IT fixes at a price

The State Department projected $634 million for information technology investments in its fiscal 2002 budget — up nearly 9 percent from last year.

A snapshot of the budget request shows funds earmarked to drastically upgrade the department's IT capabilities. Some highlights:

* $243 million for ongoing maintenance of and upgrades to the department's PCs and local-area networks.

* $97 million to continue rolling out a modernized classified IT infrastructure to 95 overseas posts. State is spending $8 million in fiscal 2001 to deploy the classified infrastructure to 37 overseas posts.

* $63 million to fund the Information Resources Management Central Fund that will enable State to make IT investments and improve interaction among agencies in the foreign affairs community.

Source: Federal Sources Inc.