The Bush Administration's e-government czar, Mark Forman, is leaving his post at the Office of Management and Budget for an undisclosed job in the private sector.
Forman has been credited for overhauling a lot of antiquated practices in the federal government and pushing agency CIOs to use corporate-style blue prints for managing their organization. He has also been behind a major push to put documents and other systems online to better connect with government's constituents.
Forman's last day as head of e-government and IT will be August 15; OMB chief technology officer Norm Lorentz will fill his role until a permanent replacement is named. "The administration remains fully committed to the e-government component and every initiative of the President's Management Agenda. OMB will continue to press forward on the president's e-government initiatives and improve the government's use of IT. Mark Forman has served the administration and taxpayers well," OMB spokesman Trent Duffy said, according to Government Computer News.
Federal Computer Week noted that Forman's "move comes three months after Mitchell Daniels resigned as OMB director. Forman has taken a job with a start-up technology firm, said another OMB spokesperson, who could not identify the company."
Will Forman's e-government initiative lose steam in his absence? "Without Mark's energy and passion and intensity behind it, I'm concerned whether or not there is anyone [who] has the authority to put the pressure behind the effort," consultant Robert Guerra told FCW.
Federal Times wrote yesterday about the legacy that Forman will leave behind: "Almost from the day Forman joined OMB, June 16, 2001, as associate administrator for information technology and e-government, he insisted on new discipline from agency IT managers. Agencies for the first time found their IT requests carefully scrutinized. They had to meet new demands to get their budgets approved such as creating detailed blueprints for modernizing their IT systems and abandoning their own e-government projects and instead funding cross-agency projects."
Forman leaves big shoes to be filled, according to Small Business Administration CIO Stephen Galvan. Galvan told Government Computer News: "[Forman] really established the groundwork for how the government manages IT. He had to deal with a lot of strong factions within government, in Congress and in the vendor community. We knew we were accomplishing things when vendors would object to what we were doing."
Federal agencies have often had a hard time keeping high-ranking officials, particularly CIOs, from defecting to the private sector. Forman is returning to his roots. He was a vice president of e-business at Unisys and also worked at IBM before joining the federal government.
E-Gov How To
Speaking of e-government, the OMB on Aug. 1 released new guidance regarding how the E-Government Act of 2003 should be implemented. Among the requirements: "Agencies are expected to make their public regulatory dockets electronically accessible and searchable using Regulations.gov, the President's E-Rulemaking e-government initiative. ... Agencies must conduct Privacy Impact Assessments for new IT investments and online information collections, consistent with OMB's forthcoming guidance on the privacy provisions of the E-Government Act."
Microsoft's E-Government Ayuda
Microsoft is continuing its push for overseas government clients, inspired by the upstart challenge from Linux-based competitors. So how convenient it is that the software giant is lending a helping hand with international e-government efforts? A feature on Microsoft's Web site mentioned some work that company is doing to help out with e-government efforts in Latin America and the Caribbean. The company said it inked a $9 million deal in May with the Organization of American States "to cooperate on ways for governments and educational systems in Latin America and the Caribbean to accelerate the use of e-government technologies." Microsoft Latin America will provide $6 million of Microsoft products, licensees and training for the effort and the government agencies will pick up the rest of the tab.
Quelle: Washington Post
