Several agencies are headed for a modest increase in IT spending

While the Obama administration spent much of Thursday touting plans to save more than $17 billion through cutting 121 programs in fiscal 2010, the president's formal budget request proposed modest increases for information technology spending at some agencies.

The Social Security Administration, for instance, will receive an additional $150 million over its fiscal 2009 budget request to address the backlog of retirement and disability claims. The agency is also slated to receive $20 million to replace its 30-year-old National Computing Center, which processes the claims. The Recovery Act included $500 million for that project.

The Homeland Security Department's controversial E-Verify program to check the immigration status of newly hired employees received $112 million, an increase of 12 percent from the fiscal 2009 request. The additional funding should reassure lawmakers who were worried that the administration -- which delayed a rule requiring all government contractors to use E-Verify -- would discontinue the program. DHS also will receive $620 million for explosive detection systems for airports and land ports of entry.

The Agriculture Department also is scheduled to receive an infusion of IT funding. The administration proposed $63.5 million for USDA's Office of the Chief Information Officer, an increase of $46 million from the $17.5 million requested for fiscal 2009. The money would support the department's shift toward a consolidated, standard IT infrastructure. It also would go toward modernizing the Risk Management Agency's IT systems; RMA uses a technological approach known as data mining to cut down on waste, fraud and abuse in government payments to farmers.

In addition, the budget seeks $1.3 billion for USDA to disburse loans and grants to stimulate the adoption of rural broadband.

The budget sets aside nearly $330 million in IT spending for the Internal Revenue Service; $75 million to support existing IT systems and $253 million for the agency's Business Systems Modernization program. The modernization program received $230 million in the fiscal 2009 budget request.

The General Services Administration saw modest increases in its IT budget; the Integrated Technology Service, which manages Schedule 70 and other IT-related governmentwide contracts such as Alliant, received $21 million more than the fiscal 2009 request. The budget also would increase GSA's E-Government fund dramatically, from $2 million in the 2009 request to $33 million in 2010. The money could be transferred to other agencies to support the 2002 E-Government Act's goal of expanding the government's use of the Internet to deliver services.