Few agencies get technology boosts in Bush budget

Despite claims by the White House that its fiscal 2002 budget proposal aims to move government online, a look at the budget shows that not all agencies received a boost in funding for their internal information technology systems.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) did not include IT funding in its fiscal 2002 budget request, but the Bush proposal highlights a future plan to do so. According to NSF, it will develop a five-year strategic plan for its workforce and IT needs in time for the fiscal 2003 budget.

The Federal Communications Commission said it requested about $11 million for IT infrastructure as "mandatory" because much of its network and application infrastructure hardware is beyond recommended lifecycles. Its total budget for IT would be same as last year, at $36 million.

The State Department budgeted $210 million for IT investments aimed at improving information sharing among agencies in the foreign affairs community and modernizing secure communications capabilities, according to the Bush budget. The funds also would help with planning and construction of diplomatic and consular facilities, it said.

The Labor Department has budgeted a jump from $37 million in fiscal 2001 to $80 million next year for IT activities, according to the budget appendix. That figure would include a fund managed by the chief information officer for IT investments within the department.

The Treasury Department would get an 8.6 percent increase in its IT budget, bringing it to $3 million. The budget includes calls for investments in Customs Service automation and IRS modernization. The IRS oversight board has criticized as insufficient the amount for its IT modernization.

The Commerce Department's $945 million for IT projects in fiscal 2002 would be $82 million less than the $1.027 billion it received in fiscal 2001, according to a budget breakout by the White House Office of Management and Budget. One difference for Commerce over recent years is that it would not budget as much for the 10-year census count next year.

Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis is building a new IT architecture, reengineering the local area network to improve accuracy, timeliness and accessibility of data, the budget appendix said. The OMB breakout shows a request of $8 million.

For the Bureau of Export Administration, also part of Commerce, the OMB breakout shows that spending on IT related to export controls would increase from $4 million to $5 million. Another line item shows an increase of $1 million to $2 million for the bureau's communications infrastructure.

According to the appendix, the budget for the General Services Administration (GSA) harbors a government-wide IT fund that would grow from just shy of $6 billion in fiscal 2001 to $6.3 billion in fiscal 2002. The IT fund provides reimbursement for improvements in network services and long-distance telecommunications services through Sprint and WorldCom.

The GSA fund also provides for local and regional telecom services, the Federal Learning Technology Center, the Center for IT Outsourcing, the Center for Smart Card Solutions and the Center for Information Security Services.