Forman: Converting to online government is a Bush administration priority

Putting 5,600 transactions online tops the list of challenges the Bush administration faces, its systems czar said today.The Office of Management and Budget estimates that’s the number of government-to-government, government-to-business and government-to-citizen activities that can be converted to electronic exchanges.A recent survey indicated that 75 percent of Internet users visit government sites, which shows "they want the government to act together to provide services to them,” said Mark Forman, OMB’s associate director for IT and e-government. He spoke at the Information Processing Interagency Council conference in Orlando, Fla.Citizens have access to more than 33 million Web pages on 22,000 government sites, so coordinating the services is a confusing and cumbersome task, he said.Forman said the government will need to give up its traditional management approach where "we sprinkle Internet responsibility throughout the government.""We need enterprise resource management tools to integrate the applications," he said. Forman said the government will use Web technology to achieve three goals:IPIC is sponsored by the Government Information Technology Executive Council.