Government Computer News
OMB makes new case to win Hill support for e-gov
Officials explain spending plans for 24 projects
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Having failed over the past 41?2 years to convince Congress of the virtues of e-government, the Office of Management and Budget is making an unprecedented attempt to sell the idea to lawmakers and secure funding for fiscal 2006.
Agencies are slated to swap a little more than $192.9 million dollars among themselves to keep 19 E-Gov- ernment and five Line of Business initiatives running over the next eight months. But restrictive language in appropriation bills has put that funding in jeopardy and potentially could hamstring a number of high-profile projects, compelling administration officials to make their case to appropriations committee staff members like never before.
Staff for House and Senate appropriations committee members say now is the administration’s best opportunity to promote the benefits of e-government. Congress opened the door for this dialogue after requiring OMB to submit a report detailing agency spending on these projects in the 2006 Treasury, Trans- portation, Housing and Urban Development and other related agencies spending bill.
OMB officials said they welcome this “unprecedented level of transparency of how agencies are implementing and benefiting from the E-Government initiatives.” OMB officials are armed with a greater degree of detail than ever before—breaking spending down by agency and by project to make sure lawmakers get a clear picture of where the money is going.
Since mid-January, the appropriations subcommittee staff members have been meeting with every agency and with OMB officials to discuss how projects are spending money and what benefits agencies are receiving. OMB has called the meetings “open and frank.”
And while this hate-love fest plays out on Capitol Hill, agencies are left to wonder whether lawmakers will approve funding for their projects—as some watch their bank accounts creep toward empty.
“We will have to re-evaluate what we can deliver this year,” said one project manager who requested anonymity. “Some of the in-kind services we are receiving from agencies will continue, but we are looking for further guidance from OMB before any funds will be transferred.”
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