the immense buying power of the Federal Government in order to 
achieve the maximum cost savings, most favorable terms and conditions, 
and the best quality commercial brand-name software while continuing to 
motivate vendors to do business with the Government.
  Sharing Technology across Agencies Will Drive Results.--While the 
effort to integrate and consolidate IT environments within an agency can 
provide substantial

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cost savings and performance improvement, the real potential benefit 
comes from the integration of agency processes and systems and the 
extension and integration of those environments across agencies. Based 
on the initial implementation of the FEA in the 2004 budget, six common 
areas where the work activities of diverse agencies were similar or 
nearly identical in providing services to citizens were identified. 
These strong similarities in activities present excellent opportunities 
for sharing resources and gaining efficiencies. The results of on-going 
analysis will provide the opportunity for breakthrough improvements in 
service performance for citizens.
  For example, the Health and Case Management functions have become the 
subject of Government-wide collaboration initiatives. The Department of 
Health and Human Services has taken the lead in a broad cross-agency 
effort to develop a complete architecture for the Health function, which 
is expected to yield a number of major cross-agency initiatives. The 
Department of Justice has taken a leading role in developing a broader 
cross-agency approach to Case Management that will enable agencies to 
implement common business practices and technology solutions to this 
widely used process.
  Initiatives such as these will result in ``best practice'' solutions 
that span across agencies, and across all levels of government to bring 
significant benefits to citizens, businesses, and government entities.
  Other areas of commonality that have already been identified for 
similar initiatives include Financial Management, Human Resources 
Management, and Grants. These common functional areas will be targeted 
by cross-agency teams for integration and consolidation. These efforts 
are expected to yield new common practices and technology initiatives to 
save money, improve efficiency and provide for significant improvements 
in service delivery beginning in 2005.
  Moving Forward.--In 2005 and beyond, the Government will continue 
identifying additional areas where the work of agencies is similar 
enough to believe that a shared approach to the use of information 
technology will yield major benefits. This effort will pave the way for 
major breakthroughs in the pace at which agencies can adapt to changing 
mission needs and deliver the results citizens are demanding.
  The Federal Government has made significant progress in implementing 
E-Government to better serve the citizen, but much remains to be done. 
Through the PMA, the Clinger-Cohen Act, the E-Government Act, and budget 
guidance, the Federal Government has the tools necessary to make it 
easier for citizens and businesses to interact with their Government. 
Through sound management practices, responsible investment, improved 
security and privacy, and innovative approaches to meeting the needs of 
the taxpayer, agencies can accomplish this important goal.