OMB anticipates next round of GPEA reports

With one year to go before the Government Paperwork Elimination Act kicks in, the Office of Management and Budget is expecting agencies to show substantial progress in automating transactions, two speakers said today at the annual FedWeb conference.Agencies are supposed to move customer transactions online by October 2003, but "there is not enough money in the world to do that," said Richard Kellett, director of emerging IT policies for the General Services Administration's Governmentwide Policy Office.OMB understands that agencies can't do it all but will want to know what they are going to do, Kellett said.In June or July, OMB will issue its guidance for the next data call, said Nora Rice, the CIO Council's program manager. GPEA status reports will be due in late September.OMB officials looked closely at the status reports that agencies submitted at the end of fiscal 2001 and they expect to see substantial progress one year before the GPEA deadline, Rice said.