NSF PR 02-90 - November 4, 2002
NSF Recognized for E-Government Success at Ceremony
Report cites NSF achievements
in streamlining grants process
The National Science Foundation (NSF) was recognized
as a 2002 E-Government Performance Leader at an awards
ceremony October 30 hosted by a coalition of private-sector
good-government groups led by the Performance Institute.
" The NSF's award for "Achievement of Cost Efficiencies"
was one of five made in four categories. At the ceremony,
the coalition also released a report on "Creating
a Performance-Based Electronic Government," in which
NSF is cited for its electronic process that handles
300,000 grant proposals and reviews each year.
"We're pleased to be recognized for our leadership
and excellence in e-government," said NSF Director
Rita Colwell. "The staff at NSF has risen to the challenge
of successfully managing taxpayer resources, especially
at a time of increased scrutiny and evaluation from
inside and outside the federal government."
The report highlights NSF's FastLane system for electronic
proposal processing and a planned next-generation
capability, the Proposal, Review, and Awards Management
Integration System (PRAMIS). Developed by NSF's Division
of Information Systems, FastLane allowed NSF to handle
a 19 percent increase in proposals in fiscal year
2002 while reducing handling costs by 33 percent.
FastLane has been presented to the Department of Health
and Human Services as a model for a government-wide
E-Grants initiative.
The result of a 24-agency research project by the good-government
coalition, the report provides a catalog of "citizen-centered"
initiatives in each agency along with key lessons
learned. The Performance Institute, Reason Public
Policy Institute, Fujitsu Consulting, the National
Academy of Public Administration, the Council for
Excellence in Government, the Progressive Policy Institute
and the American Society for Public Administration
sponsored the project. The project identified the
best practices in defining and measuring e-government
initiatives by federal agencies.
"This award recognizes an outstanding NSF-wide effort,"
said George Strawn, NSF's chief information officer.
"And its announcement coincides with the achievement
in fiscal year 2002 of exceeding our goal for research
proposals processed within six months of submission.
The award further demonstrates that our management
plan is on track."
The report complements the evaluation of NSF's performance
by the Office of Management and Budget, which gave
NSF the top rating in both financial management and
e-government--the only one of 26 agencies to receive
the top rating--and recognized NSF as a leader in
information technology.
For more details, see http://www.performanceweb.org/research/egovernment.htm
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