Consulting group joins call for federal CIO

The Gartner Group, a business and technology consulting firm, on Monday called on President Bush to speed up e-government initiatives and to appoint a federal chief information officer.

The group also recommended that the administration support increased privacy protections, replace old voting technologies and form a clearinghouse for communities to attract tech companies.

The recommendations were based on the following predictions by the group:

• Through 2004, more than 50 percent of e-government initiatives worldwide will fail.
• Streamlining services will eliminate one-third of federal government programs by 2008.
• From 2003 to 2008, Internet business transactions will be taxed.
• By 2005, most countries will accept Net-enabled surveillance, monitoring and law enforcement.
• From 2008 to 2020, new parties or political coalitions will receive 30 percent or more of the vote in U.S. presidential elections.

"It is not our intention to delve deeply into the government's strategic transformation, but rather to consider that transformation is inevitable," Gartner's memo said.