CIO Council posts application info

Federal information technology workers looking for best practices and common solutions might want to try the CIO Council Web site.

A solutions exchange on the CIO Council's Web site is meant to be a clearinghouse with brief descriptions of reusable IT investments from across the government.

"We've used the words 'marketplace,' 'repository,' 'index' as a way to describe the cite," said Carlos Solari, chief information officer of executive office of the president and best practices committee advocate for the council.

"It is not a place where you can download an application, but it is a place where you can get information about an agency's application," he said today during a conference call with reporters.

The site, cio.gov/tse, is password protected, and only those who possess a .gov or.mil e-mail address can register.

The site was launched with descriptions of 61 common solutions already posted. They include tools for enterprise architecture, workforce development and other issues, said David Wennergren, the Navy's CIO and best practices committee co-chairman. Additional solutions will be periodically added to the Web site, Solari said. "The intention is clear that we want more."

Federal officials interested in utilizing solutions described on the Web site then must contact the program manager from the agency that originated the application.

The prospect of additional work will not scare away IT workers from posting their information on the Web site, said Karen Evans, the Office of Management and Budget's administrator of e-government and IT.

"The whole purpose is to make a better America," she said. "I know that it sounds like motherhood and apple pie, (but) the whole reason why we're in public service is to improve service levels."

The site cost about $50,000 to develop and could offer substantial savings to the government, Solari said. "Each time that we see somebody reuse one of these solutions, it is our intent to capture that information so we can record the return on investment."