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Talking Points and Brief Summary for "E-Government Act
of 2001"
E-government legislation can help realize for government what
IT has accomplished for industry
- $350 billion worth of business will be transacted on the
Internet in the US in 2001
- 56% of Americans use the Internet at least once a week
- Government lags behind other sectors: less than one per
cent of current interactions between government and citizens
are online
The public supports e-government:
- in a recent poll, 68% of Americans said it should be a
high or medium priority for government to invest tax dollars
in making more information and services available over the
Internet; after learning specific examples of e-government,
the number grew to 77%
A federal Chief Information Officer allows for
decisive, focused top-level leadership, so that the government
can harness the latest Information Technology:
- the Federal CIO, operating within OMB,
would leverage more effectively staff and resources to
promote e-government and address the nation’s other
pressing information policy issues, such as privacy,
computer security, and IT management
- the CIO would foster dialogue with state
and local governments, with the private sector, and with
other agencies
- industry supports e-government and has
called for a federal CIO
- the GAO has been recommended the
establishment of a federal CIO for years
An Interagency Information Technology Fund
would enable the use of new technologies to break down arbitrary
jurisdictional barriers, and redesign government services:
- "one-stop shopping" online allows
a citizen or business to avoid the frustration of traveling
from agency to agency when trying to accomplish a single
overall task
- collaboration on advanced IT systems can
also make complex government operations--such as fighting
crime or responding to natural disasters--more effective,
particularly when these activities involve multiple agencies
or levels of government
- collaboratively developed advanced IT
systems also require coordination in how the project is
funded, which can be difficult to achieve using traditional
budgetary processes
The Office of Personnel Management would be tasked with
responding to a severe shortage in skilled IT professionals in
the federal workplace. The OPM would:
- analyze the IT personnel needs of the federal government
- design training curricula including self-paced courses,
online courses, on-the-job-training, and the use of remote
instructors
Federal government information would be made more
accessible and useable:
- all federal government websites would be classified in a
directory according to their subject matter, making it
much easier for citizens to find the sought after
information
- an advisory board would recommend how to improve
existing requirements that government databases be
inventoried and catalogued
Expanded privacy provisions would protect personal
information collected by the government |
