IT fund biggest budget priority for GSA

Funding for information technology at the General Services Administration may surpass funding for public building services for the first time, according to the president's fiscal 2004 budget request.

The $20.2 billion budget request includes $8 billion for the IT fund, which finances the agency's Federal Technology Service. FTS provides telecommunications and IT services to federal agencies. Another $6.8 billion is earmarked for construction, rental, operations, repairs and renovations to existing federal buildings.

"Our strategic goals served as the bedrock for our budgeting process," Debi Schilling, GSA's budget director, said Tuesday during a briefing at the agency. "We crafted performance goals to meet our strategic goals and that led to our budget proposal," she said describing how GSA prepared its proposal for OMB's review.

More than $400 million of the budget request for GSA would go for new construction projects, including eight Border Patrol stations, an FBI building in Houston and a Census Bureau building in Suitland, Md.

To pay for interagency e-government initiatives, the budget sets aside $45 million in the request for GSA. GSA officials said agencies would have to submit proposals to the Office of Management and Budget to use those funds. The budget request for e-gov initiatives has grown in the past two years, partly due to the inclusion of the e-gov measure in the president's management agenda. In December President Bush signed into law a measure that authorizes $345 million over four years to fund interagency technology initiatives.

The budget commits more than $7 million to help GSA develop enterprise architecture systems, create an XML registry that agencies can use to share data and business processes, and move its online travel management system forward. According to John Sindelar, GSA's deputy associate administrator for the Office of Governmentwide Policy, some agencies will begin using the new travel and vouchers system by the end of 2003. All agencies should be using the system by December 2004.

"We've had good cooperation from agencies with this initiative," Sindelar said.

Another $11 million in the budget proposal is earmarked to help agencies better deliver services to citizens through online ventures, as well as provide a repository for acquisition support services.

Much of GSA's multibillion dollar budget is generated through reimbursements to revolving funds from customers who purchase goods and services or rent space from the agency.