Administration to develop 24 e-government projects

The Office of Management and Budget on Thursday announced 24 technology projects it will fund over the next three years to maximize efficiency and improve customer service to citizens and businesses. The E-Government Task Force that OMB created in August chose the projects after reviewing more than 260 ideas. The costs of the 24 selected projects will be paid for from an interagency e-government fund proposed in the President's budget. In their respective versions of the Treasury-Postal spending bill, the House and the Senate both provided $5 million in funding for the project in the next fiscal year. The President had requested $100 million for the e-government fund.

"With these reforms, citizens will be able to demand and expect the same level of IT quality from their government that the private sector provides its customers," OMB Director Mitch Daniels said in a statement.

In a July interview with Government Executive, Mark Forman, OMB's associate director for information technology and e-government and head of the E-government Task Force, said the administration had tried to identify "high payoff" e-government projects that will fill performance gaps at individual agencies.

"I look forward to working with agencies in a partnership approach to reduce redundancy and improve citizens' return on investment," Forman said. The e-government initiative is part of the President's five-point management agenda.

The e-government projects fall into four categories: individual citizens, businesses, internal government affairs and internal government efficiency and effectiveness programs. The government efficiency ideas will be aimed at reducing administrative costs through the use of best practices in such areas as financial management, supply chain management and knowledge management.

These are the projects selected and the agencies that will manage them: