OMB details procedure for obtaining e-gov funding

Agencies looking to get a portion of the Office of Management and Budget’s e-government fund will need to submit a proposal that includes a description of the initiative, a justification for the funding and a spending plan.Mark Forman, OMB’s administrator of the E-Government and IT, earlier this week issued a to CIOs outlining the process to obtain a piece of the $5 million e-government fund Congress allocated for fiscal 2003. Agencies will have a slightly smaller pot to compete for after OMB last week allotted $470,000 of the fund for a contract to Touchstone Consulting Group of Washington. Touchstone will assess cross-agency collaboration and consolidation opportunities in six lines of business: financial management, human resources, data and statistical development, public health information, criminal investigations and public-health monitoring. Forman also asked CIOs to follow the procedures outlined in the E-Government Act of 2002. OMB will review the proposals, and its director will grant final approval. In 2002, OMB awarded funds to the General Services Administration’s E-Authentication project and FirstGov portal, the Labor Department’s GovBenefits portal and the Small Business Administration’s Business Compliance One-Stop initiative.