Fedwire

INS creates CIO post

Attorney General John Ashcroft last week said he will name a chief information officer at the Immigration and Naturalization Service and assign that person the task of improving and integrating the agency's databases and data systems and enhancing interagency information sharing. Ashcroft said he also plans to name a chief financial officer who will be responsible for "sound fiscal management of the agency." The plan is part of a larger effort to restructure INS detailed by Ashcroft last week.

White House taps Everson

The White House last week announced its intention to nominate Mark Everson as deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, a position that has been vacant since the end of the Clinton administration. The post oversees OMB's financial, procurement and information technology policy.

Everson currently serves as controller at OMB, where he oversees the administration's policies for and deployment of financial management systems. He also served as acting chairman of the President's Management Council.

Health IT spending on the rise

Federal spending for information technology in the health care sector is expected to grow by a steady 5.5 percent during the next five years, fueled by homeland security spending and the demands of an aging population, according to a new forecast by the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association.

The association predicts solid IT spending at the departments of Health and Human Services and Veterans Affairs and on the Defense Department's health affairs initiatives. The total IT budget for those agencies is projected to increase from $6.6 billion in fiscal 2003 to $8.4 billion in 2007.