[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 45 (Tuesday, April 11, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E528-E529]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        INTRODUCTION OF THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE DIGITAL ACCESS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 11, 2000

  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, with the Government's increasing 
dependence on information technology to accomplish agency goals, and at 
the fast pace with which technology is changing, the Government is 
finding it difficult to hire, train, and retain a technology literate 
workforce. The ability to use computers and the Internet has become 
indispensable to employees' education, career, social, and cultural 
advancement. Technology literacy has become not only a basic job 
requirement, but also a basic life skill.
  Economists and policymakers have highlighted an acceleration in the 
growth of productivity, which measures worker output per hour, as a key 
reason the economy has performed so well in recent years. Economists 
have attributed the rise in productivity to better management, and to a 
wave of business investment that has allowed firms to take advantage of 
major technological advances, particularly in computing and information 
processing. The Government is no exception.
  Last month, David Walker, Comptroller General for the General 
Accounting Office (GAO), testified before the Senate Government Affairs 
Committee on ``Managing Human Capital in the 21st Century.'' He stated, 
and I quote:
  ``One of the principal strategies that agencies have used to deliver 
services with fewer staff has been an increased reliance on information 
technology. However, the agencies' ability to make the most of this 
strategy could be jeopardized by the competitive disadvantage they 
report facing in hiring and retraining skilled information technology 
staff.''
  He went on to say that if the government does not improve its human 
resource systems, in this regard, it will earn GAO's high risk 
designation in 2001. The Federal Times, a federal employees newspaper, 
recently reported that federal agencies are facing skills gaps, 
particularly in the area of technology, and are facing the potential 
loss of 30 percent of their employees within five years.
  Which the advent of the Information Age, the need for technologically 
skilled people is escalating. Meanwhile, the number of skilled American 
high technology workers has declined. This comes at a time when efforts 
are underway to create an e-Government. E-Government is the widespread 
application of information and communications technology to deliver 
government services--fostering digital government.
  Filing your income taxes on-line is just the beginning. In e-
Government, citizens can log onto one Internet site, easily find the 
government services they are looking for, and use that site to conduct 
online transactions; businesses can fill out one Internet form for all 
their local, state and federal environmental regulatory compliance 
requirements and government officials can make all purchases and 
payments electronically, saving millions of dollars. To support e-
Government, you must have an e-workforce.
  In response to an increasingly competitive job market, federal 
agencies will need tools and flexibilities to attract, hire, and retain 
technologically savvy talent. The work that federal

[[Page E529]]

agencies do requires a workforce that is sophisticated in new 
technologies, flexible, and open to continuous learning. The present 
federal workforce is aging. The baby boomers, with their valuable 
skills and experience, are drawing nearer to retirement and will be 
replaced by new employees who have different employment options and 
different career expectations from the generation that preceded them.
  These new employees place a great premium on opportunities to learn, 
a work life personal life balance, independence and creativity, and 
flexible work arrangements. The relative security offered by federal 
jobs is no longer an important factor for many Generation X'ers who 
expect to change jobs frequently to learn new skills, earn a higher 
salary, and make a variety of contributions.
  Continuing education and training is critical in today's marketplace, 
where job skills are changing rapidly and global competition demands 
world-class and ever-improving productivity. The federal Government 
must equip its employees with the skills and knowledge required of a 
high performance workforce. The Federal Workforce Digital Access Act 
allows the Government to take steps to do just that.
  The Federal Workforce Digital Access Act (FWDA) provides that 
permanent employees in the executive, legislative, and judicial 
branches of the federal Government, who complete one year of 
employment, will be eligible to receive a computer, and Internet 
service at home at no charge. The benefit provides that federal 
agencies make use of, primarily, Internet Based Training (IBT) and on-
site training to enhance the technological skills of their employees. 
The benefit provided for under the FWDA is called the ``digital access 
benefit.'' The employee has the option of declining the digital access 
benefit package or choosing Internet service only.
  In order to promote greater technological proficiency within the 
Government's workforce, the General Services Administration (GSA) and 
the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will work together to 
establish and operate the digital access benefit program. GSA will be 
responsible for negotiating the digital access benefit contract. OPM 
will be responsible for general oversight of the program. To evaluate 
the program's operation, agencies will submit a report to the Office of 
Management and Budget on cost efficiencies, organizational performance, 
increased productivity, and training opportunities realized from the 
implementation of the Act. The report, which must be submitted to 
Congress in the fourth year of the program's operation, will help 
Congress assess whether the program should be reauthorized.
  Agencies will be appropriated the funds to execute the Act and will 
deposit those funds in the Employees' Digital Access Fund. The Fund is 
available for all payments for goods and services under the Act, 
including GSA's and OPM's administrative costs.
  FWDA is an imperative for those Federal employees across the country 
who work in mail rooms or who serve in the field as law enforcement 
officers, who have limited contact with a computer. It is also an 
imperative for those employees who daily underutilize computers by 
using them for simple word processing and e-mail functions. Providing 
federal employees with computers at home will expose employees to 
computer technology on a daily basis and IBT will broaden their 
knowledge and application of new technologies.
  Internet or web-based delivery of educational content, supplemented 
by numerous online tools, is an inexpensive, flexible and convenient 
way to empower Federal employees to become technologically proficient. 
IBT provides a hands-on approach to technology education. It permits 
employees to access content from inside and outside brick and mortar 
training facilities, to learn at their own pace, view video and other 
visual explanation of technology, and allows them to test themselves 
online to assess comprehension and retention. IBT takes the fear and 
intimidation out of learning new and emerging technologies. The result 
is a technologically savvy and creative employee that can not only 
support e-Government, but can help to create and develop it.
  The FWDA gives the Federal government and its future and current 
workforce, the tools it needs to better serve the citizenry and be a 
leader in a knowledge-based economy.

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