New e-gov plan due this month

The Bush administration soon will release its plans for implementing the E-Government Act

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The Bush administration soon will release its plans for implementing the E-Government Act of 2002, said Mark Forman, associate director of information technology and e-government at the Office of Management and Budget.

The April 17 release will be the latest version of the E-Government Strategy, Forman said, noting that it will move beyond the 24 e-government initiatives to examine how e-government plans in the fiscal 2004 budget request will align with the act, signed in December 2002.

The new strategy will include plans for better use of enterprise licensing for buying software across government and also for how to use the extended authority for share-in-savings contracts, Forman said. Under those contracts, government and industry share the cost of a service or system and the contractor is reimbursed through the savings.

Forman was speaking April 2 at the Secure E-Business Summit in Crystal City, Va.

Later this month, OMB also expects to launch the latest version of the DisasterHelp portal, Forman said. Right now, everyone can access the general portal, but there is also a secure portal specifically for first responders, and the launch will include many new tools for those officials to use.

Already one of the most popular tools is the portal's secure instant messaging, which enables first responders nationwide to exchange ideas, he said.

The last report to Congress under the Government Information Security Reform Act also should be released this month, Forman said. It is in its final draft form, and some additional details will be released next week at a hearing of the House Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census, he said.