Pizzella: Labor models getting 'green'

The President's Management Agenda requires that agencies manage their information technology employees, projects and systems more professionally

as a resource for improving results. And the Labor Department has done

that.

On the most recent score card from the Office of Management and Budget, the Labor Department was upgraded to a "green" score for e-government. The outstanding skill and dedication of the department's IT professionals have been central to the agency's success. And those employees have made progress in a number of areas.

On the IT security front, Labor's teams led efforts to establish security documentation for 97 percent of the agency's 81 sensitive systems — remarkable progress given that fewer than 60 percent of the systems were complete in September 2003.

Now employees are working to establish and test contingency plans for IT systems departmentwide.

Another showcase is the agency's IT capital investment planning process for managing the cost, schedule and performance of major IT development projects.

In fall 2003, OMB rated only half of Labor's business cases as acceptable. By September 2004, all of the agency's business cases were approved.

Another significant step has been the creation of the Enterprise Architecture Program Office within the Office of the Chief Information Officer.

The operational and customer support that occurs on a daily basis has also been streamlined through a departmentwide e-mail system, automated procurement system, automated property tracking system, enterprisewide directory services, and a safety and health information management system that allows for electronic filing of employee injury reports and worker compensations claims and produces management reports and data to help guide intervention activities. In support of the President's Safety, Health and Return to Employment initiative announced in January, Labor made the software available to all federal agencies at no cost.

In further support of President Bush's commitment to citizen-centered government, Labor is the managing partner for www.govbenefits.gov — a Web site that allows visitors to easily determine their potential eligibility for nearly 1,000 federal and state benefits programs.

Since it was launched in April 2002, GovBenefits has served some 15 million visitors to the site and was recently enhanced with the inclusion of GovBenefits en Español.

These achievements are complemented by Labor's upgrade to green for financial performance this past quarter, an upgrade to green for budget and performance integration on the June 30 score card, and an upgrade to green in strategic management of human capital on the March 31 score card.

Labor has now achieved four out of five green scores on the President's Management Agenda components — one of only three Cabinet-level departments to achieve such success.

Pizella is the Labor Department's assistant secretary for administration and management and chief information officer.