OMB: Impetus is on agencies to fund e-gov efforts

Facing a budget surplus of $158 billion for fiscal 2001, the Bush administration plans to dole out some funds for electronic-government programs.E-government initiatives will be granted some seed money, but the President’s Management Council has been instructed to open agency wallets for such programs, Office of Management and Budget Director Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. said yesterday during a teleconference about Congressional Budget Office projections.The council’s group of chief operating officers know, regardless of what number OMB shoots for in discretionary spending next year, to “make room” in their budgets for e-government projects, he added.“We’re spending $45 billion on information systems in the federal government right now; much of that is not being well spent,” Daniels said. “A small fraction of that ought to be launched in the e-government area.”