OMB sketches business model for federal technology systems

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is progressing with its plans to revamp federal technology systems along six general "lines of business," according to Mark Forman, the office's e-government and information technology administrator.

Forman told the House Government Reform Technology Subcommittee on Tuesday that overhauling the government's IT infrastructure is expected to be a long-term, multi-billion-dollar operation, with OMB planning to spend $25 billion through fiscal 2008.

The six major government practices are criminal investigations, health monitoring, financial management, human resources, data and statistics, and monetary benefits. OMB settled on those lines last month and expects to complete the "business cases" for them by October.

The overhaul is designed to eliminate isolated networks that are incompatible with other computer systems performing different functions in the same agencies or across agency lines. Subcommittee Chairman Adam Putnam, R-Fla., said government agencies have created thousands of such systems that must be replaced, noting that the Navy alone has 200 different financial systems and more than 50,000 systems total.

In his opening statement, Putnam said reorganizing government IT systems would significantly boost network security in the federal government. He also praised the new "SmartBuy" software-licensing initiative that creates large discounts for the government.

"It is becoming more evident every day that these various pieces of IT spending must be considered as a package," Putnam said. The old framework of stand-alone networks "only further exacerbates our cybersecurity challenges and increases software costs."

A second panel of government technology contractors described the unique challenges and opportunities of building systems for federal agencies.

PeopleSoft CEO Craig Conway noted that the federal government has departed in recent years from the large, complex and customized systems of the past and now is taking advantage of the Internet and new applications. "E-government initiatives have been among the most impressive applications of technology in the past 10 years," he said.

Oracle Senior Vice President Kevin Fitzgerald said the move of the U.S. government, the largest commercial software buyer, to a licensing system would "change the software marketplace for the better overnight."

BearingPoint Executive Vice President S. Daniel Johnson said the government could improve its IT purchasing by better linking the capital planning and acquisition process to fully support agency needs. Federal Sector Computer Sciences Corp. President Paul Confi reiterated that view "A theme I keep repeating ... is that the blueprint must first be business-focused," he said.

On a separate note, the Homeland Security Department awarded Microsoft a five-year, $110 million contract to provide desktop and network-server software. The new agreement involves installing the software programs Microsoft Office XP, Project, Visio and InfoPath on 140,000 desktop Dell computers for the department.

The license covers any agency in the department not currently using the software and includes software updates, support, tools and training. Microsoft announced that the department received a significant discount because of the five-year timeframe of the deal and number of licenses.