One Last Push To Reauthorize E-Gov Act Coming

By Jason Miller
Executive Editor
FederalNewsRadio

Government and industry officials have been working overtime over the past three months to get the E-Government Reauthorization Act through Congress before the end of the year.

Sources say the final road block is a hold by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) over some of the requirements around privacy and the use of data brokers by federal agencies.

An Inhofe spokesman says “Sen. Inhofe is currently taking a close look at the bill and is not the only hold on the bill. We also understand there are some concerns among House members.”

But other Hill and industry sources say they know of no other holds on the bill. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) also had a hold on the bill in September, but has since dropped it.

Sources say they still have hope the Senate would pass the bill during their session starting Dec. 8. The House has indicated it would pass the legislation should the Senate pass it first.

The Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s spokesman says Pelosi (D-Calif.) is prepared to call the House back into session to address bills for the automakers and a stimulus package if necessary. But there are no definite plans yet for the House to be in session.

The E-Government Reauthorization Act would do several things including reauthorizing through 2012 the coordination of federal information policy and information security, the E-Government Fund and the Information Exchange Program (ITEP).

It also would reauthorize appropriations for several programs including the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of E-Government and Information Technology, the development of common protocols for geographic information systems and providing access to government information on the Web.

But it’s the ITEP program that many in industry and government are focusing on. A House aide says the bill must include ITEP for them to consider it.

“This is a win-win situation for federal government and the private sector,” says Joyce France, the director of CIO management services in the Defense Department, which oversees the military’s ITEP program. “This is a very low cost way to get insight and share best practices from the private sector.”

DoD is the only agency to participate fully in ITEP. Most agencies developed policies and procedures to implement the program, but only the military signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin last December.

Mike Moore, a program director and strategic development director for global security solutions at Lockheed, has been working in the DoD CIO’s office for almost a year.

Moore says he has been working on a number of different projects, including information sharing and communities of interest. He also helped DoD with software enterprise licensing, data strategy and cloud computing.

“In terms of the way things become initiatives and ultimately become programs is very interesting,” he says. “As a contractor, you see it as a request for proposals come out on the street. But in many cases, there have been years of work going into it. That kind of work you don’t usually see because it happens in the department itself. That is the kind of thing I was exposed to.”

France adds Moore has helped DoD better understand how these “cutting-edge” technologies work and what the challenges are in using them.

DoD and Lockheed signed an agreement to deal with conflict of interest concerns, outline Moore’s duties and explain ethics requirements. Lockheed pays for Moore’s salary and benefits while he is working at DoD.

“We had to do a lot of marketing with the private sector,” France says. “We had to answer a lot of questions because industry was worried about how taking part in the program would impact them bidding on contracts.”

DoD discussed ITEP participation with several industry partners, including IBM and SRA, but only Lockheed agreed to take part.

Moore says he will return to Lockheed in December if Congress does not renew ITEP. Congress let ITEP expire just after Moore joined DoD.

France says DoD and other military services and agencies are interested in taking part in the exchange program should it be restored.

“This is not only good for DoD, but for all agencies,” she says.

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On the Web:

FederalNewsRadio – E-Government bill still has a chance to pass

Government Printing Office – E-Government Reauthorization Act

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