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US points to e-government law
12 August 2003

The White House body in charge of e-government has told federal agencies to become more 'user friendly'

US federal agencies should now be left in no doubt as to what further e-government efforts are required, following the publication of a White House memo to senior officials on the subject.

The memo, issued to federal chiefs at the beginning of August 2003, sets out how agencies should follow the US e-Government Act, which became law earlier this year.

It covers key areas of the Bush administration's e-government programme, including IT training for officials, privacy requirements, ways to help citizens access services, and IT for "crisis management".

Under the terms of the Act, agencies are required to give regular updates on their e-government progress. The next reports to be submitted to the White House based Office of Management and Budget (OMB) are due on 15 December 2003.

"The Administration sees this Act as a significant step forward in the way that federal agencies should consider using information technology (IT) to transform agency business into a more citizen oriented and user friendly process," director of the OMB Joshua Bolten, told agency chiefs in the memo.

But despite issuing the guidance, which aims to maintain a tight grip on agencies' e-government activities, the Bush administration is facing life without its most important official in the area, Mark Forman.

The OMB's administrator for e-government and IT is to leave his post on 15 August 2003 to work in the private sector.

Of equivalent seniority to the UK's e-envoy, but arguably with more political clout, Forman was hired in June 2001 to push through the Bush administration's e-government programme. He had previously worked at IBM and Unisys.

Over the past two years, he has overseen development of the Bush administration's 25 main cross agency e-government initiatives aiming to deliver effective e-services.

The OMB has attempted to allay fears that with Forman gone, there will be a lack of leadership.

"The administration remains fully committed to the e-government component and every initiative of the President's Management Agenda. OMB will continue to press forward on the president's e-government initiatives and improve the government's use of IT. Mark Forman has served the administration and taxpayers well," OMB spokesman Trent Duffy said.

OMB chief technology officer Norm Lorentz will be acting administrator for E-Government and IT, OMB said.

Congress representatives have urged the OMB to recruit a full time replacement for Forman without delay.


Source: Kable's Government Computing
Publication date: 12/08/2003 15:09:14

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