Energy’s e-gov plans advance with new <br>e-signature software

With the flourish of an electronic signature, Energy secretary Spencer Abraham yesterday took the wraps off the department’s action plan for e-government.The strategy describes progress in the department’s Idea program for launching 19 e-government projects as well as several other programs.Abraham used a plug-in from Entrust Inc. of Dallas to sign the document in Adobe Acrobat. Users across the federal government will be able to use the plug-in for digital signatures under Energy’s license with Entrust.Abraham was joined at the plan’s introduction by Office of Management and Budget director Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., OMB’s associate director for IT and electronic government, Mark Forman, and Energy CIO Karen Evans.Forman said DOE’s digital signature project is integrated with the General Services Administration’s E-Authentication effort, a Quicksilver initiative. The plug-in license cost Energy $200,000.Energy launched the Idea plan earlier this year in the spirit of OMB’s Quicksilver program, which has highlighted 25 e-government projects that can serve multiple agencies.“We have taken this project very seriously, and these results demonstrate that,” Abraham said.