[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
As one of the largest users and acquirers of data, information and
supporting technology systems in the world, the United States Government
will continue its efforts to strengthen its capabilities in managing
technology and information in order to be the world's leader in
information technology. This year, the President proposes to spend about
$65 billion for Information Technology (IT) and the associated support
services. Departments and agencies continue to build upon their
successes including their efforts with portfolio management by applying
the principles and methods of Earned Value Management (EVM) to achieve
greater savings, better results and improved customer service levels.
ACHIEVING RESULTS FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
The Federal government continues to make progress by maximizing its,
IT investments to deliver program results through the adoption of
electronic government management principles and best practices.
Departments and agencies continue to focus on:
Improving service levels to citizens and government decision
makers;
Making better purchasing decisions;
Securing our systems and data; and
Reducing duplication and related costs.
This Budget chapter and Table 9-1, ``Effectiveness of Agency's IT
Management and E-Gov Processes,'' included on the CD-ROM, fulfill the
statutory reporting requirement of the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996. Other
management guidance provided to Federal departments and agencies is
included on Table 9-2, ``Management Guidance,'' and is available at
www.whitehouse.gov/OMB/memoranda.
Government Performance.--The Federal government has shown improvement
over the last year in achieving the goals specifically included in the
President's Management Agenda, the Expanded Electronic Government (E-
Government) initiative. For example, each IT investment must have
specific performance targets tied to a specific, significant, beneficial
impact for our citizens. Performance functions must be defined, valued
and deliver measurable results.
The Federal departments and agencies continue to improve in their
efforts to guarantee the success and results for the taxpayer. There
were 263 major investments representing about $10 billion on the
``Management Watch List,'' i.e., those IT investment justifications
needing improvement in performance measurement, earned value management
or system security. Before the start of the fiscal year, agencies were
directed to remediate the shortfalls identified prior to expending
additional funds. The agencies have worked to remediate the weaknesses
or have put measures in place to monitor the progress of the IT
investment which could include multiple projects. If an investment is
still on the ``Management Watch List,'' agencies must describe their
plans to manage or mitigate risk before undertaking or continuing
activities related to that investment. As of December 31, 2006, 81
percent of the agencies (22 of 27) had all acceptable FY 2007 business
cases. Thus, remaining on last year's Management Watch list, there were
84 business cases valued in FY 07 at $4.3 billion from five agencies.
This year, 346 of the 840 FY 2008 major IT investments are on the
``Management Watch List.'' These investments still need to address
performance measures, implementation of earned value management,
security or other issues before obligating funding in Fiscal Year 2008.
See Table 9-3, ``Agencies with IT Investments on the Management Watch
List.''
The Report on Information Technology (IT) Spending for the Federal
Government (Exhibit 53) will be published in the spring of 2007 and is
located at www.whitehouse.gov/OMB. It provides details of the
Administration's proposed 2008 IT investments. Related documents on IT
security and Electronic Government (E-Government) are also available at
www.whitehouse.gov/OMB.
Fiscal Year 2008 proposed IT investments were analyzed for trends and
potential duplications across government entities. At about $65 billion,
the Fiscal Year 2008 Federal IT portfolio represents a 3 percent
increase over Fiscal Year 2007 President's Budget. The following
represents the highlights:
Percent \1\
FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008 Change
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Major IT Investments......... 1,087 857 840 -2%
Not Well Planned and Managed. 358 263 346 32%
Well Planned and Managed..... 682 594 494 -17%
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Change from FY 2007 to FY 2008.
The decreasing number of major IT investments is attributed to
departments and agencies better managing their Capital Planning and
Investment Control (CPIC) process in conformance with their enterprise
architectures. The continued maturation of the CPIC processes provide
for greater oversight and evaluation of the investments achieving and/or
addressing intended results by departments' and agencies' Chief
Information Officers. This oversight and understanding allows for
changes in the IT portfolio to address mission
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priorities, consolidation and elimination of redundant investments.
With the Administration's focus on achieving program results, the
department and agencies partner with OMB to identify high-risk projects
(those IT projects requiring special attention from oversight
authorities and/or the highest level of agency management) and report on
the agreed upon list of projects quarterly to OMB. As a result,
oversight authorities and agency management now have available quarterly
data on the progress of these projects to ensure improved execution and
performance. OMB is working with departments and agencies to implement
corrective action plans in cases where a project did not meet one or
more of the four principle criteria. Additional information about high-
risk projects including agency performance for FY07Q1 can be found at:
www.whitehouse.gov/omb/egov/b-1-information.html#io.
When duplication across Federal agencies has been identified, the
Administration has an ongoing process to bring together the appropriate
agencies and help them to consider broad-based approaches to promote
inter-agency data sharing and cooperation in building common solutions,
rather than maintaining separate investments. Upon migration to common,
government-wide solutions, agencies will shut down existing systems--
which will not only save money but also free-up resources for agencies
to better focus on achieving their missions. These inter-agency
taskforces focus on the agency Lines of Business (LoB) rather than a
specific technology or investment. The following are the current LoB
initiatives underway:
Case Management;
Federal Health Architecture;
Financial Management;
Human Resources Management;
Grants Management;
Information System Security;
Budget Formulation and Execution;
IT Infrastructure; and
Geospatial.
The inter-agency taskforces have driven significant accomplishments
for each LoB initiative. The Information System Security (ISS) LoB
evaluated agency proposals to become shared service centers in the areas
of security awareness training and Federal Information Security
Management Act (FISMA) reporting. On the basis of the evaluation and
recommendations, the following agencies were selected to be the initial
shared service centers:
Security Awareness Training:
--Office of Personnel Management
--Department of State/United States Agency for International
Development
--Department of Defense
FISMA Reporting:
--Environmental Protection Agency
--Department of Justice
Accomplishments of this LoB and the remaining LoB initiatives as well
as the next steps are included in Table 9-5, ``Lines of Business (LoB)
Update.''
The Administration continues to leverage government buying power while
reducing redundant purchases through the SmartBUY program. Launched in
June 2003, the SmartBUY program continues to provide increased cost
avoidance savings to federal agencies through new and existing
agreements with commercial software providers. In FY 2006, the Federal
Government has achieved cost avoidance of over $300 million for the
Oracle agreement alone. The SmartBUY Office located at the General
Services Administration (GSA) continues to manage a total of nine
agreements. In December 2006, the Administration established an
agreement with the first of several Antivirus software developers with
projected cost avoidance of as much as $18 million annually compared
with the current best pricing available on GSA schedule and projected
agency buying patterns. SmartBUY will continue to identify and develop
new agreements throughout the year. In particular, SmartBUY will pursue
a multiple award agreement in support of OMB policy memorandum, M-06-16,
``Protection of Sensitive Agency Information,'' which would include data
at rest and remote access.
Government IT Workforce.--With rapid advances in IT, improved program
performance is first and foremost driven by the Federal employees who
manage the IT projects and portfolios. Qualified project managers and an
IT workforce with the necessary skills and competencies help ensure
agency investments are well planned and managed. In 2005, agencies
submitted plans to OMB for closing critical IT skill and competency
gaps. Progress against these plans is measured and included in the
President's Management Agenda Human Capital Scorecard. As of September
30, 2006, out of the 26 scorecard agencies:
17 agencies (65 percent) have met all planned skill or
competency gap closure milestones; and
15 agencies (58 percent) have met or are consistently
meeting their IT hiring targets.
The table below provides a summary of agency progress toward hiring
goals.
Number of
Vacant
Fiscal Year Positions
2006--Total Agencies
Job Area Number of Planned to
Current Fill by the
Positions \1\ End of Fiscal
Year FY 2006
------------------------------------------------------------------------
IT Project Management................... 4,619 600
IT Security............................. 9,030 488
IT Architecture (Enterprise)............ 1,169 180
IT Architecture (Solutions)............. 942 148
-------------------------------
Total................................. 15,760 1,416
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ As of date agencies reported to OMB.
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Agencies have also made progress in assignment of project managers to
major IT investments. As reported by agencies on their FY 2008 Exhibit
53 submissions, 83 percent of major IT investments have qualified
project managers, an increase from approximately 70 percent in agency FY
2007 submissions.
Going forward, agencies are completing a new IT Workforce Assessment
Survey developed and administered by the Chief Information Officers
(CIO) Council. The survey collects information from Federal IT
professionals about the types of work they perform, as well as their
level of proficiency in competencies and skills. The survey also
identifies top training needs; gathers information on the types of
certifications owned by employees; and provides key demographic data.
Using the survey results, agencies will prepare a gap analysis report
and improvement plan. OMB will be working in conjunction with OPM and
the CIO Council to review the survey results as well as the agency plans
to address identified gaps.
Securing Government Systems.--The Federal government continues to
improve information security performance; however, declines in a few
agencies have resulted in a net decrease in overall performance in some
areas. Additionally, aspects of IT security such as securing data on
removable media remain under addressed government-wide. Departments and
agencies progress against their corrective actions plans will be
measured in the President's Management Agenda Expanded Electronic
Government Scorecard. On balance, the majority of agencies continue to
improve or sustain high performance. Agencies report quarterly on their
efforts to address IT security weaknesses against key IT security
performance measures.
The 2006 agency FISMA reports reveal continued progress in the area of
system certification and accreditation. In FY 2006, the percentage of
certified and accredited systems rose from 85 percent to 88 percent,
despite a 3 percent increase in the total system inventory to 10,600
operational systems. A few larger agencies made exceptional progress in
closing the gap on certification and accreditation and testing of
security controls and contingency plans. The State Department and
Department of Homeland security both more than doubled their percentage
of secured systems. Several departments achieved impressive increases in
the percentage of systems with tested security controls and/or
contingency plans, most notably Homeland Security, the Department of
Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Defense, Department of
Energy, Education, and the General Services Administration.
Overall quality of the certification and accreditation processes as
determined by agency Inspectors General (IG) decreased slightly compared
to 2005, with 60 percent of agencies reporting ``satisfactory'' or
better processes. Over 72 percent of agencies can demonstrate they have
an effective process in place for identifying and correcting weaknesses,
a slight decrease from 2005.
The overall security status and progress in percentage of systems,
from FY 2002 to FY 2006, is as follows:
(In Fiscal Years)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Effective Security and Privacy Controls (C&A)................. 47% 62% 77% 85% 88%
Tested Contingency Plans...................................... 35% 48% 57% 61% 88%
Tested Security Controls...................................... 60% 64% 76% 72% 77%
Total Systems Reported........................................ 7,957 7,998 8,623 10,289 10,600
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The number of agencies where the IG has verified the process exists to
remediate IT security weaknesses (Plan of Actions & Milestones):
FY 2002................................ N/A (was not required in until
FY 2003)
FY 2003................................ 12
FY 2004................................ 18
FY 2005................................ 19
FY 2006................................ 18
Government-wide, incremental progress in resolving fundamental IT
security weaknesses has been made in many aspects of information
security; however departments and agencies must continually assess the
risks associated with technological developments and service offerings.
Thus, each year brings new challenges and approaches, and potentially
new measures for performance. 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, 2007, and
will be made available on OMB's website.
Protecting Privacy.--In 2006, several agencies experienced high
profile data security breaches involving personal information. Most
notable of these was the Department of Veterans Affairs, but significant
problems also exist at other departments and agencies. Virtually all of
these incidents resulted from ``internal'' problems within agencies and
not external attacks on agency systems.
To help address this issue, in May 2006, the President signed an
Executive Order creating the Federal Identity Theft Task Force. Several
of the Task Force's interim recommendations address the need to improve
data security in the government, improve the agencies' ability to
respond to data breaches, and reduce the risk to personally identifiable
information.
In this context, OMB has issued four security and privacy policy and
advisory memoranda. These memoranda reemphasize agency responsibilities
under law and policy regarding protection and safeguard of sensitive
personally identifiable information, including information accessed
through removable media, and incident reporting. They are included in
Table 9-2, ``Management Guidance,'' and are available at:
www.whitehouse.gov/OMB/memoranda.
To help ensure safeguard of personally identifiable information,
agencies are required to report on several performance metrics related
to information privacy. Additionally, this year agencies were also
required to provide quantitative performance measures to assess the
privacy of agencies' personally identifiable information. The FY 2006
agency FISMA reports reveal modest suc
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cess in meeting several key privacy performance measures:
Program Oversight. In 2006, the majority of agencies report
having appropriate oversight over their privacy programs in
place. All agencies report having a privacy official who
participates in privacy compliance activities, however, 84
percent report coordinated oversight coordination with the
Office of the Inspector General (OIG). Most agencies report
privacy training for Federal employees and contractors, with
92 percent reporting general privacy training and 84 percent
reporting job-specific privacy training.
Privacy Impact Assessments. In 2006, 82 percent of
applicable systems government-wide have publicly posted
privacy impact assessments verses the goal of 90 percent.
System of Records Notices (SORNs). In 2006, 82 percent of
systems government-wide with personally identifiable
information contained in a system of records covered by the
Privacy Act have developed, published, and maintained current
systems of records notices verses the goal of 90 percent.
Initiative to Secure Federal Information Systems and Facilities.--
Inconsistent agency approaches to facility security and computer
security are inefficient and costly, and increase risks to the Federal
government. On August 27, 2004, the President signed Homeland Security
Presidential Directive (HSPD) 12, ``Policy for a Common Identification
Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors,'' which requires
agencies to implement a mandatory, government-wide standard for secure
and reliable forms of identification for Federal employees and
contractors. In October 2006, agencies met the major milestone of their
HSPD-12 implementation plans which was to begin issuance of compliant
identification cards. During FY2007--FY2008, agencies are required to
complete issuance of these IDs to all applicable employees and
contractors and install infrastructure to use them.
Initiative for Improving Government Networking Capabilities.--In
order for the departments and agencies to overcome technical limitations
arising from this need to interoperate and support emerging requirements
and technologies, the Administration set June 2008 as the date by which
all agencies' infrastructure (network backbones) must be IPv6-capable.
In August 2005, OMB issued guidance to agencies to ensure an orderly and
secure transition from Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) to Version 6
(IPv6). Since the Internet Protocol is core to an agency's IT
infrastructure, in February 2006, the Administration began using the
Enterprise Architecture (EA) Assessment Framework to evaluate agency
IPv6 transition planning and progress. The agencies are responsible for
a series of actions by specific dates. For instance, by June 30, 2006,
agencies were to complete:
--an inventory of existing routers, switches, and hardware
firewalls; and
--an impact analysis of fiscal and operational impacts and
risks.
Agencies are required to submit status reports with their quarterly EA
submissions showing progress against the agency-specific milestones
detailed in their IPv6 transition plans.
To avoid unnecessary costs in the future, agencies are also required
to the maximum extent practicable, to ensure all new IT procurements are
IPv6 compliant. Any exceptions to the use of IPv6 require the agency's
CIO to give advance, written approval. In support of this requirement,
the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will release a
standards profile. The profile will be released for public comment in
January 2007.
Additionally, the President's National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace
directed the Secretary of Commerce to form a task force to examine the
most recent iteration of the Internet Protocol, IP version 6 (IPv6). The
President charged the task force with considering a variety of IPv6-
related issues, ``including the appropriate role of government,
international interoperability, security in transition, and costs and
benefits.'' The task force, co-chaired by the Administrator of the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and
the Director of the NIST, prepared a report discussing the benefits and
impacts of IPv6. This report was published in January 2006.
Making Government Accessible to All.--The efficient, effective, and
appropriately consistent use of Federal agency public websites is
important to promote a more citizen centered government. Federal agency
public websites are information resources funded in whole or in part by
the Federal government and operated by an agency, contractor, or other
organization on behalf of the agency. They present government
information or provide services to the public or a specific non-Federal
user group and support the proper performance of an agency function.
GSA's Office of Citizen Services and Communications manages the
operations of FirstGov.gov and recently upgraded their search capability
and changed its name to USA.gov in order to improve public access to
Federal government information.
An interagency ``web content'' working group, sponsored by GSA,
regularly hosts training for Federal agency webmasters and public
affairs officers. Recent courses provided instructions for making agency
websites more effective and relevant to popular search engines.
Additionally, a web content working group maintains www.webcontent.gov,
conducts interagency meetings to assist agencies in managing their
websites, and exchanges best practices among other agencies. These
activities support agency efforts to provide access to and dissemination
of government information to the public. GSA plans to complete the
online tutorial by April 2007. This service will complement other
services at USA.gov and elsewhere to aid the public in locating
government information.
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SUCCESSFULLY USING ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT
The departments and agencies continue to leverage information
technologies to make government services available to citizens while
ensuring security of those systems, the privacy of the citizen
information and the prudent use of taxpayer money. E-Government is about
providing direct and measurable results supporting departments' and
agencies' mission and goals. For departments and agencies, the benefits
will far outweigh the cost of implementation. Increased agency adoption
and customer utilization will become the primary measures of success.
The expanded availability of government information and the utilization
of an increased percentage of transactions between the Federal
government and citizens will be measured, where appropriate and made
available on line at www.egov.gov.
Examples of how the tenets of E-Government are helping to deliver
services to the citizen and make the government more effective include:
Department of Commerce. The Online Positioning User Service (OPUS)
transforms how users of global positioning systems obtain highly
accurate geographic coordinates and elevation data (see:
www.ngs.noaa.gov/OPUS/). The system allows users, such as professional
surveyors, to electronically submit geospatial information via the
Internet to the Department, where data are processed to determine
corresponding three-dimensional positional coordinates. As a result, the
Department is able to provide access to and disseminate more accurate
and quality geospatial information to the public. For example,
construction, transportation, and mapping industries reduce surveying
time and costs (estimated $270 million cost savings to the public) of
creating specific maps and other products needed to operate their
business to a fraction of those previously reported.
User forums and workshops to obtain feedback are held regularly across
the country, and usage of the system has grown from 1,000 data
submissions per month in 2002, to over 13,000 per month in 2006.
Extensive interaction between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and system users takes place during these
sessions, and NOAA is currently identifying and surveying
representatives from individual counties to ensure their diverse needs
are being met. Additionally, users can complete an online survey to
provide the Department comments and suggestions on how to improve the
system and related positioning products and services. OPUS users include
more than 175 organizations, including other Federal agencies, state and
local governments, universities, the private sector, foreign
governments, and others who share the goal of making more accurate
positioning available worldwide. Users without Internet access and those
with disabilities can mail their GPS observations to NOAA on a compact
disk and receive the results back via the same mechanism on a
prearranged basis.
U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service (APHIS) launched its new electronic permitting system
(ePermits) on April 3, 2006. The system allows customers to apply for a
permit, check its status, and view it online. The ability to submit
applications and receive permits via the Internet and in some cases the
ability to pay applicable permit application fees online, saves
customers and APHIS the time and effort associated with the paper-based
process. Additional information on system features can be found on the
Web site at www.aphis.usda.gov/permits/.
To successfully implement the system, USDA demonstrated a desire to
team with customers, state officials, and peer agencies by facilitating
outreach sessions and customer tests. USDA continues to maintain ongoing
dialogue with system developers, users, partners, and stakeholders to
plan and implement additional features. Customers without Internet
access at their facility can still use the paper permit application
process and USDA developed the system to be compliant with Section 508
of The Rehabilitation Act of 1998.
Previously, the permit processing workload was growing to become
unmanageable with current staff and resources. By eliminating the cost
of processing paper and automating the system, more efficiency will
result, with benefits to the Federal Government, state governments, and
the general public estimated at $1.2 million per year in the first full
year of operating the system. APHIS estimated that when the system is
fully deployed it will cut in half the time it takes to process
applications to import enterable plants and timber when the applications
are entered online. In addition, the system will make it more difficult
to tamper with a permit because the system provides immediate access to
information relating to applications and permits
The Administration continues the focus of the department and agency
specific services movement to citizen-centered services. Overall funding
for the President's E-Government initiatives has reduced annually since
Fiscal Year 2004 as the initiatives have met their milestones and have
become incorporated into the daily operations of Federal departments and
agencies. This reduction has come as result of moving the initiatives to
fee-for-service models where appropriate, thereby eliminating the need
for agency contributions. Table 9-4, ``Status of the Presidential E-
Government Initiatives,'' included on the CD-ROM, provides an update for
each project.
CONTINUING TO ACHIEVE RESULTS
The Administration will continue to use the Federal Enterprise
Architecture data for business analysis to focus our efforts to direct
information technology investments to improve service delivery to
citizens and other
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entities. The Administration will continue to improve performance and
achieve results by continuing our efforts in linking IT investments to
program performance as demonstrated by the analytical tool called the
Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART).
In 2008 and beyond, the Federal government will continue to identify
IT opportunities for collaboration and consolidation while improving
services. Although the Federal government continues to improve, much
more work is needed to better serve the citizen. Through the PMA, the
Clinger-Cohen Act, the E-Government Act, FISMA, budget guidance and
other management tools, the Federal government has the ability to be the
best manager, innovator and user of information, services and
information systems in the world. The Federal Government has huge
potential and opportunities for growth and to ensure program success and
results through the effective use of information technology. Each
department and agency will leverage existing capabilities to the maximum
potential while ensuring reliability, security, privacy and continuity
of services. The institution of the management practices within each
department and agency and throughout the government will ensure these
results.