As one of the five E-Government Portfolios, the Internal Efficiency and Effectiveness (IEE) portfolio has continued to create a more efficient and effective Federal Government. Through reductions in unnecessarily duplicative systems and increased cross agency partnerships, the IEE portfolio creates opportunities within the government for streamlining and standardization of existing agency processes and information technology (IT) investments. The Human Resources Management Line of Business (HR LOB) and the SmartBUY (Software Managed and Acquired on the Right Terms) initiatives have also made great strides in creating efficiency within the government.

Through the establishment of Shared Service Centers (SSCs), the HR LOB provides core common functionality to support the strategic management of Human Capital. On May 21st, the HR LOB released a solicitation for private sector SSCs in response to agencies' expressed interests in evaluating Human Resources Management IT systems available from the private sector. Having these systems available on the General Services Administration (GSA) Schedules contract ensures agencies will be able to procure a system that meets their functional requirements and implements the government wide functionality standards developed by the HR LOB.

The SmartBUY initiative supports effective software management through the aggregate buying of commercial software government wide in an effort to achieve bulk savings, standardization, and improved configuration management and security. Recently, the Federal Government awarded contracts to twelve vendors for encryption software to protect sensitive, unclassified data on government laptops, other mobile computing devices, and removable storage devices. As part of an historic cooperative purchasing agreement, the Federal Government is inviting State and local governments to purchase the software at the reduced, volume-pricing rates it has negotiated with vendors, helping to increase transparency and efficiency across all government.

Recent Results in the Expanding Electronic Government Initiative:

IT Privacy and Security
Quarterly performance updates continue to work toward achieving the IT security goals of the E-Gov Scorecard and implementing the privacy provisions of E-Gov Act and the Privacy Act. Currently, approximately 84% of agency systems have identified and validated the effectiveness of security controls - a process called certification and accreditation (C&A). Presently, 74% of applicable systems are covered by a complete and current Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) and 80% of applicable systems have a current System of Records Notice (SORN) published in the Federal Register.

Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA)
In June 2007, OMB released guidance for agencies to develop quarterly EA milestones and to start reporting progress against them beginning June 1. Also in June, OMB released an update to the FEA Practice Guidance which includes a new section ("Measuring EA Program Value") on how agencies can use feedback from EA stakeholders, and other value measures, to increase the effectiveness of EA in supporting business decisions. In July 2007, OMB released version 2.2 of the Consolidated Reference Model (CRM), including updated versions of the FEA Reference Models. In conjunction with the CRM Version 2.2 document, OMB is also releasing a companion document highlighting the changes to the FEA Reference Models reflected in CRM Version 2.2. Additionally, an updated XML document and schema for the FEA reference models (complete with updated codes for the BRM and SRM mappings) is also being released to provide agencies with the detailed content of the FEA Reference Models reflected in the CRM Version 2.2. CRM Version 2.2 is to be used by agencies for the FY09 budget formulation process and enterprise architecture development. OMB continues to provide ongoing architecture guidance to the E-Gov Lines of Business task forces (including Geospatial, Budget Formulation & Execution, and IT Infrastructure Optimization). OMB also continues to provide guidance to agencies on their transition towards implementing Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6).

Grants.gov
Grants.gov is the Federal Government's single website providing information on over 1000 grant programs - representing more than $450 billion dollars awarded by the 26 grant-making agencies and other Federal grant-making organizations. The initiative enables Federal agencies to publish grant funding opportunities and application packages online while allowing the grant community (state, local, and tribal governments, education and research organizations, non-profit organizations, public housing agencies, and individuals), which includes over 1 million organizations, to search for opportunities and download, complete, and electronically submit applications. Grants.gov supports electronic applications that can be downloaded to any computer and provides online user support tools and personalized assistance from a dedicated customer support team. The result is a simplified and effective environment for the grant community to find and apply for all competitive discretionary grants.

As of Q1FY07, grant making agencies are posting all competitive discretionary grant application packages on Grants.gov to match posted opportunities. Many agencies are posting mandatory grant application packages on Grants.gov as well. Grants.gov has continued to achieve tremendous growth and received more than 90,000 submissions by the end of September 2006, exceeding the FY 2006 goal of 45,000 submissions. Grants.gov has received over 150,000 electronic grant applications for fiscal year 2007, far exceeding the program goal of 130,000 for the fiscal year. This illustrates the community support of Grants.gov for finding and applying for Federal grants, and demonstrates how Grants.gov eliminates the need for grant seekers to learn and comply with multiple agency systems and requirements.

IT Infrastructure Optimization LOB
IT Infrastructure Optimization (IOI) LOB was approved for continuation in the President's Budget, released in February 2007. A solicitation was issued to contract for development of service level and cost efficiency metrics based on benchmarking with private industry. The Managing Partner, GSA, established a governance framework that includes an Executive Steering Committee (ESC), an Agency Advisory Group (AAG), a Change Control Board, and a Program Performance Measurement Office (PPMO). Twenty three Department/Agency CIOs signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to support and fund the IOI PPMO to implement the Common Solution developed by the task force in summer of 2006. The initial set of metrics, for end user systems and support, will be published in 4th quarter FY07, followed by the remaining sets of metrics for data center and telecommunication systems and support in FY08. The first baseline data will be developed in 1st quarter FY08, and the first full set of performance data against the metrics will be available at the beginning of FY09.

Financial Management LOB
The Financial Management Line of Business (FM LOB) developed standard performance metrics that met an important milestone in moving from a planning to implementation phase, with 23 of the largest Federal agencies reporting their data in June 2007. These measures will be used to improve Federal financial operations. Significant progress has been made on the development of uniform core business processes that will dramatically reduce unnecessary and costly differences in Federal financial systems. Public drafts issued this spring on two financial processes, funds control and payments, yielded important comments from industry and agencies. When these documents are published, a critical milestone in the standardization of financial business processes across the Federal Government will have been achieved. The common government wide accounting classification (CGAC) structure is now in the final stage of publication. The implementation of CGAC structure will provide consistency in the definition and use of data elements across the Federal government, eliminate redundancies and drive uniformity in financial data across the Federal government to support better decisions and transparency.