OMB praises agencies' e-gov progress
While only two federal agencies have fully met the Bush administration's strategic goals for electronic government, the Office of Management and Budget gave a generally positive e-gov review in a report to Congress released Tuesday.
The National Science Foundation and the Office of Personnel Management met all the designated standards for success, and the majority of agencies surveyed made substantial headway on their e-gov efforts, according to the OMB report. The report is based on information provided to OMB by individual agencies in December 2003.
In April 2003, OMB laid out a two-year strategy and several targets for the e-gov program, including focusing information technology funding on modernization efforts, keeping major IT projects within 10 percent of their cost and scheduling projections, certifying IT systems, producing tangible returns on e-government initiatives and reducing redundant IT spending.
Of the 26 agencies surveyed, "19 demonstrated solid progress implementing plans and meeting milestones to achieve the standards of success," OMB reported.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., author of the 2002 E-Government Act and a member of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, said the report would provide "a useful framework for congressional oversight." In a statement released Tuesday, Lieberman praised the efforts made by OMB's Office of Electronic Government.
"The report represents an important milestone in the progress made as a result of the E-Government Act," Lieberman said. He added, however, that agencies must improve their information sharing.
"The E-Government Act's ambitious requirements regarding the dissemination of information for the public," Lieberman said, "will require additional work by federal agencies and effective leadership by the administrator of the Office of Electronic Government."
In its report, OMB lauded the Energy Department for integrating its management systems into one unit, called I-MANAGE. The report took note of OPM's USAJOBS Web site, which draws an average of 200,000 visitors a day seeking federal government jobs.
OMB also cited the governmentwide strengthening of e-government privacy protections and praised regulatory agencies for moving toward placing their dockets online.