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Office of Management and Budget
News Release

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 27, 2002
2002-11

New E-Government Strategy is Roadmap to Better Service
24 New Initiatives Help Millions Who Access the Government Online

Washington, DC -- The Office of Management and Budget released today the E-Government Strategy, an action plan for implementing the President’s management initiative of expanding Electronic Government to make it easy for citizens and businesses interact with the government, save taxpayer dollars and streamline business to government transactions. The 24 E-Government initiatives, detailed within the strategy, are designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal government’s transactions through the use of improved technology. These E-Government initiatives will eliminate redundant systems, and significantly improve the government’s quality of service for citizens and businesses.

 

Office of Management and Budget Director, Mitch Daniels, explained, "One of the President’s five management initiatives is to apply the tools of E-Business to create ‘E-Government’: to make it much easier for citizens to work with their government, to pay their taxes, to book a trip to a national park, to apply for grants or even to learn if they're eligible in the first place, and much more. This is what the President meant by ‘citizen-centered’ government."

 

The initiatives streamline service delivery to citizens, reduce paperwork burdens on businesses, and apply the best commercial practices to improve government operating efficiency. These projects have the potential to generate several billion dollars in savings by reducing operating inefficiencies, redundant spending and excessive paperwork. Federal information technology (IT) spending in the United States will exceed $48 billion in 2002 and $52 billion in 2003. This level of spending provides enormous opportunities for the federal government to become citizen-centered through the use of E-Government. Examples of the 24 E-Government initiatives include:

 

  • E-Grants: Creates a single grant portal to simplify the application process and increase awareness of grant opportunities resulting in a reduction of time spent preparing and searching for grants. It will save $1 billion in federal funds currently devoted to the administration of grants.
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  • Disaster Assistance and Crisis Response: Creates a one-stop portal with information applicable to public and private organizations involved in disaster preparedness and response. Accurate and timely data may result in saved lives and reduction of property damage, as well as saving millions of dollars by eliminating redundant programs and agency costs.
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  • EZ Tax Filing: Creates an easy and free method for citizens to file simple tax forms online, which reduces data errors, enabling refund checks to be delivered sooner. Online security will be increased and customer service will be improved.
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The E-Government Strategy can be found on OMB’s Website at:

www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg/egovstrategy [PDF]

 

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