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The Five Initatives
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EXPANDED ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT
The 2003 E-Gov Strategy
The E-Government Initiatives continue to improve the delivery of government services to the citizen. The projects are providing higher quality information often at a lower cost to the government and are allowing citizens to choose how and when to access information and transact business. Recent achievements of note include:
- IRS Free Filing: In the 2003 tax season, over 2.73 million citizens used this service to file their taxes on-line for free.
- E-Rulemaking: Regulations.gov is estimated to save $94 million over its lifecycle by creating a single system supporting the rulemaking process. Since its launch on January 23, 2003, the site has had over 2.6 million hits.
- GovBenefits.gov: The web site now provides one-stop access to information and services for over 400 government programs representing more than $2 trillion in annual benefits. GovBenefits.gov receives over 500,000 visitors per month and is listed as one of USA Today’s “Hot Sites.”
While much progress has been made, challenges still remain. In early 2003, the current E-Government project managers met with members of the 2001 E-Government Quicksilver Task Force that identified the PMA E-Government Initiatives in 2001. The group shared a number of insights about issues facing the E-Government Initiatives. None involved technological barriers – they centered around behavioral or policy changes needed, such as leadership support, parochialism, funding, and communication. In this regard, we are our own worst enemy in making progress.
Another challenge in 2003 will be to ensure that agencies aren’t employing their own unique E-Gov initiatives, when participating in cross-agency E-Gov solutions would further reduce costs and, most importantly, serve citizens more effectively. Several initiatives, such as E-Payroll, have made significant progress in developing joint, government-wide solutions. However, most efforts last year only focused on developing cross-agency solutions that simplify and unify federal IT activities. Executing a plan to implement these solutions will be a primary focus of the initiatives in 2003.
The 2003 E-Gov Strategy (/omb/egov/2003egov_strat.pdf), released April 17, 2003, addresses these challenges, offering further guidance on the implementation of the President’s E-Gov Initiatives. The strategy outlines these key priorities for 2003 and 2004:
- Driving results and productivity growth: IT and management reform investments that maximize value that E-Gov initiatives provide to the citizen, especially in the areas of homeland security information sharing and knowledge flow;
- Improving cyber security: Desktop, data, applications, and networks. Ensure continuity of operations, as well as protection of privacy; and
- Controlling IT costs: Consolidating redundant and overlapping investments, utilizing enterprise licensing, and reducing cost overruns and excess IT service charges;
- Implementing the E-Government Act of 2002: Developing government-wide architecture governance and web-based strategies that assess and address the threat to, and vulnerability of, high quality information and services;
- Building an effective IT workforce: Obtaining needed project management.
Further information on the E-Gov Strategy, the E-Government Initiatives, and other E-Gov topics of interest can be found at the recently re-launched www.egov.gov web site. The web site is an up-to-date, public source of information about the E-Gov project and portfolio plans and their accomplishments.
Sincerely,
Mark Forman
The Five Initatives:
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