The President's Management Agenda for Fiscal Year 2002 includes E-Government as one of the Administration’s top five governmentwide management initiatives. The Administration proposes to advance E-Government strategy by supporting projects that offer performance gains across agency boundaries, such as e-procurement, e-grants, e-regulation, and e-signatures. The Administration will manage E-Government projects more effectively by using the budget process to insist on more effective planning of IT investments by government agencies.

The President's Management Agenda directed a task force of agency personnel in coordination with OMB and the President's Management Council to identify E-Government projects that can deliver significant productivity and performance gains across government. The task force came up with the following E-Government initiatives.

Government to Citizen
Gov.Benefits
OnLine Access for Loans
USA Services
EZ Tax Filing
Recreation One Stop
 

Government to Business
Online Rulemaking Management
Expanding Electronic Tax Products for Business
Federal Asset Sales
International Trade Process Streamlining
One-Stop Business Compliance Information
Consolidated Health Informatics
 

Government to Government
Geospatial Information One-Stop
e-Grants
Disaster Assistance and Crisis Response
Wireless Public Safety Interoperable Communication Project
e-Vital
e-Training
Recruitment One-Stop
Enterprise HR Integrations
e-Travel
e-Clearance
e-Payroll
Integrated Acquisition Environment
Electronic Records Management
 

To learn more about these initiatives, visit http://egov.gov/ Also visit GSA's Office of Electronic Government and Technology.

Congress has enacted the following E-Government laws: the E-Government Act of 2002, the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement, and the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA).

E-Government Act of 2002

The President signed HR 2458, the E-Government Act of 2002, on December 17, 2002 as Public Law (P.L.) 107-347. The E-Government Act is intended to provide information technology (IT) leadership, improve coordination and deployment of IT across the Federal Government, help agencies achieve the IT management reforms required under the 1996 Clinger-Cohen Act, include the private sector in E-Government solutions, and ensure greater citizen access to the Federal Government through the improved use of IT.

The E-Government Act

• Defines Electronic Government as "... the use by the Government of web-based Internet applications and other information technologies, combined with processes that implement these technologies, to - (A) enhance the access to and delivery of Government information and services to the public, other agencies, and other Government entities; or (B) bring about improvements in Government operations that may include effectiveness, efficiency, service quality, or transformation."

   

• Establishes an Office of Electronic Government within OMB, essentially the office that already exists under Mark Forman, associate OMB director for information technology and e-government. The head of the office, the Administrator of the Office of Electronic Government (Administrator), will be appointed by the President but does not have to be confirmed by the Senate. The new position does not have a lot of direct power, but as a statutorily-authorized position, it will be subject to more consistent congressional oversight.

   

• Establishes the E-Government Fund at $345 million over fiscal years 2003 through 2006, to be overseen by the Administrator. A proposal for funding under this provision must identify resource commitments from within the agencies involved, be approved by a senior agency official, and include plans for potential continuation after all E-Government funds are expended. Projects funded by the E-Government Fund must adhere to fundamental capital planning and investment control processes, be interagency in scope, include security and privacy protections, and have performance objectives that tie to agency missions and strategic goals in place.

   

• Codifies the already existing Federal Chief Information Officers Council with a few modifications from the Executive Order that established the Council in 1996 and requires that agency CIOs participate.

In managing and promoting E-Government, the E-Government Act requires that agencies

• Ensure that policies and guidance established under this Act are communicated within their agencies and support the efforts of OMB and GSA to deliver Federal Government information and services to the public.

   

• Develop performance measures that demonstrate how E-Government enables progress toward agency objectives, strategic goals, and statutory mandates. Each agency must submit an annual E-Government Status Report to OMB on the status of agency E-Government initiatives, compliance of the agency with this Act, and how agency E-Government initiatives improve performance in delivering programs to constituencies. Agencies are already reporting status of initiatives under the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA) and initiatives associated with OMB’s E-Government Quicksilver projects.

   

• Ensure that they consider the impact on persons without access to the Internet when implementing programs and policies on the Internet.

   

• Achieve interoperability for appropriately securing electronic transactions in order to fulfill the objectives of GPEA.

   

The E-Government Act addresses the IT workforce challenge by

• Directing OPM, along with other agencies, to develop and issue governmentwide policies to promote the development of performance standards for training. The CIO of each agency is responsible for ensuring implementation of the workforce policies under this subsection of the Act. Reporting on the IT and IRM workforce is required.

   

• Establishing a worker exchange program between the Federal Government and the private sector. Federal workers must be GS-11 or above and assignments would be for a period of between three months and one year and can be extended beyond the first year in increments of three months, but not to exceed an additional one year. The program does not extend beyond five years after December 17, 2002. The GAO must report to the House Committee on Government Reform and the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs not later than four years after December 17, 2002, on the effectiveness of the program and recommend whether the exchange program should continue, be modified, or be allowed to lapse.

   

The E-Government Act addresses citizen access to the Federal Government by

• Directing the Administrator to ensure that not later than two years after December 17, 2002, an evaluation of the best practices of community technology centers is submitted to the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs; the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; and the House Committee on Government Reform. The Administrator, along with the Secretary of Education and others, must develop an online tutorial that explains how to access Government information and services on the Internet and promote the availability of these community technology centers within the community where such a center is located.

   

• Requiring a National Academy of Sciences study on the digital divide to be submitted not later than two years after December 17, 2002, to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee and the House Committee on Government Reform.

   

The E-Government Act addresses privacy by

• Directing agencies to conduct privacy impact assessments before developing or procuring IT that collects, maintains, or disseminates information that is in an identifiable form. OMB will provide guidance for the assessments.

   

• Requiring privacy notices on Federal websites used by the public. Such notices are not new; they have been required per an administrative order under the Clinton Administration. The Act establishes the requirement in law and takes it a step further by requiring that the notices be “machine-readable.”

   

The E-Government Act addresses integration and interoperability by

• Directing that a fully integrated repository of information about research and development funded by the Federal Government be developed and maintained and authorizes $2 million in each of the fiscal years 2003 through 2005 for such purpose. OMB will provide guidance on information to be put into the repository

   

• Directing OMB to conduct a study not later than three years after December 17, 2002, on integrating Federal systems to reduce the information collection burden on the public, including regulated entities, and authorizes OMB to oversee pilot projects that will provide input into the study.

   

• Establishing the Interagency Committee on Information, to include a representative from the National Archives and Records Administration. This interagency committee is to consult with the public, conduct studies, and submit recommendations no later than two years after December 17, 2002, to OMB and Congress on the organization and categorization and retention of Government information. The emphasis is on adopting standards to enable Government information to be searched across agencies.

   

• Not later than two years after December 17, 2002, OMB must provide agencies with guidance on standards for agency websites.

   

• Directing the Administrator to facilitate the development of common protocols for information systems that involve locational data, such as maps or other geospatial information resources, and promote the development of interoperable geographic information systems technologies to allow widespread, low-cost use and sharing of geographic data.

   

The E-Government Act addresses the use of IT to aid in managing crises and disasters by

• Directing that not later than 90 days after December 17, 2002, the Administrator of the Office of Electronic Government, along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, ensure that a study is conducted on using IT to enhance crisis management of natural and manmade disasters. Pilot projects are authorized to aid in the study.

   

Seeking to engage the private sector in E-Government solutions, the E-Government Act

• Establishes a governmentwide program to encourage contractor innovation and excellence by directing the Administrator of the Office of E-Government to issue announcements seeking unique and innovative solutions to facilitate the development and enhancement of E-Government services. A multi-agency technical assistance team will aid in screening proposals submitted under this provision.

   

• Authorizes share-in-savings contracts for IT through September 30, 2005. The total number of share-in-savings contracts entered into may not exceed five in each fiscal year for all Federal agencies. A share-in-savings contract is one in which a contractor provides the solutions for improving an agency’s mission-related or administrative process or accelerates the achievement of agency missions and the contractor is paid a portion of the savings derived by the agency from any improvements in the process that results from implementation of the solution or acceleration.

   

• Authorizes state, local, and tribal governments to purchase through the Federal Supply Schedules.

   

The Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002 was tacked on to the E-Government Act, making the provisions of GISRA, which expired in November 2002, permanent as well as expanding them. FISMA became effective December 17, 2002.

• To the purposes section are added the acknowledgement that commercially developed information security products offer advanced, dynamic, robust, and effective information security solutions and the recognition that individual agencies should select their own specific hardware and software information security solutions from among these commercially developed products. A definition for information security is provided. “(1) The term ‘information security’ means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction in order to provide – (A) integrity, which means guarding against improper information modification or destruction, and includes ensuring information nonrepudiation and authenticity; (B) confidentiality, which means preserving authorized restrictions on access and disclosure, including means for protecting personal privacy and proprietary information; and (C) availability, which means ensuring timely and reliable access to and use of information.” The other purposes set forth for the new FISMA remain essentially the same as in GISRA, which is to provide a comprehensive framework for ensuring information security controls, recognizing the highly networked nature of the Federal computing environment, providing for minimum security controls, and to provide oversight of agency information security programs.

   

• As in GISRA, Federal agencies are responsible for providing information security protections commensurate with the risk and magnitude of the harm resulting from unauthorized disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction of information collected by or by a contractor on behalf of the agency. A new requirement is to ensure that information security management processes are integrated with agency strategic and operational planning processes.

   

• As in GISRA, the agency head must delegate to the CIO the authority to ensure compliance with the Act and designate a senior agency information security officer. Requirements for the security officer are added; the officer must possess professional qualifications and have information security duties as his/her primary duty and head an office with the mission and resources to assist in ensuring compliance with the Act. The security officer must develop and maintain the agency-wide information security program.

   

• Periodic risk assessments, testing and evaluating information security controls and techniques, and security awareness training continue to be required. The annual independent evaluation continues on the testing of a representative subset of the agency's information systems. FISMA changes the testing of the effectiveness of “control techniques” to the testing of the effectiveness of “policies, procedures, and practices” on the subset. It looks like the evaluation will focus more on the information security program itself. Again, existing audits, reports, or evaluations may be used to meet these requirements. OMB will provide agencies with guidance.

   

• Other additions include renaming the Computer System Security and Privacy Advisory Board as the Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board; strengthening NIST's role by giving the Secretary of Commerce the authority to make NIST standards and guidelines for Federal information systems mandatory; maintaining an inventory of major information systems, identifying interfaces between each system. The inventory must be updated annually and used to support management of information resources.

   

FFAMIA

The Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999 (P.L. 106-107) directs Federal agencies to improve the effectiveness and performance of grants programs by simplifying application and reporting requirements, improving the delivery of services to the public, and facilitating greater coordination among the agencies responsible for delivering such services. Agencies are directed to work together to provide an electronic common face for grantees to transact business on all their Federal grants.

GPEA

The Government Paperwork Elimination Act, GPEA, (P.L. 105-277) requires that, when practicable, Federal agencies use electronic forms, electronic filing, and electronic signatures to conduct official business with the public by 2003.