No Federal Spending Spree Planned For 2004

The federal government has barely begun spending its fiscal 2003 IT budget, and already it's crunching the numbers for 2004.

Federal agencies plan to spend about $52 billion on IT in fiscal 2003, which began Oct. 1. That's about 15% more than they laid out in fiscal 2002, with most of the increase going to homeland security. Security needs will only intensify in the coming year, so Mark Forman, associate director for IT and E-government, isn't ruling out additional increases in IT spending in 2004. The de facto federal CIO pledged that bigger budgets wouldn't result in wasteful technology buying. "We'll need more-disciplined spending in fiscal 2004," he says.

Overall spending might go up, but any increase probably will be the result of demands imposed by national security. "We're facing the same budget crunch you faced last year," Forman told state CIOs at a conference in St. Louis last week.

Many states have had to cut IT spending as revenue diminished because, unlike the federal government, most states must balance their budgets. The federal government will help states pay for IT projects that relate to homeland security, Forman says.

One way to rein in spending in these tight times is for agencies to share technologies. Forman cited Energy Department CIO Karen Evans' decision to buy more enterprise licenses for electronic-signature technology than her department needs. The extra licenses will be shared with other agencies rather than have them build or buy their own E-signature applications. In fact, Forman says, the Office of Management and Budget won't authorize spending on redundant IT projects.