CIOs blame slow pace of e-gov on funding hurdles

Federal CIOs are frustrated with the pace of e-government and funding continues to be a thorny issue, a new survey by the Information Technology Association of America concludes.In the 14th annual released today, IT managers reported that funding is a problem within agencies, with the Office of Management and Budget and with Congress. Within agencies, the difficulty is making the case to agency executives for e-government money when projects are pitted against agency mission needs, the CIOs told ITAA. Additionally, because the budget cycle and the development of e-government projects have been out of sync, agencies have been forced to contribute to the projects from other parts of their budget instead of getting direct funding for the initiatives, CIOs said.ITAA, a trade association in Arlington, Va., surveyed 40 CIOs, OMB officials and congressional staff members between August and December.Another reason for the slow implementation of e-government has been the constant focus on improving IT security and the difficulty in figuring out how to handle e-authentication, CIOs said. E-authentication remains a complex issue with no clear resolution, respondents told ITAA.The survey also included a special focus on issues at the Defense and Homeland Security departments. DHS directorate CIOs said Homeland Security needs better standards, systems integration and information sharing.Defense CIOs said network-centricity is their focus and cited the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet and Army Knowledge Management Portal as examples of progress. Like their Homeland Security counterparts, DHS’ systems chiefs said a common taxonomy is necessary for DOD to succeed at its Business Management Modernization.