House panel creates Office of Electronic Government

A bipartisan compromise bill creating a new Office of Electronic Government within the Office of Management and Budget won quick approval Tuesday from a House Government Reform subcommittee.

The Electronic Government Act of 2002 (H.R. 2458), which the Technology and Procurement Policy Subcommittee passed by voice vote, aims to improve coordination and deployment of information technology across the federal government, and help agencies to achieve the IT management reforms required under the 1996 Clinger-Cohen Act.

"In the wake of the Clinger-Cohen Act, it has become readily apparent that the lack of a centralized focus on information management has significantly harmed the government's capability to manage information technology [and] information security, and develop effective business plans for acquisition of IT products and services," said Subcommittee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va.

Davis said the proposed "e-gov" office is based largely on the administrative structure established in June 2001, when Mark Forman was appointed associate director of OMB for Information Technology and Electronic Government.

"While I have strong reservations about creating an office of e-government without appropriately addressing the functions of that office in the context of the [1995] Paperwork Reduction Act and the existing Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at OMB, the urgency for Congress to signal that e-government is a top priority for federal agencies is crucial," Davis said.

As introduced by the ranking Democrat, Rep. Jim Turner of Texas, the legislation called for a Senate-confirmed federal chief information officer to be appointed within OMB. But Davis unveiled a bipartisan substitute Tuesday that calls for an "e-gov administrator" instead of a new federal CIO.

The substitute also includes a provision based on Davis' Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), H.R. 3844. That legislation would reauthorize the Government Information Security Reform Act (GISRA) of 2000, and would allow OMB to develop performance-based standards to protect federal information security systems. "This legislation will force the federal government to more effectively address pervasive information security weaknesses," Davis said of the FISMA provision.

Turner supported the substitute, but he opposed another amendment by Davis that would allow the e-gov administrator to be appointed without Senate confirmation, as Forman was.

Davis said his amendment would recognize OMB's deputy director of management-an existing, Senate-confirmed position-as the federal CIO who would delegate some of his authorities to the e-gov administrator. "It does not make any significant structural changes to OMB's operations," Davis said. "In the absence of that type of change, I do not believe Senate confirmation is necessary."

Despite objections from Turner, Davis' amendment passed by voice vote. But Davis said lawmakers would revisit the issue of whether the e-gov administrator should be Senate-confirmed next year, when Congress reauthorizes the Paperwork Reduction Act.

The panel also adopted, by voice vote, a Davis amendment creating an exchange program that would allow federal agencies and private sector companies to "exchange" mid-level information technology managers for one-year assignments with an optional one-year extension. That amendment is identical to Davis' Digital Tech Corps Act, H.R. 3925, which the House approved last April.

Another Davis amendment would authorize the government-wide use of "share-in-savings" contracts. Under such an arrangement, a federal agency could obtain a product or service from a contractor without paying large up-front costs. Rather, the agency would agree to pay the contractor a certain percentage of whatever savings are achieved over a five-year period by using the new product or service.

"These contracts represent an innovative approach to encourage industry to share creative technology and management solutions with the government," Davis said. "Through these contracts, agencies can lower their costs and improve service delivery without large up-front investments as the contractor provides the technology and is compensated by receiving a portion of savings achieved."

Turner opposed that amendment, calling share-in-savings contracts an "untried and unproven" practice. He noted that the Clinger-Cohen law allows federal agencies to take part in share-in-savings pilot projects, but very few such contracts have been awarded. "It's a very complicated contracting procedure," Turner said. Nevertheless, Davis' amendment passed by voice vote.