Bush IT Budget Earmarks $722M For Information-Sharing Plan

Of the $52 billion in IT spending the Bush administration has proposed in its fiscal year 2003 budget, $722 million is earmarked for information-sharing initiatives that are part of the federal government's war on terrorism and homeland security initiatives.

That $722 million would pay for projects such as ensuring compatibility among disaster-response personnel's communications systems, information portals for disseminating information in emergencies, and computer-based geographical information systems, says Mark Forman, associate director of IT and E-government at the White House's Office of Management and Budget. It will also fund efforts to share more data across multiple federal agencies through the use of technologies such as knowledge-management systems and collaboration, Forman said Tuesday at a briefing for the IT industry and government contractors in Washington.

To coordinate the IT programs dedicated to counterterrorism and homeland security, the administration will establish a new program office that will receive $20 million in funding and be part of the Commerce Department's Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office, Forman said.

The budget, for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, still must undergo an extensive review, modification, and approval by Congress. In addition to providing funds for counterterrorism and homeland security initiatives, it also allots $4.2 billion for IT security projects, up from the $2.7 billion for IT security in the administration's 2002 budget. Extensive flaws were found in federal IT security by an OMB review, but rather than suspend any programs, the administration plans to address those weaknesses as it goes forward and make sure security is part of any new IT initiatives. "Every agency has security weaknesses, and nobody has taken care of all of their security problems, but that doesn't mean we shut down government and IT," Forman said.

IT vendors specializing in government contracts praise the administration's emphasis on agency accountability for the success of IT projects and for a renewed focus on private/public cooperation. "As we talk to our federal clients, we'll have to understand what metrics they have in place," says Bernie DiTullio, manager of strategic programs in the public sector business of Hewlett-Packard. As the administration shifts its focus, says Steven Perkins, senior VP in the public sector business of Oracle, "It's going to be a return to the previous days when there was a lot more government/industry collaboration."