The effort of the past two years has been focused on the deployment of the E-Gov initiatives and now that many are close to completion, we are focused on driving adoption and utilization of these initiatives. This will enable the government to further drive cost savings, as well as provide a higher level of service to the citizen. Recently, we initiated an effort with the Council for Excellence in Government to define 100 percent utilization and plan how the initiatives will reach that mark. Through this effort marketing plans are being developed to identify the audience for each E-Gov initiative and how best to reach each group.

Some of the recent achievements in E-Gov are:

E-Loans: The Department of Education recently launched GovLoans.gov, a single point of access for citizens to locate federal loan information on the Web. Five federal agencies - Department of Agriculture, Department of Education, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Small Business Administration, and the Department of Veterans Affairs - came together to create the GovLoans Gateway. The web site provides details about loan programs, plus links to lender locators, on-line applications, and the sponsoring government agency.
www.govloans.gov Managing Agency: ED

GovBenefits.gov: This initiative recently celebrated its second anniversary with the debut of GovBenefits.gov En Español, offering Spanish-speaking communities greater access to available federal and state benefits. Additionally, the site expanded its state program information, offering Americans a broader gateway to state benefits and allowing local community-based organizations to better assess eligibility for administered programs. GovBenefits.gov now provides on-line access to more than 500 federal and state assistance programs with representation from all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. Since the site was launched in April 2002, GovBenefits.gov has provided government benefit eligibility information to more than 10 million visitors, and generated nearly 1.7 million citizen referrals to benefit programs tailored to their needs. www.govbenefits.gov Managing Agency: DOL

IRS Free File: The IRS launched the second year of Free File tax filing via www.irs.gov to the public on January 24, 2004. This initiative provides a single-point of access to free on-line preparation and electronic tax filing services to at least 60% of Americans. Through April 28, 2004, 3.4 million Free File returns were processed for the 2003 tax year, representing an increase of 26% from last year (2.73 million).
http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html Managing Agency: TREAS

Expanding Electronic Tax Products for Businesses: This initiative recently completed two major milestones with the nationwide deployment of electronic versions of Form 1120, Corporate Income Tax, and Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax. Since February of 2004, over 20,000 electronic 1120 and 990 forms have been submitted. Additionally, through this initiative new business owners can apply for and receive an Employer Identification Number (EIN) on-line. Before this was available, people had to fill out and mail a paper version of the EIN form, waiting up to two weeks to receive their EIN from the IRS. With the on-line EIN application, they can receive their EIN immediately. Since the service was launched in April, 2003, the IRS has received nearly 800,000 on-line applications for EINs.
Managing Agency: TREAS

E-Vital: Three states (Montana, New Hampshire, and South Dakota) recently deployed their Electronic Death Registration (EDR) systems through the coordination of the E-Vital initiative. EDR automates the transfer of death certificate information using the Internet, resulting in more accurate and available information. EDR will save the federal government between $36 million and $41 million in program savings annually when implemented in 90% of the States (estimated to occur in 2010) by preventing incorrect benefit payments from the federal government. Additional savings can be realized with EDR due to immediate termination of benefits, reduction in time needed for data input, alert development, erroneous death reversals, and reduction of other federal and state resources. Additionally EDR will reduce the likelihood of fraud because States will be able to cross-match birth and death records more timely and accurately, lessening the possibility that a person can assume the identity of a deceased individual.
Managing Agency: SSA

SAFECOM: SAFECOM recently released the first comprehensive Statement of Requirements (SOR) document outlining future technology requirements for public safety wireless communications and interoperability. The SOR marks the first time the 50,000 public safety agencies have a document that defines future requirements for communicating and sharing information - as authorized, when and where needed, and in a manner that allows for the most effective use of that information.
www.safecomprogram.gov Managing Agency: DHS

Additionally, the Expanding Electronic Government initiative is making progress in a number of other areas, beyond just the President's E-Gov initiatives:

Lines of Business: The Administration recently established task forces for five lines of business, including financial management, human resources management, grants management, case management, and the Federal Health Architecture, to identify ways agencies can save money through the sharing of common solutions. In coordination with the General Services Administration, a request for information (RFI) was released last month to solicit information on the government-wide consolidation efforts in financial management, human resources management, and grants management. The goal of the RFI is to identify systems, best practices, and migration strategies to develop common business processes.

Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA): The draft Data Reference Model is now under final review within OMB and is expected to be distributed to agencies for comment during the next quarter. OMB released its Enterprise Architecture Assessment Framework to help agencies improve their EA programs and benefit from the results of using EA as a strategic planning tool. OMB continues to meet with agencies to discuss their EA activities and provide feedback on FY05 architecture data. The Federal CIO Council continues work on a new security profile to be embedded within the FEA reference frameworks. In preparation for the FY06 budget cycle, adjustments to the FEA reference models are being finalized.

IT Privacy and Security: Government-wide progress continues to be made toward the IT security goals under the E-Gov Scorecard and the privacy provisions of the E-Government Act. This progress is reported in agency and Inspectors General IT security reports and quarterly updates. While much work remains, agency work is steadily increasing the percentage of systems with security plans and the percentage of systems that have been certified and accredited. The security plans and certification and accreditations serve to identify and validate the effectiveness of security controls for each system. These improvements, as well as the continued monitoring of agency activities through the President's Management Agenda Scorecard, are improving the security and privacy of the Federal government's information and systems.

Further information on Expanded Electronic Government, the E-Gov Report, or other E-Gov topics of interest can be found at www.egov.gov, the official web site of the President's E-Government Initiatives. The web site is an up-to-date, public source of information about the E-Gov Initiatives and their accomplishments. Additionally, information on the Lines of Business can be found at http://lobv.gsa.gov and information on the FEA can be found at www.feapmo.gov.

Sincerely,
Karen Evans