Fed E-Administrator Doesn't Fear Funding ProblemsFed E-Administrator Doesn't Fear Funding Problems
Karen Evans says she's not concerned that Congress hasn't directly funded the administration's E-government initiatives because most of the money is coming from the agencies that will gain from the programs.
The federal government's top IT official says she isn't too concerned that Congress hasn't directly funded the administration's E-government initiatives. Karen Evans, the former Energy Department CIO who became the government's E-administrator earlier this month, said Wednesday that 94% of the money needed to finance the government's two dozen E-government initiatives is coming from the agencies that will benefit from the programs. "The agencies are rising to the challenge," she said. "That's a good news story,"
The E-government initiatives are programs in which agencies throughout government collaborate to employ common IT and Web platforms for similar undertakings such as human resources and grant management.
Evans' boss, Office of Management and Budget deputy director of management Clay Johnson, said Congress supports the initiatives but believes the indirect funding method is best. "We haven't been persuasive enough," Johnson said. And with Congress mulling President Bush's $87 billion package to fund the military and reconstruction efforts in Iraq, the administration doesn't think it's the best time to lobby lawmakers on fully funding the E-government initiatives. Said Johnson, "We'll find the funds from the almost $60 billion that will be funded for IT and E-government."
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