White House officially launches e-gov office

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced on Thursday that it has officially opened a new e-government office as required under a bill signed into law last November.

The law took effect on Thursday. Mark Forman, OMB's e-government expert, also has changed titles-from associate director to administrator of e-government and information technology.

Forman told reporters that implementation of the law means that the secretaries of federal departments now must comply with OMB e-government guidance and regulations.

The measure also authorized funds for interagency e-government projects. Congress only allocated $5 million for that work in fiscal 2003, not the $45 million OMB had requested. Less funding simply means that "we can't move as fast as we like to," Forman said.

Additionally, Forman said OMB is tweaking its e-government strategy to include more statistics in the federal budget on e-government initiatives.