Executive Summary
What is
E-Government?
E-Government
Strategy
E-Government Strategy
G2G: Government to Government
Overview:
The goal of the Government to Government (G2G) portfolio is �to forge new partnerships among the levels of government. These partnerships will facilitate collaboration between levels of government, and empower State and Local governments to deliver citizen services more effectively�.
Many services such as Homeland Security, Vital Records Verification, Disaster Management, and others require collaboration among Federal, State and Local governments. The initiative is supported by an effort to create a Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA), which makes possible cross-Federal and Federal / State / Local government coordination and sharing of IT investments. According to E-Government strategy: �the Federal government must make it easier for states and localities to meet reporting requirements, while promoting the use of performance measurements. State and local governments will see significant administrative savings and will be able to improve program delivery.�
Discussion:
A selection of these offerings is discussed here.
- Geospatial One-Stop: This Department of Interior�s initiative aims to simplify access across government agencies, as well as citizens, to geospatial data and geospatial projects. The portal serves mostly as a �clearinghouse� to the information originated from U.S. Census, U.S. Geographic Society, Department of Agriculture, Geographic Information Systems, etc.
- Disaster Management: Headed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the portal provides on-line access to disaster management related information to all emergency managers across government branches. The web site features a wealth of information for citizens on how to be best prepared for an emergency.
- E-Vital: This Social Security Administration initiative aims at establishing common electronic processes for federal & state agencies to collect, process, analyze, verify and share birth and death records. E-Vital seeks to automate the often error prone paper-based process that involves many participants including funeral directors, physicians, medical examiners and hospitals. SSA plans to roll-out a web site for online access to birth / death information.
- Grants.gov: The �electronic storefront for Federal Grants� is overseen by US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The portal is aimed at current and prospective federal grant customers to find and apply for grants. The �Find� portion of the objective has been implemented, while �Apply� is currently in the pilot phase. The project plan is to deploy the system to grant-making agencies. Unfortunately, a link to Grants.gov is absent on the HHS website, which defeats the goal of the program.
Analysis:
Overall, the G2G is the least developed category of the e-government initiative and the focus on inter-departmental efficiencies remains low. Although the initiative should serve as a catalyst for government re-organization and process re-architecture, current projects are not oriented in that manner yet. The separation of G2G and Internal Efficiency and Effectiveness categories could be the main problem.
Recommendation:
Consolidate G2G and Internal Efficiency and Effectiveness programs under one
G2G initiative. Create an external team consisting of champions from both public and private sectors, which could provide the Government with a clear view of the deficiencies and provide direction for resolving these problems in light of the President�s stated goals.
Links
White House G2G agenda http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/egov/gtog.htm
Geospatial One-Stop www.geodata.gov
Disaster Management www.disasterhelp.gov
Grants.gov www.grants.gov
HHS website www.hhs.gov/grants