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Physical year 2004 appears to be shaping up as a year of recasting, security, consolidation, e-gov, technology accessibility, and security for most Federal systems, many sources say. Major systems, such as those that are indigenous to, or support, the Department of Justice, the IRS, the Navy, HHS and others have been hit in the past by critics and will continue to undergo fundamental changes. Ironically, the anthrax attack scares of the recent past fueled an enormous boost in budgetary increases for secure messaging and data communication, e-gov, e-doc forms processing, billing, and reporting transactions, particularly by automated faxing and use of emails. The 911 attack has rocketed both planning and budgeting for security to the max, even while accelerating already-commenced security initiatives. Despite the fact that there has been limited inter-departmental coordination of Federal systems and the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security has been underway for some time now, there has been some initial movement in terms of limited data and operational coordination among DHS's loosely-affiliated agencies Security, citizen privacy, and G2C (Government-to-Consumer) E-gov services and accessibility are now being pushed hard by CIO offices and oversight agencies.

CIOs and Council Given New Priorities

To start, the Federal Government's key technology execs are under bombardment by new — and increasingly urgent — priorities. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) radically overhauled the CIO Council in 2001, abolishing committees, changing key posts and assignments, and establishing new priorities. Under Associate Director Mark Forman, lead point man in OMB's push for IT overhaul prior to his departure in June of 2003 and indefatigable pioneering promulgator of E-gov proliferation, has directed that the Council's numerous standing committees be reduced to three: Architecture (including Enterprise Interoperability and Emerging IT), Best Practices and Capital Planning, and E-WorkForce. However, there is continuing uncertainty in reporting structures and responsiblilities. The former Security, Privacy, and Critical Infrastructure Committee, may be substantially expanded and/or absorbed by-and-with the Homeland Security Department. but still retain links to Commerce and Best Practices or Architecture — planning and inter-Administration negotiations are still in progress. Under any scenario, however, these changes portend and confirm a greater Federal systems simplification and consolidation theme first broached by top Government managers and IT execs in 2003/late 2002. In addition, the Council will now have four portfolio teams, each corresponding to a portion of the President's four "citizen-centric" E-government (E-gov) initiatives:

Service to citizens

Service to commerce and the business community

Service to other government entities; e.g., State, local, and, where applicable, foreign

Service to agencies within the Federal Government.

These efforts break down in turn to four key policy goals:

Improve the quality of Federal policy, plans and directives

Increase adoption of IT policies initiated by Congress and the Administration

Share best practices Federal-systems-wide and among all Federal institutions

Reduce duplication of effort across agencies and Departments

Each Federal IT program requiring improvement will be overseen by a project headed by a manager and a managing partner drawn from among the relevant CIOs, department CFOs, Programs managers or other senior officials, according to Treasury CIO and Council co-chairman James Flyzik.

Although OMB and the CIO Council do not control how Departments and agencies use information and technology, they "set the tone for singing from the same sheet of music" and indicated the direction that the new massive Federal system overhauls and consolidation efforts (e.g., DoJ and the IRS) will take. The OMB's CIO Council aids departments and agencies in decreasing the number of troubled IT systems, solving endemic and Federal systems-wide problems which could bring about interruptions to Federal systems sustainability, such as the now infamous but then overblown 'Y2K crisis' of 2002. The Council further focuses in eliminating unnecessary duplication, increasing electronic dissemination of information, improving Federal statistical systems, and improving information security and citizen/Government customer privacy.

OMB and Congress Urge Consolidation, Cross-Agency Integration

The derivation of the new mission and reorganization of the CIO Council derives from the Administration's five principle Management-in-Government goals:

Improving Financial System Performance

Competitive Sourcing

Strategic Management of Human Capital

Performance-Based Budgeting

Expanding E-government.

Improving financial system performance, or getting a better bang-for-the-buck for taxpayers, is supported by some of the consolidation and efficiency efforts already underway by agencies such as the IRS and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This involves consolidation of some of the disparate and geographically-distributed data centers into single, large centers, as well as integrating systems both internal and external to a given agency or department.

Competitive sourcing is an initiative which aims to improve the financial efficiency of some of the means and methods of IT contracts, products, and services acquisition through increased oversight and more centralized contracting administration. For example, a provision in the Senate's version of the Defense Authorization Bill (S-1416 Section 803) substantially limits the Defense Department's ability to use government-wide multiple award contracts, including the General Services Administration's (GSA's) schedule contracts. The bill would require DoD contracting officers (as with most Federal agencies) to compete all task orders in excess of $50,000 among eligible schedule contractors, fully and fairly evaluating every (credible) offer they received. A number of DoD sources maintain that Section 803 would mandate that task orders go out to hundreds of companies, virtually grinding to a halt DoD's ability to use the GSA schedule contracts. Additionally, Deidre Lee, Director of Defense procurement at the time, believed the bill's new requirements would make it more difficult to use government acquisition contracts.

This change may prove very significant to the software industry and IT world, since increased overhead and expense in contracting drives IT planners and RFP preparers to shift towards larger, omnibus major-contractor-oriented contracts which often cannot be supported by startups or small companies — or even sizeable "syndicates" comprised of them, such as the former 8a Minority Inclusion Program. Within the Armed Services, opinions were almost universal that the post-911 time period is certainly not the time to tighten contracting requirements, thereby increasing materiel requisitioning lead times.

Strategic management of human capital is now seen as the one area where many efforts can break down. Emphasis at the Administration has been toward retiring aging, technology-unskilled executives and non-productive functionaries in the Federal workforce. Even in times of slack job markets, Federal agencies and services continue to have severe trouble obtaining and keeping technically-trained personnel who leap for better-paying positions in private industry. Yet, in the post-911 era, demands for computer, government, and Web security efforts and new DoJ, etc., terrorism databases — vitally dependent on new inter-Departmental information exchange and database trans-communications — is driving up the need for software and IT developers by several levels of magnitude. The CIO Council held pan-Government discussions on this issue nearly one year ago, without developing a satisfactory answer to the shortage. Further, international response to the H-1B program for guest IT technical workers received far less response than anticipated, and the expected level of productivity of H-1B workers in the IT workforce has been disappointing, owing to their failure to understand the needs, practices, and functional/operational requirements of American business-and-government information systems.

Performance-based budgeting will continue to squeeze major Federal systems into moves for consolidation — but without the necessary Government-calculated "ROI" to justify the necessary systems integration projects weeding out dissimilar pieces, little actual savings may be forthcoming. Expanding E-government may become a lifesaver in more than one way, as paper documents and processing in this new era may come to be seen as risky to one's very health by virtue of stress due to backlogs, handling of documents bearing viruses, and — an outside shot, admittedly, but possible — a future terrorist or anthrax attack (better that computers crash and die from Internet viruses than their operators from real ones, an IRS official was heard to say). Even beyond that, massively switching Government communication to emails and e-business solutions may reduce cycle times and increase response times to better handle everything from terrorism attempts to hurricane evacuation and massive power failure crises, according to analysts at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

In another wrinkle in Federal IT planning for consolidation and enhancement, the OMB indicated this month that it will carefully scrutinize any funding requests for economic stimulus (read 'budget cutting for tax relief') in light of the 911 attacks (see STM article, "Speech by Mark A. Forman," this issue), but information technology spending is protected from that scrutiny. Part of this new spending is seen as needs that have been waiting too long for updates, while part of it results from new needs originating under the responsibility for government-wide security policy and implementation. Rationalization and consolidation were seen as moves that could offset increased IT spending needs. The E-gov fund overseen by the interagency task force is to be augmented by more than $250 million by 2005.

The sudden change in world perspective and Federal IT strategy and goal orientation has added up to a nightmare scenario for Federal CIOs, agency IT and system planners, and Administration execs. In light of tax reduction, consolidation will continue, augmented, however, by imperative new security and E-gov requirements — not to mention the necessary complexities introduced by continuing E-Gov and accessibility requirements. All of this adds up to an enormous 'step-function' potential for increased demand for software development supporting new IT programs and products, one which may greatly aid Federal contractor and IT job prospects — at least in the Washington, D.C. area.

Strong Forecast for IT Spending

Federal government spending on information technology is expected to more than double between now and 2008, according to preliminary OMB projections. At the current burn rate of $34.6 billion for fiscal year 2003, spending on IT contractors to Federal agencies is expected to reach $69.3 billion well before 2007.

Of the three fastest-growing IT segments, namely: Computer Systems, Telecommunications, and Commercial IT Services, the top spot is likely to be seized by commercial services in the wake of the Administration's new no-nonsense cost-cutting moves to farm out a great deal of Federal IT to what it regards as more efficient commercial contractors. Newest catch-word in Federal IT jargon: Outsourcing. Consolidation and outsourcing efforts are expected to make this sector balloon from $14.2 billion to roughly $27 billion in 2006 — a whopping average annual rate of 13.7%.

In the Telecommunications sector of Fed IT spending, increases are expected from a large boost in demand for secure connection among Fed agencies as well as other government entities; leased voice and data circuits; network services, comm hardware, and engineering, coding, and consulting. This segment is expected to grow from $10.5 billion to just under $19 billion at the end of the forecast term, equivalent to an annually compounded rate of 12.6%.

Capital investments in and leases of hardware and software, both COTS and contractor-developed, plus contracted maintenance define the Computer Systems sector. Growth in this segment is expected to recede, expanding from $11.6 billion to approximately $18 billion, still respectable at 9.2% (what software developer wouldn't like to see that as a regular annual pay raise in his paycheck?).

In OMB's projections for the five year plan, big spenders among Federal agencies are most likely to include the Department of Defense (principally the OSD), the Air Force, Army, Navy, and NASA, and the Treasury (including IRS), Transportation, Justice, HHS, and Agriculture Departments.

Increased Consolidation, Interoperability Requirements Benefits 'Favored' Contractors

The move towards consolidation and interoperability spells doom for many of the 'fringe' proprietary technologies, particularly those engaged in large numbers by the Armed Services. Where once the trend in Federal computing was to diversify away from the monopolistic "one size fits all" uniformity of IBM mainframes, the tide has turned, as Fed IT planners move to combine systems. Overwhelming favorites at 'enterprise' levels befitting large Federal systems include Oracle, SAP, Dell, and PeopleSoft, and Microsoft, followed by IBM, Compaq, HP, Seibel, and a constellation of lesser players.

An example of consolidation having broad implications for competitive success of the largest software producers over medium and smaller ones came to light in September as SAP Public Services, Inc., the Federal division of SAP, protested a plan by HHS to use Oracle Corporation's Oracle Federal Financials product and system uniformly across the Department. SAP lodged complaints with the GSA that HHS is moving rapidly to lock itself into a Department-wide Oracle and Peoplesoft solution without competing key contracts or due consideration of same. "The protested procurements are part of a pattern of questionable acquisitions that have steadily increased Oracle's dominance at HHS," the complaint says. HHS plans to use Oracle for two of its largest financial management systems, Medicare contracting — the Healthcare Integrated General Ledger Accounting System (HIGLAS) and overall financial admin for the rest of HHS.

Major Systems in Need of Repair and Upgrades

According to the General Accounting Office, longstanding problems with Federal financial systems make it difficult for agencies to produce reliable financial information and for agencies to make the proper association between projects and their results. In its October 1 report, "Financial Management: FFMIA [Federal Financial Management Improvement Act] Implementation is Critical for Federal Accountability" (GAO-02-29, 2003), it is maintained that the size and complexity of many Federal agencies and the discipline needed to overhaul or replace their financial management systems presents a significant challenge in both the IT and data accuracy arenas.

The report notes that, because of the poor condition of agency accounting systems, agencies must go through extraordinary efforts to produce annual financial statements. "The central challenge to producing reliable, useful, and timely data throughout the year [by Federal agencies] and at year-end is [one of] overhauling financial and related information management systems," the report says. "As a result of these deficiencies, most agencies' financial management systems are unable to routinely produce timely, reliable, and useful financial information. Having such financial information is the goal of FFMIA and the CFO Act. Agency managers and other decisionmakers need this information for managing day-to-day operations effectively, efficiently, and economically; measuring program performance; executing the budget; maintaining accountability; and preparing financial statements."

The report found that "Remediation plans were prepared 16 of the 19 agencies that determined their systems were not in compliance during fiscal year 1999" and that "Our work to identify financial management best practices in world-class organizations has identified key factors for successfully modernizing financial systems, including (1) re-engineering business processes in conjunction with implementing new technology, (2) developing systems that support the partnership between finance and operations, and (3) translating financial data into meaningful information. Agencies can help to ensure that financial management systems investments deliver intended results by using Clinger-Cohen Act information technology (IT) management requirements, undertaking financial management systems modernization in a broad enterprise architecture context, making appropriate use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) financial management systems. Other factors include having top management commitment, adequate funding resources, and staff with the right technology skills mix." In a summary, the report notes that the DoD represents the government's most difficult challenge, relative to internal enterprise accounting systems, because "financial management systems reform will have to be part of a broader initiative to transform its overall IT business processes ... that will take years to complete."

Other Federal agencies don't fare much better. The now legendary and long-ongoing campaign to reform the IRS' enterprise systems euphemistically entitled IRS Modernization continues to limp "in a forwardly direction" (as one Philadelphia manager put it), as requirements and budgets escalate in an ever-increasing spiral. Vowing to maintain a barrage of releases of systems and software on schedule, IRS CIO John Reece indicated that, with the final e-file enhancements in place, 2004 will be "a make-or-break year for IRS modernization." Budgets are ballooning to meet the challenge, as the IRS' Congressional overseers allow the Agency to request supplemental appropriations for accelerating an existing fast-track program for boosting data security and physical protection of IRS facilities. Reece indicated he would ask for approximately 50% of planned 2003 funds early in order to deploy these new security systems ahead of schedule.

Key Modernization projects are to include "a huge release cycle for the CADE [Customer Account Data Engine], what I call our [IRS] Master File liberator." Under a sweetheart contract with long-standing IT-services supplier IBM, CADE will replace or augment the archaic tape-driven linear IRS Master File system of taxpayer records with a relational database network of better performance and improved analytical usability.

Data Sharing Takes Top Spot of New Federal IT Initiatives

If nothing else, the impact that the threat of terrorism has had on Federal IT programs, apart from the obvious one of improving overall security (but how? And against what?), has been to induce the widely-disparate agencies and Departments to cooperate in sharing data. For example, as part of the wide-ranging Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001 (HR 2896) legislation addresses the 'gap in data sharing' observable in the difficulties the FBI and DoJ have had in accessing INS information, and vice versa: if a foreign national committing a crime or under suspicion of conspiring to commit a terrorist act in the U.S. has been apprehended, the FBI stores a record of the incident and detainee in a DoJ database. However, the State Department and INS don't have access to FBI records when reviewing expirations or deciding whether to grant re-entry visas. Even if the records were jointly accessible, there is no inter-departmental offender- or suspect-alert network to induce simultaneous coordination for search and apprehension: it's still all done by phone-call notification, as-required email, and fax. The bill mandates that these three agencies, and others to be added, share data on anomalies and suspects. After much heated discussion, mostly hinging around reporting- and org-chart matters, the Administration and Homeland Security Department have decided to allow the primary data-mastering and -care responsibilities reside with the Anti-Terrorism division (or 'Center') at the FBI. The only other notable development along these lines was the appointment of Amit Yoran, former security chief for Symantec (producer of 'Norton Antivirus' software) as the new Director of the National Cyber Security Division of the Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Directorate for the DHS. His bio also reveals a stint as Vice President of Managed Security Services Operations for Symantec and previously he was Director of the Vulnerability Assessment and Assistance Program (VAAP) for the U.S. Department of Defense Computer Emergency Response Team (DoD/CERT).

For obvious reasons, lack of data sharing is now seen to be less of an unnecessary 'nice to have' frill (to the die-hard Federal info-turf managers now) and more of a serious threat to national security. While the integration effort began in 1996 with the FBI's National Criminal Information Center's (NCIC's) Interstate Identification Index allowing the State Department access to better screen visas applications, stovepipe systems and turf resistance ensured that data did not flow well in the other direction. Even this past July, a House subcommittee learned with great shock that criminal records were still not being regularly and expeditiously shared among these three key agencies crucial to protecting the nation and it's critical infrastructure from terrorism.

But the seemingly now-distant scare of anthrax attacks still reveals the importance of even wider data sharing — to, and including, the Department of Health and Human Services, where scant little has been established in the way of crisis and epidemic data sharing with key first-responders and Federal agencies charged with terrorist-tracking. If military units are to continue to capture terrorists overseas, and Interpol in Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain are to provide critical information, all of these entities need to have near-real-time online data sharing capabilities in order to apprehend terrorist operatives before they can board a plane, prepare a WMD, or travel to a targeted location from which to make a strike.

Advanced Software and System Capabilities Newly Funded for Select Federal Agencies

In a selected example of the loosening of Congressional purse-strings for development of advanced IT capabilities, the Department of Agriculture signed a five-year, $32 million blanket purchase agreement to standardize Geographic Information Systems (GIS) throughout the Department for the first time in its history. The consolidation contract will expand the use of GIS technology on a pan-USDA basis by providing suites of GIS software tools from ERSI, Inc. (Electronic Retailing Systems International) to all internal agencies.

ERSI has produced a well-received GIS and supporting facilities which has obtained favor among many U.S. counties and 911 call systems and several Federal agencies, including FEMA and the Corps of Engineers. Consolidating and standardizing on ERSI COTS, the USDA hopes to gain substantial interoperability and data exchange capabilities with these and other Federal agencies.

The Department first identified a need to consolidate and standardize about four years ago. Standardization is expected to simplify operations, enhance USDA program capabilities, and reduce planning, support, and analysis costs. USDA has particular interest in ERSI's dependable, longtime products ArcInfo and ArcView as well as the newer Internet-development and database tools. USDA is counting on the GIS' ability to improve crop yields through better agricultural management, and the new GIS will play a major role in the re-engineering of USDA's Service Center agencies, such as the National Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS) and the Farm Service Agency. The consolidation effort also includes funding for consulting and software development work for integrating with and updating legacy software used by agencies already using GIS tools, such as the Department's Forest Service operations.

Systems consolidation is planned for, and expected to benefit, a number of other Federal agencies. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) rolled out a new enterprise architecture and plan in early 2002 designed to streamline IT and information flows and make every component interchangeable. The new plan was unveiled by John Gauss, VA's CIO, who said it would save money and make it easier to construct a leaner, more efficient enterprise IT system. In the future, according to Gauss, someone would be able to come to the VA with a good idea and, like Lego blocks, be able to snap system components together to link new capabilities into VA's enterprise system with minimum effort and expense.

VA does not expect to spend a large budget on the project, since most of the engineering work is done in-house "before going to manufacture," though about 60% of the work is done by contractors or pulled in from outside sources. To achieve this, though, about $12 million would be expended for additional IT staff in-house. As a model for other low-IT-saturated agencies, the new VA enterprise architecture was the result of five months of work in late 2001 to develop the plan and was based on enterprise architecture concepts developed by a former IBM exec. Reorganization of IT functions and reduction of legacy IT staff are included among the elements of the plan.

Saving Millions via IT Consolidation Business Plans

The Defense Department has signed off on a broad range of initiatives designed to improve business processes and business operations while saving in excess of $200 million. Established in July by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, made up of the military service Secretaries and the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and headed by the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Pete Aldridge, the Business Initiatives Council has formulated initiatives addressing specific areas of personnel management, operating procedures, and acquisition management. This includes streamlining hiring procedures, expanding the recovery of overpayments, simplifying financial transfers, and an initiative aimed at overcoming the rising cost of cell phone bills by applying the Pentagon's purchasing power to negotiate lower rates. The Council also approved an initiative to move to wider use of Web processing of invoices and use of Web tools to coordinate schedules at the Department's test range facilities.

DoD's efforts to buy enterprise-wide software licenses is another of the several initiative receiving high-level approval from the Council. As part of the 'battle against bureaucracy', the Defense Department's Enterprise Software Initiative seeks to simplify and streamline the acquisition process by providing the best-priced software meeting DoD standards. Admin costs alone for the ESI project are expected to cost well over one-half million in fiscal year 2004. ESI was among the first ten projects approved by the Business Initiatives Council prominently featuring technology in the quest for consolidation savings, which also included the following:

Common Range Scheduling Tool: A Web-base scheduling tool improving coordination of testing schedules across multiple sites.

Web-based Invoice & Receipt Processing: A customizable system that seeks to reduce the incurrence of incorrectly prepared or missing receiving reports while moving towards a paperless process and using existing DoD automated systems. This enables the Defense Financial Accounting System to pay vendors faster and with fewer errors.

Common Flight Clearance Process: Software systems enabling computer-aided management of the common flight clearance process and improving clearance turnaround time.

The Business Initiatives Council thereby established simple criteria for project selection and approval of business process and IT development proposals. Each of the proposals must demonstrate real benefits for American warfighters, provide common good across DoD organizations, and — most importantly — generate identifiable and meaningful savings.

E-Government Takes Hold — Now In a More Serious Way

Relying initially on agency volunteers and donations, the Department of Health and Human Services has developed the first cut at its Federal Commons grants portal, beginning in 1996. The President's Management Council chose HHS' portal project in 2002 for funding as one of the top 23 E-government initiatives selected on a merit-and-potential basis. This comes as a well-funded Administration program tries to accelerate with some urgency the move of significant portions of all Federal agency work onto the Web.

But the urgency is greater today in the shadow of the 911 terrorists attacks. No longer is 'Web-enabling' thought of as just a cost-saving and time-saving Government-to-Citizen (G2C), Government-to-Business (G2B), and Government-to-Government (G2G) customer-service, CRM, and forms-processing option, but now it enables bioterror risk reduction at key Federal Government agencies as well. "We're trying to accelerate the work the Federal Commons is doing," said Terrence Tychan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition and Management.

Through the summer of 2003, under this program, OMB Associate Director for IT and E-Government Mark Forman funded projects that simplified and unified Federal systems. The portal offers a centralized source and spring-board to information and online applications for about 300 government grant programs nationwide. In December of 1999 it went live to help 26 grant-issuing agencies comply with the 1999 Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act (FAMIA) requiring them to provide electronic grant applications and information. Tychan hopes to receive $4.5 million in FY 2004 to begin re-engineering the portal for a much broader range of functions. In line with this effort, a number of the 26 agencies have begun self-funded 'pilot portal' efforts. Tychan indicated he expects the Grants Portal project, selected from among hundreds of competing elite initiatives, will continue to get extra funding from OMB, the President's Management Council, and possibly from the 'OMB pocket' E-Gov fund.

In another HHS initiative, the National Institute of Health (NIH) plans to implement an ultimately-paperless file-tracking system for work and cases. Initially locating and reporting status on a mix of paper folders and electronic ones for NIH's portfolio of $1.1 billion in research grants for diabetes and kidney diseases. HHS and some of NIH's functions have already consolidated payroll systems under a contract to PeopleSoft and Booz-Allen.

The contract for the paperless system was awarded to a Web-oriented software development startup by the unlikely name of Bamboo Solutions. Now a division of Vidar Systems Corp., of Herndon, Virginia. Bamboo also provides top-quality document-scanning and medical film imaging and digitizing solutions that interface effortlessly with its medical case tracking software. Bamboo creates a product by the name of WD3 organizes, updates, disseminates and tracks mission-critical information automatically, commencing with greatly simplified case/folder creation.

The Web-based nature of the WD3 product is cited as a key feature, allowing the software product to track any type of information worldwide via any Web workstation or wireless device. Bamboo's recent customers include the U.S. Military Sealift Command. Bamboo and Vidar officials pointed out that a successful software product line is what can enable a software development startup to leap from obscurity to potentially a billion-dollar marketplace in just a few years.

A representative of the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) said that NIH's paperless system would help NIH and NIDDK manage and track an exponentially-growing portfolio of research grants and studies in an efficient manner and will position them to incorporate electronic and paperless advances in administration into the current system. A company representative said that their architecture was selected as the best way for them to get eventually to a paperless system and that it called for software that cuts a lot of Federal and contractor time out of creating a custom solution that may be too legacy-ridden and too expensive to upgrade in the future.

Similarly, PEC Solutions of Fairfax, Virginia was awarded in 2002 a contract for $5.6 million in task orders by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). ATF will receive IT services that include software development leading to the creation of a Web application for entering, analyzing, and retrieving information concerning arson and criminal misuse of explosives. As part of this work, ATF's law enforcement case management system will be re-engineered to transition from its current client-server enterprise legacy system to a Web architecture.

Task orders include enhancing property inventory, evidence-tracking capabilities, and improvements for asset management and reporting. In a joint developer/solutions provider/systems integrator role, PEC Solutions will implement support and provide products to the Bureau's critical-incident case management system collecting and analyzing information related to ATF's criminal investigations. The upgrading of an existing document imaging and retrieval system is also included.

The Bamboo and PEC awards are representative of the impact of the new Federal theme of combining consolidation and modernization programs with Web and E-government initiatives. The demand for Web-creation-experienced software developers is hitting a critical level. Further, in most of the arenas where the Federal government has established Web sites, portals, and E-government programs, new funding is being provided for Web architecture expansion, integration with existing legacy and enterprise systems, and Web customer and interface personalization.

In one example, the Department of Education has launched a redesigned Web site with easier information access and user personalization. This site has been organized into five categories dealing with policy, research and statistics, educational resources, financial aid, and grants and contracts. Customizable pages for teachers, principals, parents, students and technical assistance providers are easily accessible and useable. So far, pilot reviews have received an enthusiastic response.

As part of an ongoing effort to make the information and resources of the Department available and understandable to policy makers, Government leaders, educators, and students alike, Education's Web-based information search functions have been substantially improved as well. The site has consistently ranked among the Top 10 most visited Federal sites, averaging over one million visitors and 12 million page views per month. Users have participated in the Web's development via suggestions to an unprecedented degree, and the site's redesign for personalization stemmed out of the user feedback surveys. A second phase of redesign improving the structure and presentation of Education's available information resources is expected to begin shortly.

Inadequately Implemented Federal Web Sites Now Targeted for Overhaul and Redesign

Web usability obstacles abound in the current crop of Federal department and agency Web sites, however, and redesign solutions are being funded and sought. In perhaps one of the most egregious examples of poor usability, the Environmental Pollution Agency's (EPA's) Jobs link on its main site is too tiny to click properly for some person with dexterity problems, is very difficult to see for people with low vision, and sometimes results in dead jumps, according to usability consultants.

While such usability problems abound in cyberspace, from corporate Web sites to government portals, efforts are underway to address some of the more prominent and nagging problem at Federal sites where access to pages, ease of use, logic, and clarity prove elusive. Poor design of some of these original Federal efforts has been cited as impeding the Public's impression of E-government's capability and impeding the potential of the Internet — especially for people with disabilities — and some sites are still in violation of Section 508. The Web has been assessed as three times harder for people with disabilities to use than it is for the non-disabled, according to a 2003 study funded in part by the EPA. Blind Web users, or those having poor vision, including the elderly, are seen to be at an extreme disadvantage and must use screen readers or screen magnification software to navigate Federal sites — and the Internet at large.

In a survey, Web users were asked to perform a series of tasks — find information, research mutual funds, buy goods online, or get subway and bus transit information, for example — to rate their Web-usage experience. Those having impairments of vision or dexterity had information-gathering or transaction-execution success rates of four-to-six times lower than the non-impaired — and made up to eight times more errors in the process.

While Congress passed the Section 508 legislation requiring Federal agencies to make their Web sites more accessible to persons with disabilities, Web pages and links can still comply with the legislation's requirements while at the same time causing even some non-disabled persons to suffer from Web design and layout-implementation usability problems.

The White House Web site is another Section 508-compliant portal exhibiting overall usability problems for both the disabled and the non-disabled. Its home page contains an enormous number of links to other pages (from 62 to over 100) linked via very finely-divided lines. Although intended to permit users in a hurry a fast way of connecting to exactly what they need, this layout substantially reduces usability for those with visual impairments, since it is time consuming to comb through the masses of links — and to recover from a mis-clicked link during times when the site is very busy handling a flood of requests, such as during 911, the anthrax attacks, recent hurricanes, and the 2003 Northeast U.S. power outages. While impressive as art, the White House site home page curved script-lettering has proven very difficult for reduced-vision users to read and comprehend, and the tiny buttons activating the desired links often escape the click of an ordinary mouse cursor at high screen resolutions.

On the plus side, the White House site provides several crucial usability features which aid the elderly and disabled. For example, a search box is placed prominently at the top of the page, enabling users to use a search engine to line up a far-reduced and easy-to-click list of interest-item links to enabled the visually-impaired to find what they want expeditiously without sorting through the vast list of closely-spaced links or risking clicking the wrong one. Further, the site prominently indicates the site's name at the upper-left-hand portion of the page, rather than buried down further toward the center of the page, thus preceded by site maps or row-lists of site functions. This is quite a time-saving relief for persons using screen readers.

Other Federal sites have not faired much better — for example, many links in sites supported by the Department of Labor zoom the user off to unintended pages or to "the Twilight Zone" (a blank white page with an hour-glass cursor), and the Internal Revenue Service's home page is bedeviled by an endless (and perhaps intentional?) round-robin of page clicks before the site user can get to the most elemental and commonly-requested piece of information.

OMB analysts and CIO offices across the Departments and Federal agencies are realizing that poor Web site usability handicaps both the normal user and the visually-impaired, causing wasted time and money for both the Government and site users. Web site and Web portal usability is more than just a matter of convenience — it is a question of lost productivity, and for businesses, bad customer relations and lost revenues. Sites displaying poor usability fail to reach the targeted number of persons that the site or portal was designed to serve — and further, 'bumps' the non-deterred users over to paper-forms processing or call centers, thus substantially increasing per-transaction costs. The Federal Government is not exempt from this principle, and the result comes down to higher taxes for the taxpayer — and so well worth the Government's investment in good usability.

Increased Funding for G2B, G2G Efforts

OMB and other IT-leadership Administration agencies are pushing for improved business processes with outside entities as well. The GSA, for example, has engaged business through its portals by setting up the National Business Registry, a one-stop business registration and licensing service for such businesses as trucking companies, restaurants, and dry cleaners. Given additional funding, the GSA will be able to return online in FY 2004 in an updated fashion with the Registry, which will be accessible through the omnibus portals www.business.gov, www.employers.gov, and www.FirstGov.gov, as well as the home pages of participating States. Developed under a one-hundred thousand dollar grant from FirstGov, the portal will allow small businesses to get tax identification and employer numbers, patent applications, trademarks and copyrights, and State and city licenses via a single Internet portal site.

Initially participating Federal agencies will include the GSA, the Small Business Administration (SBA), and the Social Security Administration (SSA). The IRS and the Patent and Trademark Office are also represented, though access to complete Web databases is limited, though impressively easy for novices to use. States lined up to date include Washington State, New Jersey, Illinois, North Carolina and South Carolina. The IRS is looking into developing a means for issuing employer identification numbers online, while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency are closely following the permits and licensing experience of the portal to determine whether it might become a worthwhile site to 'buy into' or a good model for their own application processing portal efforts.

In the shadow of power outages and the Energy Crisis, the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee (FERC) recently issued a notice of inquiry (NOI) seeking comments on a proposal to allow it to issue all documents in electronic form. The Commission is interested in the Public's feedback on a separate initiative to distribute its documents via the 'push' method of broadcast and mailing-list e-doc distribution:

Whether adopting issuances via email would be preferred by recipients over receiving paper service

Whether e-distribution could reduce the number of parties filing motions to intervene simply to remain aware of a proceeding's developments

Whether it would be more beneficial for FERC to also email the Internet links of documents other than its issuances via e-distribution.

Whether the documents contained in a wide variety of different formats at the FERC portal site — including Word Perfect, plain ASCII text, TIFF files, and others — are acceptable, or would other formats, e.g., Adobe's PDF (Portable Document Format) be preferable

FERC is contemplating initiating a pilot project for e-distribution before finalizing the e-doc processing rules to examine the potential usage impact and reduction in demand of imposing a fee to recover processing costs for the e-doc distribution service. Over FY 2004, other regulatory commissions will be following FERC's experience to entertain the possibility of commencing document dissemination via the Web as a major paper- and labor-cost reduction measure.

State and local governments, municipalities, and county administrations are also stepping up to the plate of E-gov and improved coordination with Federal sites through a 'bake-off' of two competing initiatives enhancing their online capabilities and Web services. Average Municipal, State and County Web budgets have increased over the past three years at a stunning 76% average annual rate.

A small software company called Avenet LLC created a partnership offering a hosted Web development product called GovOffice WebCreator, which the State and local governments can access, develop, and customize over the Net to build robust sites and portals. Avenet's products have been sponsored by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), the League of Minnesota Cities, and Microsoft. The other sizeable partnership and hosted Web development system widely successful among State and local entities is organized and lead by IBM in collaboration with the National League of Cities (NLoC) and the National Association of Counties (NACo).

Both alliances maintain that the Web development products and small-company participations are vital, since the majority of the smaller local governments are financially unable to hire Web developers with the needed skills-set. The bulk of the basic work has been done and manifests itself in tools and templates permitting local government employees possessing basic computer skill levels to assemble and customize the components for the construction of a basic Web site or administrative portal.

Even until this year, however, most of these sites only posted basic information, and are only just now processing license applications, taxes, driver's license renewals, vehicle stickers and tags, etc. Most of the popular GovOffice sites operate in the 'information and media distribution' category. However, as of this year, this is starting to change. Most of local businesses would prefer that State and local government operate on a 24/7 basis, since they, themselves find it hard to find the time to squeeze in the taxing paperwork. States like Virginia, California, and New York and others now have robust Web portals capable of processing a wide (or predominant) variety of forms, applications, and requirements entirely electronically.

The Administration and Congress favor the development of Web and Internet capabilities for all State and local governments, and Federal funds transferred for this purpose are on the rise.

Major Security and Anti-Terror Requirements Added to Federal Consolidation Programs

Even before the 911 attacks, the DoD was busy formulating the 21st Century security plan that included a major component for homeland security. Entitled, "Blueprint for Transformation of the Department of Defense to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century," the plan addresses the needs of the United States in defending itself from internal threats and from terrorist attacks originating elsewhere in the world.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Christopher Mellon, speaking at the Executive Leadership Conference of the Industry Advisory Council on October 15, of last year said that new technology and information systems hold the key to protecting this country from terrorism and internal and external threats. But in order to meet the challenge, the DoD would have to transform itself. Mellon told the audience that the Department is going to need the Leadership's and Council's expertise, resources, and abilities more than ever before. Information technology "holds the vast potential for maximizing the work of our men and women in uniform," he said.

To a degree, Mellon said, part of the threat comes from globalization, but this is unavoidable for the U.S., since "no other country has responsibilities across the globe as the U.S. does." While the primary theme was one of E-government, the month-earlier attacks were seen to have "totally re-oriented many top-level Government thinkers to the context of homeland security." Other speakers told the assemblage that new technologies, Internet capabilities, and IT would be at the forefront of the war effort against terrorism on a worldwide basis. "Technology will be the most important component of fighting the war" to smash terrorism, he said. Executives in and out of the conference said they expect that in excess of one-third of the $40 billion approved by Congress would be spent on new IT and derivative database, software, and data sharing initiatives.

Pressures abound within the policy-formulation agencies of the Government to re-orient the Nation's civilian and military security arms towards the combating of terrorism on the home front. Most Federal employees have now noticed that OMB Form 300 while sometimes seeming onerous in its work requirement level, more productively replaces the ancient and venerable Form 300b used for the annual Federal FY planning cycle for items of budgetary requests to OMB. Form 300 now has a required line item entitled, "How much are you spending on Security?" — a not-so-subtle hint that the line item should not be 'zero'. Sandy Berger, former Clinton national security advisor, was quoted as once advising all newly-entering Bush Administration execs that they should spend their "first dollar" on inter-agency information-sharing and data integration projects — starting with Executive Office Administration systems!

"If I were Tom Ridge, the first dollar I would spend would be on [agencies] being able to talk to each other," Berger said. while speaking at a forum on National Security hosted in Washington, D.C. He said agencies such as the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the FBI, Customs, and the CIA, along with State and local law enforcement "need to have the capability in real time to intelligently share information." Berger pointed out that it would be up to HSD to draw up a conceptual architecture to make such capabilities a reality, and that the private sector should work to see that the physical and cyberspace architecture is developed and that it can be offered to Federal, State and local governments can be implemented.

Former Director of Central Intelligence for the CIA R. James Woolsey added that the software technology must soon be put in place to make it possible fore the Government to understand what it knows in the sum of all its parts [and] take action." Woolsey said the private sector needs to rise to the challenge. Much of our ability to deal with the ware we're now fighting is the speed and adaptability of American business, particularly in the high-tech sector." HSD should be given the authority to disapprove agency budgets unless they meet specific standards, including funding for counter-terrorism measures and data integration initiatives. All agreed that these new imperatives added to pressures for major revisions to the Federal systems consolidation and modernization efforts to incorporate data- and information-sharing architectures and provide immediate funding for FY 2004 on an emergency-exception, ad hoc basis until agency five-year missions, strategies, and plans can be amended.

Speaking before a Committee on E-Gov and security, Virginia Governor John Warner said that the Nation's cyber-security efforts to protect the Internet and Information Technology, which he termed "the tools of freedom in the 21st Century," need to encompass all levels of government, as well as the private sector. 911, he said, proved to officials that they must assume terrorists or hostile nations can disrupt the Country's critical infrastructures — such as banks and finance systems, transportation systems for the delivery of goods, health care facilities, etc. — which in this new millennium rely more than ever before on software systems, IT and databases vulnerable to being shut down or severely crippled by a terrorist attack — or any natural or infrastructure disaster.

Governor Warner is chairman of an advisory panel established by Congress in 1999 to assess America's ability to respond to terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction. In Virginia, a State containing substantial information assets at critical sites such as the Federal Reserve Bank, the Pentagon, the CIA, and defense contractors supporting our Nation's warfighting capabilities, State officials are developing a plan that could serve as a model for a national cybersecurity strategy. This plan involves the cataloging of critical information assets. The plan establishes a program for the management of the innate and unique risks native to each and coordinates preparations with Federal, State, and local governments, pertinent commerce and industry, as well as the public organizations that depend on them.

Warner offered several other recommendations for the management of the recommended cybersecurity programs to the House panel:

Create an independent advisory board to evaluate programs that are designed to promote cyber security and recommend strategies to the President and Congress. The panel was urged to review Federal laws relating to cybersecurity implementation, to study cybersecurity issues, and to generate new ideas for review and adoption by the Office of Homeland Security.

Set up a nonprofit organization to represent the interest of public and private stakeholders and iron out disagreements on the sharing of intelligence and real-time information among them. The panel was asked to note that the private sector is quite concerned about the potential impact that data sharing with could have on their customers' privacy, and companies want to protect proprietary internal information, such as profits and sales figures, etc.

Working with judges experienced in cybersecurity issues, establish a special 'cyber court' similar to the court allowed under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that would enable prosecutors and investigators to act quickly while protecting basic civil liberties.

Assemble a publicly funded consortium of nonprofit universities and think tanks whose efforts could enhance cybersecurity research and development efforts and boost the number of researchers in future generations. The Science Committee has recently held hearings on the relative lack of cybersecurity research in 2003, so this part of the Virginia Governor's proposal was seen by members of the Panel as "music to our ears."

Lastly, combine, re-cast and continue Section 508 teams and Year 2000 emergency offices in all Federal agencies as 'cybersecurity' offices.

White House Leads New Federal IT Security Spending Boom

The White House plans to fight cyberterrorism with a few tools of its own. President Bush released the long-awaited Presidential Order creating a high-level board to protect the Nation's critical infrastructure information systems. Dubbed Executive Order 13231, published 2002 in the Federal Register, the directive launches an enormous administrative apparatus for management of the Federal Government's responsibility for government-wide security policy and implementation as relates to IT systems.

The Homeland Security Department's Critical Infrastructure Protection Directorate, which, under the order, has the "responsibility to coordinate and have cognizance of Federal efforts and programs relating to protection of information systems. The Information Technology revolution has changed the way business is transacted, government operates, and National Defense is conducted," states the Order. Funding will come from DHS and other agencies represented on the Administration's Board. The Order, however, sets aside cybersecurity relating to all overseas, military and DoD activities to be purely within the province of the Secretary of Defense and the Director of the CIA.

Presidential Order 13231 does not abolish existing groups that have recently received stiff increases in funding, such as the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office, the Federal Computer Incident Response Center, or the National Infrastructure Protection Center; however, the Board will assume general leadership and oversight responsibility for all of them. The increased complexity of managing these overlapping organizations will require a wide range of extra databases and customized cybersecurity alert and secure-communications software systems, a senior White House advisor told Software Technology Magazine.

The Order puts the Director of OMB in charge of implementing and disseminating government-wide policies, standards, and guidelines for protecting Federal agency information systems, and the President noted that these agencies are "responsible and accountable for providing and maintaining adequate levels of security for [these] information systems, including emergency preparedness communications systems. "Cost-effective security shall be built into and made an integral part of Government information systems, especially those critical systems that support the National Security and other essential Government programs," the directive states.

Additionally, security should enable, and not unnecessarily impede, Department and agency business operations," the Order says. Comprised of Bush Administration Cabinet members and top Presidential Aides, the Board will see to the key task of coordinating efforts with Industry and Business, since many of the Nation's information networks, e.g., the Internet and telcom networks owned by AT&T, Sprint, WorldCom, and the regional Bells, support crucial Government functions, although they are in private hands.

Security in Database and Data Sharing

DHS's Division of Cyber Security is considering a new technology that would continually change the IP addresses and port numbers of networked computers, making it hard for hackers' software to mount a sustained attack. The startup company that is developing the technology, Invicta Networks of Herndon, Virginia, offered to work with consultants and software developers to prepare proposals to businesses and various levels of government to provide secure solutions. People clever enough to grind anthrax spore material to the right particle size for infection certainly can find someone to get through firewalls, said Woolsey, who headed up the CIA from 1993 through 1995. He pointed out that any national identification card program should have a 'sundown' clause that ends some of the data-gathering activities after a fixed time period. Maintenance and management of the new software, databases, and data sharing for implementation of these systems are under consideration for additional appropriations.

Major Departments and Agencies Seeking More Security Funding

John Reece, CIO at the IRS, notes that priorities for IT spending plans have changed in the wake of the 911 terrorist attacks. In particular, the tax agency is seeking more money from Congress as an emergency supplemental appropriation. As have other agencies, the IRS has asked OMB for increased funding on a priority basis. But the IRS must compete with other agencies — in the most current example, with HHS.

Reece stated the sought funds would be applied agency-wide, not solely as an adjunct to the long-ongoing Business Systems Modernization program, a 10-year, multi-billion-dollar IT program to upgrade IRS systems and migrate the IRS closer to a paperless agency. Other government execs confirmed that the new emphasis on post-terror-attack perspectives have intensified security priorities and upped budget requirements. Every first week of October, for example, officials at the Department of Agriculture are given a course on how to handle — and track the potentially-damaging delivery path of — suspicious-looking mail. USDA employees now wear gloves as part of the procedure, and are required to enter suspicious incidents and mail routing information in special databases on their PC workstations. "Priorities have changed immensely," said K. Adair Martinez, CIO of the Department of Veteran Affairs. "We're really focusing on security."

New Software Needed for Mail Tracking

Soon, when a creditor hears the hackneyed phrase, "The Check's In The Mail," the Postal Service may actually be able to verify whether or not that's true. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) says greater use of bar codes and sophisticated bar code scanners and scan-tracking software may make it possible for customers to know more precisely when letters and packages will arrive and might further improve the efficiency of the Postal Service overall, to the benefit of companies such as insurance companies that heavily rely on the mails, USPS officials acknowledged. A fair amount of brainstorming is also being committed to develop long-term competitive strategies for dealing with package-and-mail services extensions increasingly being offered by UPS and Fedex.

Developing the ability to track each piece of mail was one of several high-tech alternatives suggested by a special task force set up within the USPS to improve performance. The Mailing Industry Task Force is comprised of companies depending on the mail, e.g., credit card companies, and vendors offering technologies related to the needs and operations of the Postal Service, such as Pitney Bowes, Inc.

The ability to track individual pieces of mail could mean far greater efficiency for businesses that depend on the USPS in the course of their operations. For example, a company mailing product promotions to potential customers would be able to discover and know with greater precision exactly when the promotions arrive and could better gage their programs' impact and returns, thus staffing up processing personnel and call centers to handle an influx of orders at a lower cost and in a more timely fashion. For postal customers, tracking individual mailings could mean knowing with greater accuracy when a package might arrive, the MITF proposal says.

Together with mailpiece tracking, the Task Force recommends the provision of more convenience services, such as delivering personal mail to customers at work rather than at home, time-and-date stamps, and offering 24-hour service which could be transacted through special kiosks in convenient locations such as malls, grocery stores, and bank branches. While estimated costs and pricing was not available, past USPS investments in software and hardware technology have not yielded the desired returns, according to an FY 2001 GAO report. Nevertheless, the Postal Service plans to spend more than $17 billion over the next five years on workflow automation, mailpiece tracking, and IT — including "mailflow analysis" — in hopes of achieving a new productivity breakthrough able to boost annual labor savings by more than $1 billion per year.

Additional software work is up for grabs as the U.S. Air Force looks to move more of its electronic traffic off its open networks and onto more secure, classified systems, according to its Deputy CIO. "We're making significant efforts ... 'robusting' our classified capabilities," said John Gilligan, also the co-chairman of the CIO Council's Committee for Security, Privacy, and Critical Infrastructure. "An enormous amount of information is processed in our unclassified networks," he said, but the Air Force is now moving activity off those unclassified networks and onto more secure, classified systems.

Agenda for this transitions in communications and IT security levels became automatic as the decision was made fairly quickly that the Air Force is now operating on a war footing and that the United States is under attack. Therefore, the USAF required protected means of communications and development funding became automatic. One of the options for a secured universal communications services network is the relatively recent Secret IP Packet Network "That is probably going to be the way we are operating in the future," he said. As a result, the Air Force is making "a fairly significant effort to invest in our classified network."

Across the Federal Government, the attacks have immutably changed the way agencies asses risk. A month ago, few thought it was possible to "weaponize" a commercial plane into a missile of mass destruction. "Things that were unthinkable before have become possible," and this has resulted in a reassessment of the Government's security defenses, leading to the call for heavy spending in the technology and security sectors.

A crushing need and demand for anti-biowarfare and sophisticated, ROM-software driven medical instrumentation and laboratory devices has clearly arisen as a result of CDC and even the Federal agencies in Washington, D.C. having been overwhelmed by the anthrax detection and laboratory analysis needs generated by just a few tainted envelopes. A representative of the NIH, who wished not to be named, said preliminary off-the-cuff estimates are that the total demand of new medical and lab instruments, equipment, and devices for 2004 could easily hit $45 billion — of which $17 billion would be needed in new software development for instrumentation and automated lab-testing robotics systems logic.

Section 508 Obligations and Initiatives Still Continue

The GSA has launched a friendlier version of its Web devoted to information technology accessibility with a link to a database of compliant products. The GSA supported this information-rich site for two years, under the Section 508 provisions of the 1998 Rehabilitation Act amendments. This overhaul was in part triggered by the need to remove Federal "government-ese" jargon from the site's passages and documents made available for public information, according to Terry Weaver, Director of the Center for IT Accommodation in the GSA's Policy Office.

Section 508, which requires agencies to make all publicly-accessible systems accessible also to disabled users, provides information for Federal employees, vendors, State employees, the handicapped, and the disabled. The site also aids all Federal agencies in making the determination of whether mere enhancement or redesign is necessary in order to become Section 508 compliant. Vendors can also take part in the Buy Accessible Program by downloading a specific template hosted by the IT Industry Council in order to submit a self-assessment of their software and Web products' compliance. A link to a special database helps Federal buyers research products which are already approved as compliant with those requirements.

For example, the U.S. Navy has signed a three-year, $3 million blanket purchasing agreement for DoD users to obtain Web site accessibility software from Hiawatha Island Software Company, Inc. of Concord, New Hampshire. The Veterans Affairs Department also added the Hiawatha Island product line to its Procurement of Computer Software and Hardware, a five-year Federal government omnibus acquisition contract held by MicronPC of Merdian, Idaho.

The Navy agreement, part of the Defense Department's Enterprise Software Initiative, has been let to DLT Solutions of Herndon, Virginia, under a broader GSA contract. Both agreements provide Section 508 accessibility software under accounts of from 17 to 25 percent, and include three client-server components, AccVerify, AccMonitor, and AccRepair. These measure accessibility per the requirements of Section 508 of the Disability Act Amendments, as well as per the World Wide Web Consortium standards. The Acc*-series software runs under Microsoft Windows 9x, Millennium Edition (ME), NT 4.0, or Windows 2000 and can be integrated with Microsoft FrontPage site-authoring software. Hiawatha Island Software released updated versions of the three products allowing Webmasters and administrators track accessibility updates and permitting them to directly identify inaccessible multimedia graphics.

Rush Towards Outsourcing Fueled by Consolidations, Retirements, 10% Rule

When the Bush Administration first took command early this year, OMB distributed an informal recommendation that, where possible, major Federal agencies consolidate data processing centers. A target reduction in Federal IT workforce was set as 10% by the end of FY 2004 through attrition by retirement reassignment, to be replaced by outsourcing of a like percentage of Federal IT systems and support. However, as a result of recent events, all that may now be changed.

However, the consolidations continue. For example, a derivative agency split off from the Department of Health and Human Resources entitled the Program Support Group was established in 1998 to serve multiple Departments with Federal IT support on a fee-for-service basis. Recently, operations in that organization have been consolidated. Over the course of the last few years, the GAO has made recommendations for fixes to the enterprise-level systems of the IRS, FAA, U.S. Navy, the Small Business Administration (SBA), Medicare-related divisions of HHS, and others.

Total Federal Government Software Technology Demand Most Likely To Go Orbital

In his final testimony before the Joint Subcommittee on Technology and Procurement Policy in March of 2003, OMB Director Mark Forman stated, "To accomplish this vision, we [must] simplify business processes to maximize the benefit of technology, resulting in processes that will be faster, cheaper, and more efficient. We will also have to replace legacy 'islands of automation' by unifying IT and operations across many silos. While this rarely has been done in the Federal Government, such business transformation has become almost routine in industry as well as State, local, and foreign governments. Catching up will require new and different skills in our IT professionals. A the top of my list is the ability to communicate with line program professionals. Other important skills include knowledge of enterprise applications such as supply chain management, customer relationship management, and knowledge management. Like all information-intensive industries, the Government has a shortage of IT architects, especially those that design ways that we can best leverage emerging information platforms for security, Web services, and ubiquitous [assumed to mean "overwhelming amounts of" — Ed.] information."

"Through our competitive sourcing initiative, we intend to identify and select sources, public or private, that are best able to perform and help the Government execute its mission most effectively. Agencies are currently working with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to examine, among other things, how they are providing IT services and will then determine the best source of those services. In many respects, competitive sourcing will offer and opportunity to use market forces to develop capabilities needed to meet the Federal Government's IT needs."

If consolidations and outsourcings continue, they can only add to the unexpected contractor- and job boom in demand for hardware and software technology, development, and services. It will be up to the Nation's independent commercial software producers to find, train, and reward the individual career software development professionals that will be needed to meet the information technology challenges and wartime needs of the planet's most powerful nation.