The Office of Management and Budget released new guidance this week outlining the process for agencies to request money from the central e-government fund. The E-Government Act of 2002 authorizes $345 million over four years to supply a central fund for cross-agency initiatives. It further required OMB to develop a standard process for accepting and reviewing agency proposals to use the fund.
The fund is held by the General Services Administration, but is administered by OMB.
The final process includes the following steps:
- OMB will conduct a review of the proposal based on the criteria outlined in the E-Gov Act, such as whether the proposed project would affect and be supported by multiple agencies.
- The director of OMB will grant or decline approval for the project.
- The administrator of GSA will send a letter providing 15 days advance notice to the House and Senate appropriations committees, the government oversight committees and the appropriate authorizing committees.
- Following the 15-day waiting period, OMB and GSA will determine the next steps for transferring the money.
- The money will be transferred.
Mark Forman, administrator of the OMB Office of E-Government and Information Technology, has cited the lack of full appropriations for the fund as a reason that e-government will not be able to move forward as quickly as officials hoped.
RELATED LINKS
- OMB E-Gov site
- "Funding issues slow e-gov progress" [Federal Computer Week, April 28, 2003]
- "E-gov strategy moves forward" [Federal Computer Week, April 17, 2003]