OMB, CBO, GAO Policy Statements

[admin]

This thread will be dedicated to presenting and analyzing statements made by the White House Office of Managementand Budget(OMB). The authors will be former OMB officials. Click for
bio: http://www.thecre.com/fed_times_tozzi_art.html

[admin]

OMB Differs From Other Experts On the Impact Of Balloning Deficits

Now that the budget forecasts for the federal budget contain a highway of red ink,
experts differ on their significance.

“many economists argue that deficit-spending now should help stimulate the ailing economy, leading to far stronger growth in the year ahead and ultimately bringing down the unemployment rate, which is currently at a nine-year high of 6.4 percent”

“Ken Goldstein, an economist with the Conference Board, a business research group in New York, argues that today’s budget deficits “cut deeper” than they did 20 years ago because they come at a time of huge state and local budget deficits, leaving the overall government position with regard to the economy in worse shape.”

Others state:

“Obviously nobody at the American Enterprise Institute is advocating those kinds of massive tax increases or spending cuts. But Smetters and Gokhale argue that Congress does not appreciate the size of the fiscal problems because federal accounting essentially masks the true size of the growing imbalance. A paper published this week by the two economists contends that a more accurate accounting would show the federal imbalance growing by nearly $9.7 trillion between now and 2008 — more than five times the size of the projected budget deficits.
“We are talking about a huge, huge problem,” said Smetters.”

Read the article:
http://msnbc.com/news/940556.asp?0sl=-42

Click to What's New In Regulations

http://thecre.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=12

[admin]

The Cost of E-Government

Agencies must send their view on the second round of e-government projects to OMB by September, 8.

"The Office of Management and Budget will accept cross-agency e-government proposals for four lines of business: public-health monitoring, criminal investigation, human resources administration and financial management"

These are laudable goals but they will not necessarily result in cost savings because of the greater level of services which may be provided to the public.

Read article

http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/22748-1.html


Read article:

http://thecre.com/emerging/20030714_egov.htm

Click to What's New In Regulation

http://thecre.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=12

[admin]

OMB's presence at the national level is known directly because of its work on the budget, legislation and regulations. But OMB also has a direct impact on a number of programs at the local level.

For example, the name and size of the metropolitan area you live in is determined by OMB. The decision effects the amount of funds a specific area receives.


"The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the agency that designates metropolitan areas, last month completed a wholesale revision that began in the late 1990s. It has adjusted the boundaries of dozens of metros, changed many of their names, and created two entirely new categories of "micropolitan" and "combined" statistical areas. "


Another example gets down to how much funds a prision will receive for a specific task because its reimbursement is determined by cost principles promulgated by OMB.


"I believe there is a lack of understanding of what is allowable and allocable under OMB A-87 under the bureau’s part,” he said."

OMB is a very critical institution which has been underfunded
for a number of years.

Read articles on the aforementioned examples:

http://birmingham.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2003/07/14/story7.html

http://www.oaoa.com/news/nw072003a.htm

Click to What's New In Regulation

http://thecre.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=12

[admin]

Ralph Nader states that federal regulatory agencies were as bad, under the Clinton Administration, as they were under a number of Republican Administration’s in curbing the corporate abuse of power.

He states:

“"There are few major differences," says Nader, adding that federal "regulatory agencies under Clinton-Gore were as bad or worse" at curbing corporate power as their counterparts during the Reagan years, or the two Bush administrations.”

He goes on to give his view of former Governor Dean:

“Dean has got an excellent speech" but "not that exciting a record," says Nader. As a governor, Dean "could be called one of the originators of triangulation" - the Clintonian tactic of taking stands that place a politician conveniently apart from the struggle between right and left. "The minute you probe Dean with a question, he reverts to the real Dean."

President Nixon started the first government-wide review of regulations. See
http://www.thecre.com/fed_times_tozzi_art.html.

Members of the Nixon Administration will take particular note of the following comment:

“You know, you can tell how decayed our political system is in this country," Nader says. "Some of us look back to Richard Nixon with nostalgia."

Click to article:

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~28203~1522183,00.html


See New Feature: OMB Policy Statements
http://www.thecre.com/ombpapers/policy.html

[admin]

Now that the budget forecasts for the federal budget contain a highway of red ink, experts differ on their significance.

“…many economists argue that deficit-spending now should help stimulate the ailing economy, leading to far stronger growth in the year ahead and ultimately bringing down the unemployment rate, which is currently at a nine-year high of 6.4 percent…”

“Ken Goldstein, an economist with the Conference Board, a business research group in New York, argues that today’s budget deficits “cut deeper” than they did 20 years ago because they come at a time of huge state and local budget deficits, leaving the overall government position with regard to the economy in worse shape.”

Others state:

“Obviously nobody at the American Enterprise Institute is advocating those kinds of massive tax increases or spending cuts. But Smetters and Gokhale argue that Congress does not appreciate the size of the fiscal problems because federal accounting essentially masks the true size of the growing imbalance. A paper published this week by the two economists contends that a more accurate accounting would show the federal imbalance growing by nearly $9.7 trillion between now and 2008 — more than five times the size of the projected budget deficits.

We are talking about a huge, huge problem,” said Smetters.

Read the article:
http://msnbc.com/news/940556.asp?0sl=-42

See New Feature: OMB Policy Statements
http://www.thecre.com/ombpapers/policy.html

[admin]

OMB has the authority to designate, to define and to name standard statistical metropolitan areas. They do it based on expert advice from a number of agencies including the Bureau of the Census.

The two US Senators from Michigan have introduced legislation to block the OMB designation for western Michigan.

They state: "This action affects federal funding, marketing and tourism programs and the long-range planning efforts of local officials," Stabenow said.

“Opposition to the changes in the region is not unanimous,” U.S. Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids, said. “The changes are not necessarily bad for everyone.”

Regardless of the Senator’s laudable goals, intervention in this process through legislation could lay the groundwork for a number of other Senators’ future actions. More specifically, some federal programs may be placed on hold until the issue is resolved.
Click to article:
http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news-1/1058541339218810.xml

See New Feature: OMB Policy Statements
http://www.thecre.com/ombpapers/policy.html

[admin]

OMB, has part of its e-government program, has allocated funds to SBA to aid small businesses comply with federal regulations.

SBA states:

"With the new money, Van Wert said, SBA will focus on ways to ease the reporting burden on small businesses, possibly through a centralized repository of data stripped from online forms businesses submit. That way when a company went to submit new information, the new forms would already include previously provided material. Alternately, the businesses might maintain the information in some format and be able to autofill some elements of the online forms. "

Read article:

http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/22840-1.html



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07-23-2003 11:25 AM



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O

[admin]

OMB reviews all legislation before it is submitted to the President; Congress is working on legislation to overturn the recent FCC rule on cross-media ownership, which has been reported on extensively in this forum.

OMB states:

"The Administration believes that the new FCC media ownership rules more accurately reflect the changing media landscape and the current state of network station ownership, while still guarding against undue concentration in the marketplace," the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement.

"If this provision or a provision like it with respect to any one of the other FCC Rules is contained in the final legislation presented to the President, his Senior Advisors would recommend that he veto the bill," OMB said"

It was for this reason that we advocated using the Data Quality Act.

Read earlier articles:

http://thecre.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=189

[admin]

OMB has been leading the charge to contract out more federal jobs to the private sector. However, this effort has become under considerable opposition by labor unions. OMB announced that although the program will continue, specific numeral goals for each agency will be eliminated.

Read article

http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/22890-1.html

[admin]

1700 Park Service Jobs Under Review For Contracting Out

The Park Service is examining the possibility of contracting out some 1700 positions. Not withstanding Congressional attempts to curtail the effort prior to even completing the study, the Director of the Park Service informed Congress that the program is going to continue.


"Bush administration officials defended a plan to study privatizing some 1,700 positions within the National Park Service at a Senate hearing Thursday, amid growing criticism of the initiative. Park Service Director Fran Mainella told the Senate National Parks Subcommittee that the plan has been widely misunderstood and that concern Park Service employees may have is the result of misinformation."

The review is being conducted pursuant to OMB Bulleting A-76.

Read article

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2003/2003-07-25-11.asp

[admin]

No federal agency can ask any small business to fill out any forms without that federal agency first getting the forms approved by OMB. OMB received this authority under the Paperwork Reduction Act. However, at a Congressional hearing, representatives of small business were disappointed in OMB's performance.

"Small business groups and their allies in Congress are disappointed in the Office and Management and Budget's efforts to comply with a 2002 law designed to ease paperwork burdens on small businesses.

For example, the law directed federal agencies to delegate a single point of contact that small businesses could turn for help in complying with the regulations. OMB was in charge of implementing this list, but three cabinet agencies listed multiple contacts and several independent agencies failed to list anyone. "

The real solution is for Congress to increase the staff levels for OMB.

Read article

http://washington.bizjournals.com/extraedge/washingtonbureau/archive/2003/07/28/bureau2.html

[admin]

There are not very many agencies that can tell GAO that they are off base--but of course they are not OMB. GAO issued a report on agency compliance with the Privacy Act of 1974. GAO concluded:

"The report said OMB needs to provide additional guidance on how to secure electronic records, make compliance a higher priority in agencies and provide resources for training employees about privacy.

“OMB has not responded to long-standing agency requests or to our recommendations for improved guidance,” GAO said."

OMB responded to GAO by stating that not all roses are red:

"John Graham, OMB administrator for the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and Mark Forman, OMB administrator for e-government and IT, in responding to the draft report, said GAO’s report has a “fundamental flaw” because it treats various provisions in the Privacy Act as equally important.

OMB also called GAO’s nine recommendations “vague and nebulous.”

Read article:

http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/22988-1.html

[admin]

Each July, OMB issues its midsession review estimates of the numbers presented in
the President's Budget. The numbers this year are receiving considerably more
scrutiny because of the record deficit level. One analyst concludes that the
Administration's own numbers suggest we will not grow ourselves out of the fiscal
red ink we are confronting.

"Contrary to what the administration is claiming, TO-9 shows conclusively that
adopting the Bush policies would greatly increase the deficit. Long after the
economy supposedly would have fully recovered, the deficit would remain."

Read article

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0703/073003bb.htm

[admin]

Mark Forman the OMB official in charge of e-government is terminating his service with OMB. Forman was in charge of the e-government project which was a program established to increase the presence of the internet in the provision of goods and services by the Federal government.

"Forman has reached out to citizens as well, putting them in better touch with federal agencies through the 25 e-government initiatives under his office’s purview. The initiatives are an integral component of President Bush’s five-part management agenda. In May, Forman told OMB Deputy Director for Management Clay Johnson that he would like to see 80 percent of the initiatives up and running by July 1, 2004. "

Read Article

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0803/080603a1.htm

[admin]

OMB's Smart Buy program, which is, in part, aimed at paying too much for proprietary software has been misunderstood. It was not aimed at placing an absolute moratorium on software purchases until the program was implemented.

"Agencies were especially concerned that the original letter was telling them not to buy any more software pending the establishment of governmentwide enterprise licenses. The new document says there is no ban on buying software."

Read article:

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/0804/web-buy-08-06-03.asp

[admin]

The fact that the projected budget deficit for Fiscal Year 2003 will be the largest is the nation's history was confirmed by CBO, the budget arm of the Congress. Hereford, the largest budget deficit was for fiscal year 1992 which amounted to a mere $290 billion.

OMB projects a deficit of $455 billion, the CBO a deficit of $401 billion.

"The Bush administration has blamed the government's fiscal deterioration on a combination of factors, including the sluggish economy and increased spending on defense and security costs. It also notes that, as a proportion of the overall economy, the 2003 deficit would be below the record 6 percent of gross domestic product seen in 1986.

Read article

http://reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=economicNews&storyID=3248979

[admin]

OMB And The Arcane Review Of Authorization Bills

One of OMB's significant responsibilities is to advise the President of the budgetary impacts of authorization bills; bills passed by the Congress which authorize the expenditure of Federal funds.

In discharging this task, OMB uncovers many obscure provisions which are counter to the President's policy. Consider the pending bill to authorize expenses for the FAA dealing with ATC(air traffic controller)

"The White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said the Bush Administration “strongly opposes” provisions that would restrict the Transportation Department’s ability to manage the ATC system by prohibiting the conversion of government-provided ATC functions to the private sector. “Such restrictions are unnecessary and would hinder the ability of the FAA to manage the air traffic control system,” the OMB said. "

Read article

http://www.ainonline.com/issues/08_03/08_03_devilsp47.html

[admin]

OMB has been the lead in the e-government project--an innovative approach to placing modern IT technology into federal agencies. We are particularly interested in the e-rulemaking project which will make public the comments made in response to a notice in the Federal Register.

The project leader, and two portfolio managers have announced their departure. Portfolios are groups of projects such as government-to-business and government-to-government projects.

"Tony Frater, portfolio manager for government-to-government Quicksilver projects, has accepted an industry job, and Jonathan Womer, portfolio manager for government-to-citizen projects, will move to a post in OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs."

These departures are in addition to the project leader, Mark Foreman. Josh Bolton, the new Director of OMB has a lot on his plate, but the long term consequences of not filling these key positions is significant.

Read article
http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/21407-1.html

[admin]

OMB and OSTP are in charge of implementing the federal research agenda across the government. To this end, the heads of these two agencies notified federal agencies to the research priorities for fiscal year 2005.

"The June 5 memorandum was issued by OSTP Director John Marburger and former OMB Director Mitch Daniels to heads of federal agencies, to provide guidance on R&D priorities for fiscal year 2005. Entitled "FY 2005 Interagency Research and Development Priorities," the memo lays out five areas of R&D that should "receive particular attention" in preparation of the FY 2005 budget request."

Read article
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=10007

[admin]

The government must examine federal jobs and determine whether they can be performed more effectively by the private sector. The unions oppose this program and have attempted to stop it by court action.

The program continues. However, recent guidance issued by OMB suggested that once a position was placed on the list, it could not be removed.

"Under the Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act, federal officials must determine what jobs in their agencies can be done by commercial businesses, and thus potentially be opened to public/private competition. The original version of the Office of Management and Budget's Circular A-76 allowed challenges to the inclusion or omission of specific jobs on the list of activities eligible for competition, but some observers thought a revision published in May took away the right to challenge."

OMB has corrected this incorrect interpretation.

Read article

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/0811/web-omb-08-15-03.asp

[admin]

HUD has been given the authority to regulate the type of information that a lender must give a borrower at the time of settlement. This rule has been reviewed and revised a number of times. The revision of the rule has been a top priority of the Secretary of HUD and is being watched by real estate interests has it undergoes OMB review.

"The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's proposal to revamp the way home buyers purchase real estate settlement services ultimately could be decided by politics as much as policy. Brokers and lenders who have a stake in the outcome would do well to watch developments along both lines."

Read article

http://www.inman.com/inmannews.asp?ID=36751&CatType=R

[admin]

The press reports, and members of Congress confirm, that NASA is requesting that OMB approve a $20 billion five year program for shuttle development. The opening salvo is a pending request for a $l.6 billion increase for the next fiscal year. It appears that this budget request may in trouble. Not unexpected when the country is facing a record $450 billion deficit. We envision a lean budget for this program for the foreseeable future.

"An agency spokeswoman declined to comment on budget discussions involving NASA and the White House. A spokesman for the White House referred calls to the Office of Management and Budget, which did not immediately respond. It wasn't clear Friday if the White House decision to reject NASA's request represents a lack of confidence in NASA or was simply a result of the give-and-take of the budget process. OMB spokesman Trent Duffy declined comment, saying budget discussions between federal agencies and the White House are privileged."

Read article

http://www.floridatoday.com/columbi...tory2A9955A.htm

[admin]

Under OMB Circular A-76, certain jobs are designated as being capable of being performed by the private sector. Once a federal job is so designated, the federal agency must perform an analysis, including a bid from the private sector, to determine if it should be "contracted out". Reports are that OMB is loosening this requirement. People outside the beltway do not understand the problem.

"Those defending the status quo say that private sector employees can't do the job as well as federal employees. All they have to do to prove it is agree to competitive bids, then underbid the competition and perform. That's what happens in the real world, and it's what should be happening in the world of government as well."

Read article

http://www.vvdailypress.com/cgi-bin/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1061731764,57528,

[admin]

OMB is the agency involved in the management of the Data Quality Act. OMB has now issued draft guidlines for public comments which delineates their plans.

Inside EPA, a leading publication on events occuring at EPA, has prepared an insightful artilce on how OMB intends to manage the Data Quality Act.

"The White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is asserting a more active role in the government's review of public complaints regarding data used by regulators, by proposing that it be involved on a case-by-case basis with challenges that pose broad policy implications."

"The proposed OMB guidance, released jointly by the Aug. 29 with the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, would allow the administrator of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for the first time to request a scientific review for particular documents relevant to multiple agencies or that involve policy priorities for the administration.

The guidance would also require federal agencies to post public challenges to a federal agency's compliance with federal data quality laws on the Internet or forward a copy of the request to OIRA, and if requested, consult with OIRA regarding that request.

"Sources with the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, an industry-funded regulatory watchdog group, are interpreting the draft guidance as requiring EPA science advisors for the first time to comply with federal data quality guidelines when they do reviews. OMB issued data-quality requirements last year in accordance with the Data Quality Act signed by President Clinton in 2000.

The Washington Post reports:

"The proposal requires agencies to systematically seek outside opinions when evaluating scientific findings or disagreements, a process called peer review. Although such independent appraisals are widely respected in science, critics said the process could quickly get murky when applied to such issues as global warming, pesticide use and ergonomic safety, in which the calculation of risks and benefits of regulations is complex, expensive and politically charged."


"But Jim Tozzi, a former OMB manager in the Nixon and Reagan administrations and now a member of the board of advisers of the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, said the measure would improve the quality of the science used to justify regulations and would provide companies facing regulation a way to question incorrect data.

"What this document does is put additional teeth in what is meant by peer review," said Tozzi, whose group works closely with trade associations and private companies. He suggested that environmental regulations and dietary guidelines might be reevaluated under the new standard."

[admin]

OMB has been given overall responsibility for implementing the E-Gov Act. OMB states that it is now in a position to state that the act is making a real difference in how the government operates.

"This is the third budget cycle where IT investments must be presented in a thorough business case, Chenok noted, so OMB will be likely focusing agencies more on areas of improvement for ongoing systems or development efforts. "We don't necessarily need to get all of the same information year after year," he said.

Fiscal 2005 budget guidance also focused on better integrating the IT performance measures and metrics now being developed for all federal programs under the Program Assessment Rating Tool. The hope is that members of Congress will pay more attention to reform initiatives they had a hand in defining, Chenok said."

Read article

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/0825/web-egov-08-28-03.asp

[admin]

New OMB E-Gov Chief Karen Evans, a highly respected member of the Federal IT community has been named Administrator of OMB's Office of Electronic Govermement in OMB. She will assume the position recently vacated my Mark Forman. Ms. Hughes has served in a leadership position at the CIO Council.

He went on to say that having Evans in this position is "probably going to strengthen the role of the CIO." In the early years of the Forman tenure, there was a palpable level of tension between the federal CIO Council, on which Evans served as co-chair, and the Office of Management and Budget, Kane said.
In those days, "OMB was a bit of a bystander, while the CIO Council was setting the agenda," said Kane. "Forman, to his credit, was marching to the beat of the president's management agenda. But [Evans'] appointment can neutralize that tension" by bringing her fellow CIOs on board with the larger e-government agenda, he said."

The rapid appointment of a person of this caliber to this position demonstrates the commitment of the Administration to the e-government project.



Read article



http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/itgovernment/story/0,10801,84577,00.html

[admin]

We are entering the Presidential election season and we are already in the judging the Administration's performance debate. The Administration will be judged from a number of directions. Fair enough, how can one argue against an informed electorate. Nonetheless, it is important to review such assessments from a position of "show me the facts".

Consider the assessment done around labor day regarding workplace safety. One observer noted:

"Nor did they discuss the administration's record on workplace safety overturning the long-sought ergonomics injury standard, halting action on 30 additional safety initiatives, and canceling federal safety and health grants. The nonpartisan OMB Watch concluded that the administration has "advanced very few significant health, safety and environmental protections . . . and is quietly scuttling work on a host of protective standards in the regulatory pipeline."

This Administration has taken every step to ensure that regulations are effective and at the same time not being onerous. We doubt this hardly could be characterized as "scuttling".

Read article

http://www.freep.com/voices/columnists/emil1_20030901.htm

[admin]

The Bush Administration has embarked on an ambitious program to improve the efficiency of the government. OMB has reviewed agency progress and has applauded their efforts.

"As the federal government enters the third year of work on e-government, competitive sourcing, budget and performance integration, human capital management and financial improvement, Johnson, the Office of Management and Budget’s deputy director for management, said agencies are setting the pace in meeting OMB’s requirements. "

Read article


http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/23417-1.html

[admin]

The Associated General Contractors request that OMB deny the FCC request for clearance, under the Paperwork Reduction Act, of its rule on unsolicited faxes.

They state:

"These regulations have the potential to undo well established business relationships," said Stephen E. Sandherr, AGC CEO. "The FCC has grossly underestimated the number of U.S. businesses and the amount of time and money that it would take to comply. In just a short amount of time, AGC has spent a minimum of 2,400 hours to obtain consent forms from our members, and we haven't even made a dent."

The FCC's new rules would require every business to obtain the prior, written, and signed consent of anyone, including any other business, to whom that business would like to send any fax that met the commission's broad definition of an "advertisement." The FCC modified the exemption for established business relationships meaning that a business may not send a fax that either solicits or makes an offer to do business to any other business, whatever their prior dealings, without first obtaining the recipient's written, signed permission."

Read article

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=101-09062003

[admin]

It is impossible to calculate the human cost of 9/11. However, what are the fiscal costs? Estimates differ but one thing that it is certain, one attack was extremely costly. in the billions of dollars.

A subsequent attack(s), even to a lesser degree will be costly. Should such an event(s) occur, the pocketbook of every American will suffer. At that time, their may be even more support for a direct counter attack against terrorism.

Read article

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=%5CNation%5Carchive%5C200309%5 CNAT20030909a.html

[admin]

Some Members of Congress with a large number of Federal employees in their districts are going to sponsor amendments to appropriation bills which would terminate the program to outsource federal jobs for which the private sector could handle less expensively. Not surprising, a number of federal employs oppose this amendment but can not do so in an open manner. The White House is considering a veto.

"Unless the House keeps out an amendment that critics say "would effectively shut down" the Bush administration initiative, the Office of Management and Budget will recommend that Bush vetoes the bill."
Read article

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/0908/web-omb-09-08-03.asp

[admin]

OMB has added four joint business cases to the e-government project. These cases are added on the basis of potential duplication among agencies.


"Earlier this summer, OMB analyzed six lines of business where they suspected system duplication among agencies. Officials decided on four areas—public health monitoring, criminal investigation, human resources administration and financial management—where agencies should submit joint business cases."

Read article

http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/23480-1.html

[admin]

OMB's program to compete select federal jobs with private sector employees is facing continued opposition--this time from the Congress. The more things change, the more they
remain the same.

"The latest setback came Tuesday night. House members, including 26 Republicans, passed an amendment to an appropriations bill that would block the Office of Management and Budget from using newly revised rules designed to speed up the job competitions government-wide. The language, which so far is not in the Senate's version of the bill, would force a return to an older, more cumbersome version of rules known as Circular A-76 -- a move opponents said could cripple Bush's policy.

"If this were to become law, the union agenda will have succeeded, which is to stop competition," said Stan Soloway, president of the Professional Services Council, a contractor group."

Read article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57670-2003Sep10.html

[admin]

OMB is attempting to speed up the Senate confirmation process. One way to do so is to reduce the number individuals who are confirmed. To this end, OMB is suggesting that its CFO need not be confirmed.

"OMB officials have suggested that Senate approval of CFOs might not be essential, Springer explained. Eliminating this requirement would speed up the appointment process for the position. An exception would be made for departments in which the CFO also serves as an undersecretary or secretary, as is the case at the Defense Department, she noted. "

Read article

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0903/091503a1.htm

[admin]

OMB has taken many steps to improve IT procurements by small business.

"Reports by Congress, OMB and the Small Business Administration generally acknowledge that this difficult environment for small business in federal procurement has two principal sources: continued emphasis on contract bundling by agency procurement officials; and the exclusion of certain federal agencies from fair and open competition requirements in order to achieve faster, cheaper or less transparent procurements.

For example, nearly a year ago OMB proposed nine steps to reduce contract bundling and open more procurement opportunities to small business. There is significant disagreement over whether the regulations would decrease or actually increase bundling. The proposal would, for example, provide a dollar threshold below which bundling would not require an agency to justify the bundle."

It is unlikely that OMB, nor the Congress, will decrease this downward trend because agencies budgets are too tight to utilize additional time to supervise an ever increasing number of contracts.


Read article

http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/18_12/federal/21662-1.html

[admin]

With the departure of not less than three key individuals associated with the Presidents E-government project, questions are being raised as to whether the program is being crippled.


"This OMB has truly institutionalized the kind of initiatives that Forman and Lorentz and others" oversaw, he said, including business case analysis, establishing a blueprint for enterprise architecture and e-government plans. "They have institutionalized them to a point where all the career civil servant workers know exactly what has to be done."
DigitalNet's William McVay, a former deputy to Forman at OMB, said "brain-drain" concerns are unfair. He said that there are "no less than 100 people" working at OMB on e-government initiatives along with many more at the agency level. "So it certainly isn't something that one person or two people put in place or run," he said."


Read article

http://www.bizreport.com/article.php?art_id=4958

[admin]

With the departure of the Administrator of OFPP, concerns are being raised whether A-76 is jeopardy. A-76, the contracting out bulletin, is the target of Congressional actions to shelve it.

"It’s important that the administration replace Styles soon, said Olga Grkavac of the Information Technology Association of America.

“We don’t want to lose a forceful proponent who is opposing these restrictions,” said Grkavac, executive vice president of the Arlington, Va., trade group"

Read article

It’s important that the administration replace Styles soon, said Olga Grkavac of the Information Technology Association of America.

“We don’t want to lose a forceful proponent who is opposing these restrictions,” said Grkavac, executive vice president of the Arlington, Va., trade group

[admin]

As reported elsewhere on his website, we are of the opinion that e-government projects need not necessarily prove a reduction is cost. Our concerns were twofold, one, that e-government programs will often increase the level of service, and(2) force agencies into unusual arithmetic.

"Kay Coles James, the OPM director, told Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Government Reform technology subcommittee, that the projects "would yield $2.7 billion in tax savings over the life of the initiatives."

When Putnam asked about the potential savings, James acknowledged that "some people don't think they pass the straight-face test," but predicted that most of the $2.7 billion would be achieved through the elimination of redundant systems scattered among federal agencies."

Read article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55367-2003Sep23.html

[admin]

In an unusual statement, the head of GAO offered a "state-of-the-budget" message at the National Press Club. Although he has no statutory requirement to make such a statement, he issued, this year, a clear warning to the Congress and the Administration.

"In spite of all of the happy talk that has been used by elected officials over the past few years, Walker said the federal budget picture "is not good and [is] getting worse." He added that we should not be confused by all of the numbers being used because "they are all big, and they are all bad!"


In sharp contrast to the spin that many in Washington have been using, Walker insisted that "there is little question that deficits do matter, especially if they are large, structural and recurring in nature," which he said is the current situation. Nor did he distinguish between deficits caused by tax cuts and those caused by spending increases, as many have been asking us to do lately."

Read article

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0903/092403bb.htm

[admin]

Each year OMB prepares a report on the benefits and costs of government regulations. A subset of the analysis is a comparison of the benefits and costs of environmental regulations. The most recent OMB report contains the following conclusions:

"The value of reductions in hospitalization and emergency room visits, premature deaths and lost workdays resulting from improved air quality were estimated between $120 billion and $193 billion from October 1992 to September 2002.

By comparison, industry, states and municipalities spent an estimated $23 billion to $26 billion to retrofit plants and facilities and make other changes to comply with new clean-air standards, which are designed to sharply reduce sulfur dioxide, fine particle emissions and other health-threatening pollutants."

Read article

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/6874922.htm

[admin]

OMB has jurisdictional management of the Privacy Act; GAO reports on agency performance. There has been a long standing debate as to whether OMB is accordingly a sufficiently high priority to the Privacy Act. In its most recent report the GAO concluded:

"In the report, Privacy Act: OMB Leadership Needed to Improve Agency Compliance, the GAO writes that compliance with the federal Privacy Act of 1974 is generally high in many areas, but uneven across the federal government. “As a result of this uneven compliance, the government cannot adequately assure the public that all legislated individual privacy rights are being protected,” the GAO concludes."

Read article

http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=12910

[admin]

OMB announced the Smart Buy Initiative:

"The Office of Management and Budget introduced SmartBuy in February in the fiscal 2004 budget request, and it named GSA as the federal executive agent this summer. SmartBuy’s purpose is to drive down the cost of enterprise licensing and improve the terms agencies receive from software vendors. OMB issued guidance to agencies in August asking them to freeze new or renewal software licenses unless approved by the SmartBuy team."

However, Members of Congress are concerned about progress to date.

"In view of interest expressed by industry and agencies, GSA officials had said they would finish a few agreements before Oct. 1, the beginning the new federal fiscal year. Putnam said he was concerned that agencies would be forced to renew licenses under more expensive terms."

Read article

http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/21805-1.html

[admin]

The Senate has not met its deadlines for acting on appropriation bills.

"The Senate approved a month-long continuing resolution Thursday by voice vote, clearing it for the president's signature after House passage, 407-8, earlier in the day."

With the cost of the Iraq war having both budget and political consequences, it is likely there will be one overall spending bill this year.

"When the Senate reconvenes Oct. 14 after a weeklong recess, remaining fiscal 2004 appropriations bills could be wrapped into a catch-all, omnibus measure, while leaders focus on enactment of the administration's request for an $87 billion Iraq supplemental spending bill."

Read article

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0903/092603cdam1.htm

[admin]

The TVA has a staggering $26.5 billion debt. The government does not want to pick up the tab for another undisciplined program. Consequently, OMB has established a debt reduction program for the agency.

Last week, TVA, an independent federal agency, provided a tentative strategic plan that included debt reduction by as much as $5 billion over the next 10-12 years.

"There's certainly more of a target than we had before, so it is certainly a step in the right direction," said Marcus Peacock, OMB's associate director for natural resource programs.,"

Read article:

http://www.al.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?j1013_BC_TN--TVADebt&&news&newsflash-al

[admin]

The E-Government Act contained a blueprint for updating goverment IT systems to make them in line with impoving the goods and services produced by the US government.

With E-government also comes the concern for providing privacy to the beneficiaries of such services. OMB has jut acted to address this important objective.

"The privacy objective of the E-Government Act complements the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace,” Bolten said. “As the National Strategy indicates, cyberspace security programs that strengthen protections for privacy and other civil liberties, together with strong privacy policies and practices in the federal agencies, will ensure that information is handled in a manner that maximizes both privacy and security.”

"OMB said agencies must conduct the privacy analysis when developing or procuring IT systems that collect, maintain or disseminate information in an identifiable form from or about members of the public, or initiating a new electronic collection of information for 10 or more persons."

Read article

http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/23729-1.html

[admin]

USDA has submitted to OMB a proposed rule which would allow Canadian cattle to enter the US. Canadian cattle were banned from this country over concern for mad cow disease.

"The U.S. banned all Canadian beef and cattle in May when a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease, was discovered there. The USDA eased the ban on some boneless beef products on Aug. 8, but said it would not be able to do the same for live cattle until the department went through a full rule-making process.
The proposed rule, as written by the USDA, seeks to not only allow entry of Canadian live cattle under 30 months of age, but would also do away with the individual permits that Canadian exporters need for each shipment of boneless beef products.

One industry official suggested that the latest BSE discovery by Japan in a 23-month-old bull may affect deliberation over the USDA proposed rule because it assumes all cattle under 30 months of age cannot spread the disease."

Read article

http://www.hpj.com/testnewstable.cfm?type=story&sid=10025

[admin]

As part of its e-government program, OMB has initiated an e-grants program, In November all agencies will have to announce information on their grants in a common format.

"Starting Nov. 7, agencies will post all grant opportunity announcements on www.grants.gov, the Office of Management and Budget directed today."

Read article

http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/23793-1.html

[admin]

OMB is considering expanding reviews made on commercial software used for defense and intelligence agencies to other domestic agencies. The reviews would be conducted by the National Information Assurance Partnership.


"One thing they will consider is to what extent, if any, NIAP can address the continuing problem of security flaws in commercial software products,” Evans said. “This review will include lessons learned from the implementation of the Defense Department’s July 2002 policy requiring the acquisition of products reviewed under the NIAP evaluation process.”

Read article

http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/23891-1.html

[admin]

OMB has issued a report stating that the benefits of EPA's regulations exceed their costs by a factor of four or five. Some state that the OMB report finally gives recognition to the merits of a strong regulatory program at EPA.

Others state:

"The reason is that no one really believes the EPA's numbers. The OMB report simply tallies up agencies' estimates of their programs' costs and benefits. Despite Reilly's protests to the contrary, agencies have every incentive to understate costs and overstate benefits. The EPA in particular has mastered this art. Our research at George Mason University shows that the EPA's cost estimates for air-quality regulations are understated by a factor of more than three. "

Read article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43911-2003Oct17.html

[admin]

The E-Authentication Program is central to establishing e-government programs. The e-authentication program consists of programs that ensure that a users personal and private information is safeguarded and that a user is authorized for access to certain information.

"The administration is scrapping plans for its online E-Authentication gateway, which had been touted as a cornerstone of e-government.

“E-Authentication is moving in a new technical direction that is not centered around the development of a gateway," said Karen Evans, the Office of Management and Budget’s administrator for e-government and IT. "

Read GAO report:


http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03952.pdf

Read article


http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/23994-1.html

[admin]

Business Week reports that OMB's estimate of '04 budget deficit is not as great as originally projected.Such an overestimation is understandable because OMB could not be in a position of underestimating the cost of the IRAQ conflict.


" In the case of money that Uncle Sam took in, the figures for the year confirm that the erosion wasn’t the catastrophe that many had feared. Receipts fell almost 7 percent during the last fiscal year, with much of the decline due to the recent round of tax cuts, which had a sharp negative impact on the final quarter of the fiscal period."

Read article

http://www.msnbc.com/news/984175.asp?cp1=1#BODY

[CRE Analyst]

OMB plans to create a portal to allow certain governmental transactions to take place online. The OMB program, part of the “Integrated Acquisition Environment E-Government project,” is currently being tested by five agencies. OMB plans a full launch of the portal next July.

”“We have established two basic transactions with the system,” (OMB’s portal project director Janet) Allen said. “The first is the electronic transfer of the order and bill between the buyer and seller. The second is the disbursement of money from the agency buyer to the seller through the Treasury Department.””


To learn more click here: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/24063-1.html

[CRE Analyst]

OMB is pressing the Senate to fund EEOC at the level previously approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, instead of the level approved by the House in July. In a policy statement released this week, OMB said it "appreciates" the Senate committee’s previous support of the administration's $335 million budget request. In July, OMB worried that with the budget approved by the House, EEOC might "have to postpone key management reforms that will allow it to serve citizens more efficiently."

"The administration's $335 million budget request included roughly $5 million for agency reforms, including the establishment of a national center to handle inquiries about discrimination cases."


To learn more click here: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1103/111203a1.htm

[admin]

Language contained in the Transportation/Treasury appropriations bill has resolved the long standing controversy over OMB's contracting out bulletin.

"Senate and House conference committee members last night passed the appropriations bill with language changing the revised Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76. The change is that in all public- and private-sector competitions for more than 10 positions, a private-sector offer would have to be 10 percent or $10 million less than the government’s offer to be considered. OMB had revised the circular to delete the cost differential for competitions of fewer than 65 positions."

Read article

http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/24178-1.html

[admin]

Financial pundits are ringing the bells signaling that an economic turnabout is underway. Of course many of these writers are associated with the now tainted mutual fund industry and one must consider the source. However, a number of others are also stating that the economy is in a turnaround situation. The question is: is it real, and for how long?

Those of us who are deficit hawks look to the federal surplus or deficit as key indicator of the future. Consider the following statements:

"It took Congress 101 years to spend its first $500 billion dollars. But it took just 10 years to spend the next $500 billion; and now just four years to spend the last $500 billion."

"Milton Friedman, the revered Nobel Prize-winning economist, declares this unbridled spending "is the single greatest deterrent to faster economic growth in the United States today."

Is the turnaround going to last past the next election?

Read article: http://www.cato.org/dailys/11-16-03.html

[CRE Analyst]

OMB intends to allow agencies to compare similar programs, and subsequently improve performance, by concentrating on identifying cross-government areas. This effort will take place as part of the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART), a survey-based program performance tool.

“By finding cross-agency areas for assessment, agencies can look to successful programs for guidance and best practices, said Robert Shea, OMB's counsel to the deputy director for management. Assessment categories, such as asset management, will be based on administrative and congressional priorities. Officials will set up working groups in each of these discrete cross-cutting areas, he said.”

"Ideally, we focus resources on activities with the best results, but consolidation may not be the answer," Shea said, speaking at an enterprise architecture conference in Washington, D.C. "But the poor-performing programs can learn a lot from the high-performing programs."


To learn more go to: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/1117/web-part-11-19-03.asp

[CRE Analyst]

According to a new report issued by OMB, over 88,000 jobs at 35 government agencies could be performed by contractors. In accordance with the 1998 Federal Activities Inventory Reform (FAIR) Act, federal agencies must compile lists of jobs that are 'commercial' in nature. OMB recently released the first round of the 2003 inventory.

"The first round of 2003 inventories, announced in the Nov. 21 Federal Register, covered 173,500 positions at about 35 agencies, including the Interior, Housing and Urban Development and Transportation departments, and NASA.

Of the 173,500 jobs listed, 51 percent, or 88,000, were classified as commercial. Agencies designated the remaining 85,500 jobs as inherently governmental."

To learn more go to: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1103/112503a1.htm

[CRE Analyst]

OMB hopes that government agencies not only satisfy the goals of the President’s Management Agenda (PMA) in 2004, but that they will see “breakthrough performance” in e-gov by the end of the year. National Science Foundation is the only major government agency to receive a “green” score (indicating that PMA goals are met) from OMB thus far, but several agencies – including the departments of Commerce and Education and the Environmental Protection Agency – have met at least 80 percent of the criteria specified by OMB. The goal for 2004, however, is that agencies surpass the PMA targets and have breakthrough years.

“Breakthrough performance means many things to many people,” [OMB’s associate administrator for e-government Tad] Anderson said last night during a panel discussion on the federal IT outlook for 2004 sponsored by Dutko Government Markets of Washington. “It could mean agencies are using their enterprise architecture as a tool for not just IT managers, but for all government mangers. It could be where IT investments are consolidated more broadly, across departments and managed as portfolio investments.”

To learn more go to: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/24325-1.html

[CRE Analyst]

In December 2002, the E-Government Act of 2002 – a bill touted by many as a turning point for government operations - was signed into law. Now, one year later, observers are examining whether the act is fulfilling its objective to transition government agencies into the internet-era.

"The law touched on nearly every aspect of technology management. It defined measurements of e-government success and expectations for action. It solidified legislative concepts and activities, attaching funding and deadlines to actions and outlining priorities. It also required the development of some key e-government applications."

To learn more go here: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/1208/cov-egov-12-08-03.asp

[CRE Analyst]

A new report ordered by OMB – and released to the public by the House Government Reform subcommittee on technology, information policy, intergovernmental relations and the census – indicates the government’s efforts relating to computer security have a way to go. The same report of government agencies one year ago gave the federal government’s cybersecurity an "F"; this year’s grade is a "D".

"The OMB instructed the agencies to submit reports summarizing the results of IT security reviews of systems and programs; agency progress on correcting identified weaknesses; and the results of IG independent evaluations."

"The Federal Government should be the standard bearer when it comes to information security. Unfortunately, today's report card indicates anything but that..." said [Adam] Putnam (R-Fl)"


To learn more go to: http://dc.internet.com/news/article.php/3288101

[CRE Analyst]

After the federal government’s efforts on computer security received a “D” in a recent Congressional report card, top OMB officials and security experts said they were pleased to see at least some progress from the grade given the previous three years – an “F.” The report cards are released as part of a collaborative effort between OMB, Congress, and federal agencies to improve cybersecurity in the federal government.

Said Karen Evans, the Office of Management and Budget's administrator for e-government and information technology: "We would like to see higher grades, but it does show a momentum moving forward. It does show the [inspectors general] have recognition that the agencies that have put a lot of effort in are moving forward… Any movement forward is a good thing."


To learn more go here: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/1208/web-grades-12-12-03.asp

[CRE Analyst]

An OMB official reported this week that federal agencies are being asked to organize long-term plans for conducting public-private job competitions. The rules for these federal job competitions are laid out by OMB Circular A-76.

"Most of the 27 executive agencies are taking competitive sourcing seriously, [Office of Federal Procurement Policy official Mathew ] Blum said. "You can be assured we will be moving forward on this," he said.

OMB also will expand its reporting to the public about the competitions, including data such as the cost of conducting competitions and savings realized, Blum said. Blum spoke at a meeting of the Bethesda, Md., chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association."

[CRE Analyst]

A top OMB official said this week the president’s 2005 budget would contain the next wave of e-gov initiatives for the federal government. Many of the administration’s current e-gov projects – the 25 so-called 'Quicksilver initiatives' - are scheduled to be completed by next summer.

"OMB originally identified six areas for the next set of cross-agency [e-gov] projects. But based on an analysis by Touchstone Consulting Inc. of Washington, the agency decided the four areas that offer the best opportunities for cost savings and improved efficiency are: public-health monitoring, criminal investigation, human resources administration and financial management.

"The [25] e-government initiatives were the low-hanging fruit, and we are pretty much done with them," [OMB’s e-government and IT administrator Karen] Evans said. "The next set of projects will be harder, and if we overcome the barriers, we will see huge efficiencies gained for the government."


To learn more go to: http://www.wtonline.com/news/1_1/daily_news/22380-1.html

[CRE Analyst]

A new report from Partnership for Public Service – a nonprofit organization that analyzed the workplace environment in various agencies – judged OMB as one of the executive branch’s best places to work. The report gave OMB high praise for its teamwork and leadership, and also noted its ability to effectively match staff with jobs and mission.

“Dick Emery, OMB's assistant director for budget and the agency's senior career official, said the quality of OMB's leaders and the staff's strong sense of purpose "all weigh very strongly with the people who stay" for careers at OMB.

It helps to work in close proximity to the Oval Office. Laboring on behalf of the most powerful office in the world makes it much easier to justify long hours and the daily grind.

Emery thinks other factors are just as important, if not more so, however. Most employees, he said, know OMB Director Joshua B. Bolten on "a first-name basis, work closely on policy issues that they are interested in every day and virtually never have a dull day in the office."”


To learn more go to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A18082-2003Dec20?language=printer

[CRE Analyst]

OMB is set to review a rule change on the manner in which mortgage settlements take place after HUD sent OMB the proposed rule change this week. The new rule would mandate clearer disclosure of mortgage broker fees, require “good faith estimates” on settlement expenses to be more accurate, and allow lenders to package their loans with settlement services at a guaranteed price.

“President Bush says the changes in Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act regulations "will make it easier for buyers to shop around and to compare prices on closing costs to so they can get the best deal and the best service possible."”


To learn more go to: http://nashville.bizjournals.com/extraedge/washingtonbureau/archive/2003/12/29/bureau1.html

[CRE Analyst]

OMB officials announced recently the agency plans a major rewrite of Circular A-130. The new changes will address some of the mandates resulting from the E-Government Act of 2002.

“The last revision to A-130 came in 2000 to bring the regulation in line with the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996, which set IT management policy and created the position of chief information officer for agencies. The upcoming changes will not take much time, but the review will have many opportunities for agencies and the public to comment, [OMB’s Kamela] White said...

The standardization of OMB guidance will address many issues, including timelines for agencies to submit e-government reports and privacy impact assessments, White said. OMB officials will issue their report to Congress on both on March 1, 2004.”

To learn more go to: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/1215/web-omb-12-17-03.asp

[CRE Analyst]

OMB has requested that agencies develop plans to allow contractors to bid on federal jobs from now through 2008. In recent years, most agencies have received “yellow,” or ‘average,’ ratings from OMB regarding their competitive sourcing – signaling room for improvement. OMB hopes the new round of plans will yield more "green" ratings.

“"OMB will assess a plan's effectiveness in a manner that accounts for the agency's unique mission and workforce needs as well as the agency's demonstrated ability to conduct reviews and competitions in a reasonable and responsible banner," [OMB Deputy Director for Management Clay] Johnson wrote.”

“In the "green" plans, OMB expects agencies to craft a schedule for competing jobs deemed suitable for competition, a subset of the roughly 850,000 positions that by law could be performed by contractors. In an October report, OMB found that 434,820 jobs are ripe for competition.”


To learn more go to: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0104/010604p1.htm

[CRE Analyst]

OMB hopes to reduce redundant spending by asking agencies to submit lists of human resources and financial systems that are in the planning or acquisition stages. During the next year, OMB hopes to merge the two systems.

"OMB wants to redirect redundant spending to support development of government-wide standards and systems."

"These are some of the bigger issues beyond the [25] Quicksilver initiatives,” said Mark Forman, former OMB administrator for IT and e-government. "OMB is moving forward with the lines of business consolidation work."


To learn more go to:
http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/24619-1.html

[CRE Analyst]

In the first of their mandated quarterly reports released this week, OMB outlined the specific uses of the $18.65 billion appropriated for Iraq reconstruction. The report itemized funds to be spent on security, law enforcement, and infrastructure improvements. Approximately $12.86 billion will be spent in fiscal 2004, leaving $5.79 billion for fiscal 2005 obligations.

"The report cautioned that since the White House submitted its supplemental request, circumstances have changed--such as the procurement of $13 billion from foreign donors at the October donors' conference in Madrid, the November agreement between the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraqi Governing Council to accelerate the transition to Iraqi sovereignty, and the "revised emphasis on funding for security forces."

To learn more go to: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0104/011204%20cdpm1.htm

[CRE Analyst]

OMB officials considered a proposal this week that would give the agency greater control over declarations of public health crises. The agency has tabled the measure for now.

"[Under the proposal] the White House would decide what and when the public would be told about outbreaks of contagions such as mad cow disease, an anthrax release by terrorists, a nuclear plant accident – or any other public health crisis.

Additionally ... OMB wants to manage scientific and technical evaluations, also known as peer reviews, of all major government rules, plans, proposed regulations and pronouncements."

To learn more go to: http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/1/13/214837.shtml

[CRE Analyst]

OMB’s plan to require health and environmental regulations to rely more heavily on peer-reviewed scientific evidence is nearing the end of the comment period from federal agencies. And while the plan has received criticism from some quarters, OMB officials stress the peer-review process is critical to assuring the quality and accuracy of the science behind federal regulations.

“John Graham, OMB chief of regulatory affairs and a prime architect of the administration proposal, said: "Peer review in its many forms can be used to increase the technical quality and credibility of regulatory science . . . [and] protects science-based rulemakings from political criticism and litigation."


To learn more go to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18006-2004Jan14.html

[CRE Analyst]

OMB officials are pressing federal agencies to use so-called 'share-in-savings' models for their e-government initiatives. The model involves a vendor paying for an agency's IT – and then the vendor shares in the savings generated from the technological advances.

"...For example, a contractor building a tax collection system would get a portion of the revenue it creates..."

"This model has a lot of potential to realize huge savings," Evans said at a seminar sponsored by the Council for Excellence in Government and the General Services Administration. "But it requires the government to open up its coat and show what is underneath."


To learn more go to: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/24691-1.html

[CRE Analyst]

Just half of the IT systems in federal agencies will be accredited and found secure when OMB releases an annual report to Congress this summer. However, agency officials point out that significant progress is being made, as the number of secure IT systems has jumped from 30 percent last year. OMB will continue to press agencies to meet the stated goal of 80 percent accreditation.

"Kamela White, an OMB senior policy analyst, said the patterns and trends are going in the right direction from what she has seen so far from agency and inspectors general reports that make up the administration’s statement to the Hill."

"To assist agencies in meeting the mark, OMB is finalizing agency guidance on how to implement the Federal Information Security Management Act. White said the document should be out by mid-March."


To learn more go to: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/24777-1.html

[CRE Analyst]

OMB is drafting new guildlines to give agencies the ability to measure the effectiveness of their enterprise architectures. The final guidelines are expected to be released for comment by mid-March.

“The guide will differ from GAO’s EA Framework, [OMB chief architect Bob Haycock] said. “GAO’s [guide] is more process based and looks at the structure of the agency,” Haycock said. “We want to look at the actual EA and focus on how it is used.”

“We’ve done a lot of work on the DRM to make sure it links with the other reference models and how to create data exchanges and integration processes,” he said. “We think we have an approach that will work.”

To learn more go to: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/24781-1.html

[CRE Analyst]

New budget proposals from the administration reveal an increasing emphasis on security for IT systems. Money previously destined for development, modernization and enhancement within the 18 federal agencies will now go to cyber security first.

"Look at your IT portfolio. Look at your IT programs," said OMB Administrator for E-Government and IT Karen Evans. "How are you managing your department? What are your priorities? The priority of this administration is cyber security.... Don't lay money on top of what you already have. Secure what you have, and if you do it efficiently, you have money to spend in other areas."

For example, Treasury Department officials requested $594 million for IT development and modernization in fiscal 2005. However, they can't spend any of that money until their IT security meets federal standards."


To learn more go to: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0202/web-ombsecurity-02-05-04.asp

[CRE Analyst]

OMB has set its sights on more effective communication with Congressional leaders regarding e-government issues. OMB officials believe Congress has been hesitant to authorize funding for the ‘E-Government Fund’ because the agency has not clearly conveyed the value of this and other E-Gov initiatives.

"We can do a better job in the coming months of communicating with Congress in terms of what our strategy is for e-government and what the Federal Enterprise Architecture is and its value," Anderson said during a keynote address at the E-Gov Web Enabled and Enterprise Architecture conference in Washington."

To learn more go to: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/24852-1.html

[CRE Analyst]

After a two-year initiative to identify the effectiveness of more than 400 government programs, OMB this week identified 13 programs the agency believes should be cut. OMB officials maintain the programs, ranging from Department of Labor grants for migrant and seasonal farm workers to a literacy program at the Department of Education, are not efficient. The agency contends the $1 billion – the cost of the 13 programs combined - could be used more effectively.

"Government programs, however worthy their goals, should demonstrate they are actually effective at solving problems," according to Bush's 2005 budget. "... If we are not meeting our goals, then we should do something differently to address the shortfall."


To learn more go to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30493-2004Feb10.html

[CRE Analyst]

A top OMB official, OMB Deputy Director for Management Clay Johnson, this week endorsed efforts by Congressional lawmakers to impose performance reviews on federal programs. They argue regular performance reviews of specific programs could make the programs more efficient and productive – and they could make for more informed budget decisions.

"One of the most visible factors affecting a program's performance is funding," Johnson testified before the subcommittee. "But I believe far too much attention is devoted to how much we are spending rather than how much we are getting for what we spend."


To learn more go to: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0204/021104a1.htm

[CRE Analyst]

In a draft report this week, OMB said it will ask the public for suggestions about how the federal government should alter regulations relating to manufacturing. This is the second time OMB has gone to the public for suggestions; in 2002, 25 rules were changed as a result of 316 suggestions fielded from the public.

"OMB officials said they are emphasizing manufacturing because it is one of the sectors of the economy most affected by regulations."

"The U.S. manufacturing industry is hindered by regulations that often don't account for improvements in science and technology over the last 20 years," said John D. Graham, head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. "This review will help us identify and improve dated regulations so American manufacturing firms can create jobs and continue to play a vital role in our economy."


To learn more go to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40810-2004Feb13.html

[CRE Analyst]

Privacy advocates this week pressed Congress to mandate that OMB have a 'privacy czar.' The new position – which likely would be unique to the agency - would oversee federal policies and agency collaboration to ensure that privacy protections are effectively implemented throughout the federal government.

"An office inside OMB can provide both institutional memory and sensitivity to combat the unfortunate tendency in government to surveil first and think later," said Sally Katzen, a law professor and former deputy director for management at OMB under the Clinton administration. "If someone had been appointed, the administration may not have appeared to be so tone deaf to some issues."

To learn more go to: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0223/pol-priv-02-23-04.asp

[CRE Analyst]

OMB said this week that federal agencies must submit their annual competitive-sourcing reports by March 31. The reports – mandated by the fiscal 2004 Omnibus Appropriations Bill – will ensure OMB effectively moves towards it’s aim to have private-sector bidders compete for certain federal jobs.

"OMB will put all this information into a new competitive-sourcing database, which will provide more complete information to Congress, Johnson said."

"The database will be “a mechanism for agencies to leverage their collective knowledge and experiences using competitive sourcing as a management strategy to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the government’s commercial operations,” Johnson said."

To learn more go to: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/25091-1.html

[CRE Analyst]

GAO said this week the competitive-sourcing process has left significant room for improvement. GAO noted that 84 percent of all commercial positions are located in just seven departments.

“While recent OMB guidance has stressed that agencies should tailor their plans to meet mission needs, the emphasis in the guidance is still more process than results,” GAO said. “Agencies have focused on meeting targets to announce and complete competitions and have not assessed broader issues, such as weighing potential improvements against the costs and risks.”

The auditors recommended that OMB ensure greater consistency in classifying commercial positions, work with agencies to make strategic sourcing decisions and require them to develop results-oriented competition plans.”

To learn more go to: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/25094-1.html

[CRE Analyst]

OMB officials have told federal agencies that in order to receive funding for IT upgrades, they must first demonstrate appropriate gains with respect to cyber-security. The move comes as the administration seeks to ensure that federal agencies handle privacy issues more effectively.

"In its annual Federal Government Information Security Management report to Congress, OMB says fewer than two-thirds of federal IT systems had been accredited by Dec. 31, falling far short of its goal of 80%. Still, that was an improvement over 2002, when only 47% were certified."


To learn more go to: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=18201838

[CRE Analyst]

OMB expressed a desire this week to hold federal agencies accountable if they do not meet specified criteria related to performance measures, cyber-security, and other issues. The agency is determined to put more ‘bark in its bite.’

"This is something we need to do," [OMB deputy director for management Clay] Johnson said. "Agencies need to have a clear definition of where they want to be and when they should get there."

He added that he met last week with Karen Evans, OMB’s administrator for e-government and IT, to figure out how to increase agency accountability.

The main method by which OMB holds agencies’ feet to the fire is by controlling the release of project funding."


To learn more go to: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/25156-1.html

[CRE Analyst]

In an effort to ‘lift the hood’ on federal agency spending so that agencies do not duplicate the efforts of others, OMB this month will debut a plan that will give agencies an easy look into programs and solutions at other agencies.

"For the first time, the Federal Enterprise Architecture Management System (FEAMS) will allow agencies to seek common solutions and areas of collaboration, rather than wait for OMB officials to point out the opportunities after budget plans are submitted."

"It's very cool that agencies can look in the eyes of OMB and compare to other agencies and maybe even take some information and do some what-ifs," said Scott Bernard, director of enterprise architecture at DigitalNet LLC. "It's like lifting the hood" of a car to see the engine."


To learn more go to: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0308/mgt-omb-03-08-04.asp

[CRE Analyst]

In a Congressionally mandated report released this week, OMB said that while there is still room for improvement, federal agencies have made significant strides since the passage of the E-Government Act of 2002. Agencies are beginning to rethink how they conduct business, and OMB officials think it is only a matter of time before they will see tremendous progress.

"It's the first step of many," [OMB's administrator for e-government and information, Karen] Evans said. "It's learning to walk before you run. This clearly demonstrates they are moving in the right direction."

"In virtually every area, OMB and/or the agencies have made progress in pulling together committees, putting out guidance, furthering Web site work," Dan Chenok [former OMB branch chief for information policy and technology] said. "The act was fairly ambitious, and I think OMB has demonstrated in the report [that] they are well on their way to achieving the provisions of the act."


To learn more go to: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/200...ov-03-15-04.asp

[CRE Analyst]

OMB and Congressional leaders this week assailed poor IT security in federal agencies and Congress. At a Congressional hearing on the issue, leaders warned that if not improved, the lax IT security could lead to serious consequences.

"The time for discussion and debate now yields to a more important requirement for action," Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla., said at a hearing Tuesday. "We know that various terrorist groups are very sophisticated and [are] becoming more so each day."

"In a report last year, the Office of Management and Budget said many agency officials do not understand their IT security responsibilities. Karen Evans, OMB's e-government administrator, said at the hearing Tuesday that agency chiefs are ultimately responsible for IT defenses but that "everyone has to play a part in the cybersecurity piece."

To learn more go to: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0304/031704d1.htm

[CRE Analyst]

A top union official charged this week that OMB instructed agencies to underreport the costs involved with setting up the new competitive-sourcing initiative. OMB officials have disputed the claim, arguing agencies are following the “express language” set forth in the 2004 omnibus appropriations act.

“Agencies…will end up submitting "completely skewed" reports to lawmakers, [Colleen] Kelley [president of the National Treasury Employees Union] argued. For instance, OMB officials instructed agencies to omit "costs of in-house staff that may have spent time on the competition during regular working hours.”

“The White House is asking agencies to include in reports "actual, out-of-pocket" expenses "that would not be incurred but for the conduct of the competition," the OMB official said. Salaries of career employees with primary job responsibilities unrelated to competitive sourcing do not qualify as expenses "directly attributable" to the management initiative, the official noted.”

To learn more go to: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0304/031104a1.htm

[CRE Analyst]

OMB is seeking to increase the awareness – and usage – of the e-government initiatives currently in place in many federal agencies. As one example of agency 'marketing,' IRS recently sent out 60 million postcards to people it thought might use its new 'Free File.' Now, OMB wants to expand this marketing for each of the various e-government initiatives.

“Merely building federal e-government initiatives is not enough to make citizens use them, and officials are trying to figure out what will, Clay Johnson, deputy director for management at OMB, said today at the FOSE conference in Washington, D.C."

"There will be a different marketing plan for each one of them," Johnson said.”


To learn more go to: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0322/web-clay-03-24-04.asp

[admin]

The Clean Air Trust as designated GAO has villian of the month.

"The Clean Air Trust today named the U.S. General Accounting Office as its "clean air villain of the month" for March 2004. Often described in boilerplate fashion as a "congressional watchdog agency," GAO earned the "villain" award by appearing to front for trucking companies that are facing tougher clean-air standards in 2007."

We respect the right the Clean Air Trust to act in any manner it wishes, but, on what basis? Surely because a Federal agency differs with another is hardly a basis, in itself, to cast it in a negative light.

Read article

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=133-03252004

[admin]

CBO continues its analysis of Fannie and Freddie. In its recent study, which is criticized by Fannie, CBO concludes that the government "subsidies" to these corporations is on the rise.

'The implicit subsidy that mortgage lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac receive from their perceived ties to the federal government has nearly doubled -- to almost $20 billion -- since 2000, the head of the Congressional Budget Office said yesterday."

Read article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6589-2004Mar18.html

[CRE Analyst]

At a Congressional hearing this week, GAO officials said the success of the federal government’s e-government initiatives has been mixed. Noting that 17 of the 91 e-government objectives have shown no progress, and another 38 have shown just partial progress, GAO urged OMB to focus on ‘achievable objectives.’

"Given that OMB's stated criteria in choosing these initiatives included their likelihood of deployment in 18 to 24 months, the substantial number of objectives that are still unmet or only partially met indicates that making progress on these initiatives is more challenging than OMB may have originally anticipated," said Linda Koontz, GAO's information management issues director.


To learn more go to: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=18401717

[CRE Analyst]

OMB officials have told federal agencies that too many IT projects have failed to meet their goals – and that they will be held accountable if there is a continued lack of progress. OMB has identified 621 IT projects, totaling $22 million, that have been implemented inadequately.

OMB’s deputy director for managemen,t Clay Johnson, said this week: “We can get to where we want to be. It is just a question of making sure there is plenty of rigor and discipline to make sure agencies understand what their goals are.”

“We laid a wonderful foundation at the start of this administration by using everything available to get a handle on IT investments,” [OMB’s administrator for e-government and IT, Karen] Evans said. “We have to produce results and achieve outcomes.”

To learn more go to: http://gcn.com/23_6/news/25311-1.html

[CRE Analyst]

GAO officials told members of Congress this week that the federal government has not done enough to address the threat of cruise missiles and unarmed aerial vehicles (UAVs). GAO said that at least six “countries of concern” are developing cruise missiles – thought by many to be an ideal weapon to disperse biological or chemical weapons - that could be used on targets in the US.

“In its report, GAO warned that federal agencies are not conducting enough checks on U.S. exports of cruise missiles, UAVs, and related technologies to make sure that they are not falling into the wrong hands. Reviewing exports between fiscal years 1998 and 2002, GAO reported that the State Department followed up on only four of 786 licenses that it issued for cruise missile and UAV technologies and the Pentagon did not do a single check on more than 500 cruise missiles shipped to other states.”

To learn more go to: http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2004_04/GAO.asp

[CRE Analyst]

Through new efforts to market e-government initiatives, OMB and other agencies are out to change a pattern that has few people using the federal government’s online systems. In addition to having agencies better assess how much the public knows about the various e-government initiatives, the new plan consists of effectively identifying ‘targeting audiences’ -- and then reaching out to them.

“Several leaders of the e-government initiatives have been marketing their services, most notably those spearheading the Internal Revenue Service's Free File initiative, but more can and should be done, said Karen Evans, OMB's administrator for e-government and information technology.”

Said Bob Dix, staff director for the House Government Reform Committee's Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census Subcommittee: “The first step is to let people know that these access points are even available.”


To learn more go to: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0412/news-egov-04-12-04.asp

[CRE Analyst]

A CBO report released this week said that if stock options were counted as an expense, it would not hurt the US economy. This comes as some opponents of the proposed policy to have stock options count as a business expense have said that such a policy would have a ‘terrible impact’ on the economy.

"Recognizing the fair value of employee stock options is unlikely to have a significant effect on the economy," the CBO said.

To learn more go to: http://www.forbes.com/business/newswire/2004/04/02/rtr1322522.html

[CRE Analyst]

One of the federal government’s marquee e-government projects, Safecom, is not making adequate progress, GAO officials said this week. Hoping to improve the government’s ability to respond to acts of terrorism and other emergencies, the program is intended to increase communication among ‘first responders.’

“The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, cites two main reasons for the project's limited progress: lack of consistent executive commitment and support and an inadequate level of interagency cooperation.”

"Until these shortcomings are addressed, the ability of Project Safecom to deliver on its promise of improved interoperability and better response to emergencies will remain in doubt," Linda Koontz, GAO's director of information management issues, wrote in the 27-page report."


To learn more go to: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=18901906

[CRE Analyst]

OMB announced the public is spending less time on government paperwork – the majority of which is done filling out IRS forms. In fiscal 2003, the agency estimated the public spent 8.1 billion hours on government paperwork, a decrease of 1.5 percent from 2002. The improvement does not, however, meet government goals.

Said Patricia Dalton, director of strategic issues at the General Accounting Office: "At 8.1 billion burden hours, the governmentwide paperwork estimate is 3.5 billion burden hours higher than the act's target estimate at the end of Sept. 30, 2001."

"Agencies can reduce paperwork burdens by eliminating questions, or exempting certain groups of citizens from filling out the forms. The use of electronic filing also can speed up the process."


To learn more go to: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0404/042104a1.htm

[CRE Analyst]

A new GAO report reveals the Justice Department has failed to collect roughly $25 billion in criminal payments – a number up sharply from the last audit in 2001. Currently, the federal government collects just four cents for every dollar it levies against criminals in fines and assessments of restitution.

Said Byron Dorgan (D-ND): “This is unbelievable,” he said. “Fines and orders to pay restitution are an important part of how we punish convicted criminals. When so little effort is made to collect that money, we allow convicted criminals to avoid punishment for their crimes, weaken our criminal justice system and ultimately deny justice to the victims of crimes.”


To learn more go to: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4817782/

[CRE Analyst]

OMB officials have asked vendors to submit ideas for potential e-government initiatives. The agency held an “industry day” last week so that representatives from various industries could lay out plans to ‘transform’ e-government.

“Although the first phase of initiatives adhered to the status quo, focusing on consolidation and what he called point solutions, this phase of e-government is moving toward transformation, [Norm] Enger [e-government project director at the Office of Personnel Management] said.”

"We're looking for things that really are innovative and transformational that make a dramatic improvement in how we operate in these lines of business," he said.”


To learn more go to: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0426/pol-omb-04-26-04.asp

[CRE Analyst]

CBO said last week that importing prescription drugs from Canada – where such drugs are significantly cheaper than in the US - would have little impact on domestic drug prices. The agency, which has made similar claims previously, refuted the position of some consumer advocates who say the practice would lead to significant savings for US consumers.

“…as the CBO pointed out, market factors and the potential for foreign governments to take action blocking exports to the United States would likely limit the actual number of prescriptions that could be redirected to the U.S. market.”

“In addition, the agency found that market intermediaries would likely eat up a good portion of the potential cost savings.”


To learn more go to: http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040430-053310-4135r.htm

[admin]

The GAO has released a draft report criticizing the Energy Department on its progress of the Yucca Mountain Project's quality assurance program, which is designed to verify science and safety issues. Yucca Mountain Project engineers plan to install metal alloy casks containing spent fuel in a grid of mined tunnels 1,000 feet underground, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"In the report, auditors said the Energy Department is not ready to demonstrate to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that its quality assurance program can "ensure the safe construction and long term operation of the repository."

“The report by the congressional watchdog agency said the problems could delay licensing for the repository, which the Energy Department wants to open in 2010.”

“Margaret Chu, chief of the Yucca Mountain Project and the Energy Department's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, cited "major deficiencies" in the draft report. Where GAO sees 'continuing problems,' we see a measurable record of progress to date and a commitment to continuing improvement in the future”.

For more information see: http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/n...004-291708.html

[Poster]

The CBO is coming under fire from Democrats in the House and Senate for not releasing a required quarterly report on time of how $20 billion dollars allocated to the president was being spent. The belated report was delivered this week.

“But the administration's belated response could still have implications, as the appropriations season drags on. The aide said he expects the lack of information to "at least be discussed" as Congress writes the fiscal 2005 defense and homeland security funding bills.”

“A new report by the Congressional Budget Office makes it clear that tracking homeland security money is easier said than done. Funding for homeland security "is split among 200 different appropriation accounts in the federal budget and involves many different functional areas of the government," CBO said. "That accounting arrangement makes it difficult for budget analysts to distinguish and track homeland security spending."

For more information see: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0504/050604njcom1.htm

[CRE Analyst]

Eager to influence upcoming budget preparations, OMB hopes to have its current e-government proposals off the ground soon.

"It's an extremely aggressive timeframe so it will sync up with the fiscal 2006 budget development," [Richard] Brozen said, speaking today at the Government Enterprise Architecture Conference in Arlington, Va."


To learn more go to: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/200...ob-05-05-04.asp

[Poster]

The GAO says that the DOD has run into a “security clearance logjam” for contractor personnel. Contractors requested one-fifth of all security clearances in the fiscal 2003. This problem is in addition to the backlog of military personnel that was mentioned in February.

“DOD responded that it is considering several initiatives to reduce the backlog, including a phased re-investigation process and a single adjudicative facility for industry clearances.”

“Delays in renewing security clearances for industry personnel and others who are doing classified work can lead to a heightened risk of national security breaches,” the report said.

For more information see: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/25850-1.html

[CRE Analyst]

CBO estimates that while the budget deficit in 2004 will be less than the $477 billion they predicted earlier this year, it will easily be the largest in history. The decrease in the forecast – roughly $35 billion – largely stems from increased revenues tied to the improving economy. Expenditures, criticized by many as excessive, remain at the levels expected by CBO earlier this year.

"Our fiscal prospects are, in my judgment, a significant obstacle to long-term stability because the budget deficit is not readily subject to correction by market forces that stabilize other imbalances," [Federal Reserve Chairman Alan] Greenspan said at a banking conference on Thursday.”


To learn more go to: http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=bondsNews&storyID=5066975

[Poster]

The GAO has issued a report on the military mail delivery system in Iraq. The report states that there were problems with prompt and reliable mail delivery from early on.

“Although a test of transit time for mail delivery by military postal officials showed that so-called "data test letters" arrived in theater within the wartime standard of 11 to 14 days, service members said their personal mail actually took much longer to reach them.”

"Charles S. Abell, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, noted that the mail will be especially important as election time approaches, with thousands of service members expected to request and mail in absentee ballots."

For more information see: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=11632736&BRD=1659&PAG=461&dept_id=8103&rfi=6

[CRE Analyst]

Later this month, OMB will try to move the discussion surrounding competitive sourcing from a debate about anecdotes to one about data. Each federal agency has been collecting information about the competitive sourcing program, and OMB’s report will be the first to shed light on the efficiency and value of the controversial new initiative.

"There's a lot of misunderstanding on competitive sourcing," [Clay] Johnson [deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget] said. "There soon will be more facts on the table for us to have more meaningful conversations.”

“Chip Mather, senior vice president of Acquisition Solutions Inc., said gathering relevant data is the foundation of performance-based acquisitions and competitive sourcing, each of which aim to improve government performance.

"It's the whole premise of performance-based, having those measures and metrics to tell you how well you've done," Mather said.“


To learn more go to: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0510/pol-bush-05-10-04.asp

[Poster]

OMB Watch, along with 30 other nonprofit groups, launched a new website called www.openthegovernment.org to raise awareness of rising government secrecy in local and federal government.

"This broad swath of secrecy is hiding information that the public could use to make us safer and ensure the government is doing all it can to fight terrorists," said Rick Blum, director of OMB Watch's government secrecy project. "The government too often uses the threat of terror to hide embarrassing information."

The Bush administration disagrees that the government’s secrecy is on the rise. "The fact is the government is as open as it has ever been," said Mark Corallo, director of public affairs at the Justice Department. The number of responses for documents filed under the Freedom of Information Act, for example, equals what the Clinton administration released, he said.”

For more information see: http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Politics/Headlines/03LegislatureNPOL04051304.htm

[CRE Analyst]

After complaints from local-level first responders – and a national conference of mayors – that federal grants for anti-terrorism have been delayed in reaching their intended recipients, GAO said last week the delays are “natural.” A federal grant typically has trouble navigating the “pipeline” from the federal government through state-level government to local-level government, the agency said.

"…Local first responders may not have anticipated the natural delays that should have been expected in the complex process of distributing dramatically increased funding through multiple governmental levels while maintaining procedures to ensure proper standards of accountability at each level," GAO homeland security head William Jenkins said.

"There should have been an immediate process, a simple immediate process to get money out to where it was needed, and that was never developed," [Akron Mayor and incoming U.S. Conference of Mayors President Donald] Plusquellic said Friday in an interview.”


To leanr more go to: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0504/051404gsn1.htm

[Poster]

At a Thursday hearing, House Republicans commented on the lost tax revenue upon allowing same sex marriages to become legal. This issue was brought up at a House Judiciary subcommittee meeting on a proposed constitutional amendment banning same sex marriages. CBO reports were used in determining how much the government would lose.

“The CBO predicted that providing health care and retirement benefits to the partners of current and former federal workers would cost an estimated $1.4 billion between 2004 and 2013.”

"You don't save money by denying people rights in America," said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass

For more information see: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c...MNGG76LKPK1.DTL

[CRE Analyst]

Even after an increased focus on the issue from the administration, a new OMB report says just one of 26 federal agencies has made any progress in their e-government efforts since last December. The agency’s ‘scorecard’ also notes two agencies, Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs, actually digressed in their efforts to meet stated e-government goals.

OMB officials, however, remain confident.

“Because we are results oriented we have programs large and small with clear definitions of success, detailed action plans for getting there, and a clear understanding of who is being held accountable for the results,” said Clay Johnson, OMB’s deputy director for management. “We also have programs rated ‘results not demonstrated,’ which we are committed to making successful, because that is what results oriented organizations do.”


To learn ore go to: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/25953-1.html

[Poster]

The GAO believes that the Bush administration has violated anti-propaganda law by releasing videos to news stations about Medicare prescription drug law. The GAO says that the videos were not clearly identified as coming from a government source, which violates the law that public funds cannot be used publicity or propaganda.

“CMS had argued that it properly identified the entire package as coming from the government.”

“GAO determined that part of the VNR materials did not make it clear the government was the source of the information, including "news stories" narrated by people acting as reporters who were actually hired by the government's subcontractor, and suggested scripts for TV anchors to use.”

For more information see: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0504/052004cdam1.htm

[Poster]

CBO has announced that the proposed budget for fiscal 2004 will be $477 billion. The House has past the budget plan, however the bill has now stalled in the Senate.

“The White House left ongoing costs of military operations in the Middle East out of its budget outline, but last week the Bush administration formally requested $25 billion for fiscal 2005. That request is currently under debate in the House and Senate.”

“Republican lawmakers hope that by attaching the limit increase to the budget plan, they can avoid a debate over rising debt levels as the presidential election draws nearer.”

For more information see: http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B4006713E-D5C8-42A9-8521-E927DDF1FC4E%7D&siteid=google&dist=google

[Poster]

The GAO has issued a report stating that the FDA "has determined that antibiotic resistance in humans resulting from the use of antibiotics in animals is an unacceptable risk to the public health." The report argues that the overuse of antibiotics on poultry when they are not sick leads to a risk on human health.

The GAO recommends that FDA expedite its review of key antibiotics used in animal agriculture but also notes that FDA's process, and any subsequent proceedings, are time-consuming.


For more information see: http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=159-05242004

[Poster]

The new report issued by OMB on competitive sourcing analyzes whether federal jobs could be outsourced to the private sector for less money. OMB found that by contracting out some jobs they could save $1.1 billion over 3-5 years; however the research and planning of this savings cost about $88 million in 2003.

“The report shows that work performed by 6,244 federal employees was turned over to the private sector. It does not say how many employees left the government payroll because of the job competitions.”

“OMB officials said few federal employees, if any, were forced out on the street; most of the employees were reassigned to another part of the government, took a cash buyout and voluntarily quit or went to work for the winning contractor.”

For more information see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58804-2004May26.html

[Poster]

A report issued by the GAO this week states that almost 200 government agencies are using or planning to use data mining software to identify terrorists. 122 out of the199 programs, can access private documents such as student loan applications, bank account numbers and credit card information. This report raised some concerns with government watchdogs, who believe the government may be tramping on people's right to privacy.

"We need to find out right away whether these programs are indeed threatening or whether their use of information is benign," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union technology and liberty program.

For more information see: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,121209,00.html

[Poster]

The House has passed a law requiring OMB to do a number of new tasks under the new Paperwork and Regulatory Improvement Act. OMB will identify steps to reduce IRS paperwork which is estimated to be 80% of all government paperwork. OMB will also conduct cost-benefit analyses which will include the costs on the private sector as well as the general public. However, as of now, the bill does not have a single sponsor in the Senate.

"This is the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing," says Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, a Washington, D.C.-based consumer advocacy organization. "It is a thinly veiled attempt to prevent the government from protecting the public so corporations can save a buck."

“This administration has slowed the growth of burdensome new rules by at least 75 percent when compared to the previous administration," says John Graham, who heads OMB's regulatory reform office. But, he adds, "Actually shrinking the absolute burden of imposed regulatory cost is much more difficult than slowing its growth."”

For more information see: http://thecre.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=234

[Poster]

According to the GAO, the Defense Department used flawed computer modeling in determining which, and how many troops were exposed to chemical warfare agents during the first Gulf War. GAO recommends that the Defense Department stop using the data to model chemical warfare from the war. However, the Defense Department stands by the techniques, refusing to stop using the computer modeling data saying, “The modeling was not flawed”.

"The data the DOD used was and is the best information available and any research that desired to use it would know the limitations of the data," the Defense Department said.

"Because the DOD produced this flawed modeling, it set Gulf War research back seven years at least," said Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, a Gulf War veterans advocacy group.

For more information see: http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040602.gtgas0602/BNStory/Technology/

[Poster]

The OMB is having trouble with its new online e-government site Grants.gov. This site was one of 2 sites that the GAO says has met all of its objectives; however applications at the site are significantly lower than expected. The OMB estimated 15,000 loan applications in the first year, but since it went online in March, there have only been 327 applications received. This site was originally implemented to help small businesses through time saving, information accessibility, and reduction of cost.

We’re getting feedback from our help desk, where people think they have completed and can’t get that button enabled,” said Rebecca Spitzgo, the Grants.gov program manager. “We’re looking at ways to more easily identify which field is missing and needs to be filled out and working with the help desk so they can better trouble-shoot those.”

For more information see: http://www.gcn.com/23_13/news/26113-1.html

[Poster]

A recent CBO report states that the budget deficit estimates for the first eight months of the fiscal year have reached $347 billion. This amount is $56 billion larger than the deficit was last year this far through the year. The CBO says the reason for the increase is that outlays have increased by 6%, while revenue has increased by only 2%.

“Defense spending through May was about 14 percent higher than last year, and outlays for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security grew by about 6 percent higher than in the first eight months of fiscal 2003, while total outlays for other programs grew by about 4.6 percent.”

For more information see: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0604/060704cdpm2.htm

[Poster]

Over the past 6 years the Pentagon has wasted over $100 million dollars in airline tickets that went unused, which does not include the claims that were fraudulent and should have been denied adding to the total dollars lost. The GAO said the $100 million estimate of waste on airline tickets from 1997-2002 was conservative. The DoD has claimed that they had no knowledge of the flights that were not used, and are now currently trying to get refunds for the wasted tickets.

"Because of a culture at the Defense Department that seems to persistently tolerate abuse of public dollars and public trust, precious taxpayer funds continue to be wasted," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat.

Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, called it "very troubling that the Defense Department has wasted millions of dollars in unused airline tickets due to sloppy and inadequate internal controls. Every dollar wasted by the Pentagon is a dollar that could be spent on the war against terror."

For more information see: http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=877421&tw=wn_wire_story

[Poster]

The OMB has temporarily stopped the General Services Administration’s use of government acquisition contracts until there is a complete review of the process. The GSA is normally allowed to issue preapproved contracts under the OMB’s authority. These contracts are normally used with IT consulting, but were not approved this year due to the high number of contracting controversies in the news throughout the government this year.

“The executive agent status for GSA would be renewed in the near future, the OMB official said, and similar rules have yet to be renewed for NASA, the National Institutes of Health and the Commerce Department.

A GSA official declined to speculate on how the temporary hiatus to the governmentwide contract rule would affect its contract activity, but the agency has notified employees not to issue new orders against its governmentwide contracts.”

For more information see: http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=2986989

[Poster]

A new report by the CBO states that the Social Security program does not have as much financial trouble as most people believed. According to the report, the fund will not run out of funds completely until the year 2052. The new model to estimate generated revenue used higher rates of productivity and earnings, while using lower inflation and higher interest rates than those used in previous models. As of now, the Social Security program is running on a surplus, but the report states that in 2019 the program will begin to start running a deficit.

“The chairman of the House subcommittee, Representative E. Clay Shaw Jr., Republican of Florida, said the report showed that "Social Security's Depression-era pay-as-you-go financing cannot sustain the program for future generations."

“President Bush has strongly suggested that given Social Security's problems, he will make a major effort to overhaul the system if he is re-elected.”

For more information see: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/15/politics/15benefit.html

[Poster]

A GAO report has found that many foreign internet pharmacies are shipping counterfeit products to the US. This report comes immediately after another report by the GAO which states that many internet pharmacies sell prescription drugs to customers without a prescription. American drug companies have long stated that there needs to be regulation on the importation of drugs, due to their questionable quality.

“We observed questionable characteristics and business practices of some of the Internet pharmacies from which we received drugs," the GAO report said. "Most, but not all, involved other foreign pharmacies" outside Canada and the United States.

"Although the size of the study demonstrates the gravity of the situation regarding other foreign Internet sites, a much larger study that has statistical significance should be considered," the FDA said.

For more information see: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-bz.drugs18jun18,0,4611727.story?coll=bal-health-headlines

[Poster]

OMB officials have issued a funding formula stating how much money federal agencies should contribute to the internet site Grants.gov for the next two years. The goal of OMB is to make it easy for agencies to transfer to the fee-for-service model.

"Agencies should plan to transfer their FY 2005 funding within a month after the enactment of their FY 2005 appropriation."

“The transition of Grants.gov from development to utilization continues this goal of maximizing resources to achieve more effective results," states the memo, sent by OMB's controller, Linda Springer, and the agency's administrator for information technology and e-government, Karen Evans.

"As part of this effort, OMB will work with agencies to identify FY 2004 development, modernization and enhancement funds that should be used to support Grants.gov."

For more information see: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0614/web-grant-06-18-04.asp

[Poster]

The GAO has issued a new report criticizing NASA on their inability to accurately forecast costs for large projects and inefficient management. NASA agreed with the recommendations in the report and plans to have “an integrated plan for improving cost estimating” and establishing “a standard framework for developing life-cycle cost estimates.”


“NASA lacks a clear understanding of how much programs will cost and how long they will take to achieve their objectives….NASA’s basic cost-estimating processes…lack the discipline needed to ensure that program estimates are reasonable.”

“The GAO report’s findings, when coupled with NASA’s failure to pass an independent financial audit for the past three years running, suggest that NASA needs to get its financial house in order."

For more information see: http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/general_accounting_office_blasts_nasa.html?2362004

[Poster]

By the end of July OMB hopes to release the Data Reference Model, which is the final piece to the Federal Enterprise Architecture. The model should improve agencies ability to collect and use data. The model has taken over two years to complete, and OMB hopes to have the system in place in time for calculations of the 2006 budget process.

“We want to make sure when the model is released, no matter who you are, you will be able to read it and understand exactly what we are talking about as far as data that we are collecting as we go forward.”

“With the release of the DRM, we intend to specifically talk about data and how it relates to the [A-16] circular so that the agencies will know how to report those investments in to us.” “We will be able to get great visibility into [the data] and be able to promote partnerships between agencies as well as through state and local governments.”

For more information see: http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/26399-1.html

[Poster]

The GAO is praising action taken by the Department of Homeland Security in regards to its web-based Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). The GAO states that DHS has taken major steps forward in training employees, updating software, and having regular meetings with educational institutions. The DHS plans to continue the trend by having even more meetings with educational institutions, creating special e-mail accounts to report user problems, and having user groups testing new changes to SEVIS.


“Between January and June 2003, more than 20 critical and high-priority system change requests were reported in a six-week period. However, between June and December 2003 only two were filed. This dramatic decline shows the effectiveness of the initial changes, GAO said.”

For more information see: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0604/062104e1.htm

[Poster]

The CBO and OMB have come to two different conclusions in regards to a proposed federal bill to insure house mortgages. The CBO announced that it will cost the government over $100 million per year to implement the program, while the OMB has stated that the program will bring $200 million in revenue annually to the government. The proposed bill will offer mortgagees to those people who qualify, but cannot afford the down payment. The estimated cost/revenue difference between the two agencies is due to the rate of prospected defaulters on the loans. OMB believes that CBO’s estimates have much too high a rate of defaulters under the proposed details of the bill.

“CBO estimates that 1 percent of the new program’s beneficiaries would default during its first year, and 30 percent over 30 years.”

“Supporters of the bill say there is little reason to think that recipients of the zero-down-payment mortgages would be significantly more likely to default on their loans than current holders of FHA-backed mortgages. They also point to provisions in the legislation, such as a limit on the number of defaults before the program shuts down, that they say will keep the program from costing too much money.”

For more information see: http://www.thehill.com/business/063004_mortgage.aspx

[Poster]

The GAO has released a report criticizing aspects of the 14 month US occupation of Iraq. The report states that some aspects of Iraqi life, specifically electricity and the judiciary system, were better before the US entered Iraq. Both the GAO and the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) have stated that the CPA is seriously understaffed when it comes to rebuilding Iraq, with the GAO recommending that the CPA have three times as many employees it currently has on staff. One major problem according to the GAO is the high rate of insurgent attacks which create high levels of uncertainty.

"The unstable security environment has served to slow down our rebuilding and reconstruction efforts, and it's going to be of critical importance to provide more stable security."

"There are a number of significant questions that need to be asked and answered dealing with the transition (to self-sovereignty)." "A lot has been accomplished, and a lot remains to be done."

For more information see: http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/news/world/9044298.htm

[Poster]

The OMB is telling agencies to consult with legal counsel before making software purchases in order to make sure all licensing requirements are satisfied. According to the OMB these requirements can be “legally complex and can directly impact agency operations.” Open source software is a major concern for the OMB because it is sometimes different in security, total cost of ownership and the effect of the software’s use.

“Agencies must consider the total cost of ownership including lifecycle maintenance costs, the costs associated with risk issues, including security and privacy of data, and the costs of ensuring security of the IT system,” the latest memo said.

For more information see: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/26489-1.html

[Poster]

The GAO stated to a House panel that some of the recent increases in consumer gas prices can be attributed to the merging of petroleum companies. The FTC is fighting this statement, objecting to the methodology used by the GAO.

“Despite FTC’s criticism of the study, the GAO said it stands by its methodology and findings, which the congressional watchdog says are consistent with previous investigations of the issue.”

For more information see: http://www.thehill.com/news/070804/gas.aspx

[Poster]

The GAO has issued a report criticizing the Pentagon’s system for tracking supplies, finances and people. The report states that the Pentagon is wide open to, “fraud, waste and abuse,” since they have, “fundamentally flawed business systems.” The Pentagon acknoledges that it does have duplicitate and innificencient systems, but argue that the system is still improving.


“’If you ran your business this way, you'd be in jail,’ said Christopher Hellman, an analyst with the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.”

"The Pentagon is bigger than 90 percent of most countries. So if you compare them to, say, Rwanda or China or Mexico or Peru, this is not a bad record," he notes. "All militaries are inefficient. All governments are inefficient. The question is, 'Who is less inefficient?'"

For more information see: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,64134,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1

[Poster]

The OMB is being asked to clarify security reporting policies for minor systems by members of the federal Chief Information Security Officers Forum. The confusion stems from the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA), of which OMB gave no examples of how to run minor systems. Common systems for all federal agencies under FISMA guidelines would be more efficient according to the memo.

"Without actual examples, there's always room for interpretation."

"FISMA is pretty clear on the major systems; it's all the other little cats and dogs, the minor systems," about which the rules are unclear.

For more information see: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0712/pol-security-07-12-04.asp

[Poster]

The U.S. government posted a $19.1 billion dollar surplus for the month of June according to the Treasury Department. This was a larger amount than the CBO expected, which estimated a surplus of $16 billion earlier this month. The CBO accredited the difference of the amounts to “the effects of the calendar on the timing of outlays.” Outlays rose 13.6 percent while receipts only rose 11.1 percent.

For more information see: http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B1C34EC92-9936-4304-AD8C-2703C223C578%7D&siteid=google&dist=google

[Poster]

The GAO has released a report on the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, stating that field staff for recipient countries have not gotten clear guidance. Staff do not know whether they can buy cheaper generic AIDS drugs, thereby treating more people for less money. The lack of overall guidance also creates problems for those countries already using generic drugs. PEPFAR is a five year project in which the federal government plans to spend $15 billion preventing AIDS deaths.

Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., said he was satisfied with the program's performance. "It's running very well," he said. "It's way too early to make any definitive judgments."

But Kolbe also said there are "problems at all kinds of levels." The greatest hurdle appears to be coordinating the efforts of relief groups and governmental agencies in so many countries, he said. The United States needs to provide technical assistance and streamline the process of getting drugs to sick people, he said, to avoid burdening poor countries with paperwork."

For more information see: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-07-13-bush-aids_x.htm

[Poster]

Microsoft is applauding a new memo released by OMB stressing that agencies making procurements must be "technology and vendor neutral." Open source software opponents argue that that this new memo will put proprietary software on the same level of open source software.

"These are bills that say you cannot use [Microsoft] Windows because Windows is not open source. There are lots of reasons not to use Windows. But having a state law that says you not use it seems awfully prohibitive," Guidera said.

For more information see: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/35175.html

[Poster]

A new GAO report on federal government spending in Iraq states that the government has spent most of the allotted $65 billion, and is looking for an additional $12.3 billion before the end of the fiscal year. The White House maintains that it will be able to meet the October 1st date, (the end of the fiscal year) without having to request additional money. The reasons for the tight budget according to the GAO are due to a number of factors of which include: not reducing the number of troops as planned, using heavily protected armored machinery, and high maintenance costs.


The GAO also analyzed deferring the costs to the future stating, "We believe that the deferral of these activities will add to the requirements that will need to be funded in fiscal year 2005 and potentially later years and could result in a 'bow wave' effect in future years. Activities that are deferred also run the risk of costing more in future years."

For more information see: For more information see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4065-2004Jul21.html

[Poster]

The CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin believes that the difference between federal receipts and outlays for this fiscal year will be less than $450 billion. Earlier this year the White House estimated a $521 billion dollar deficit, while CBO estimated the deficit at $477 billion. The budget year ends September 30th, but the Director expects the deficit to remain somewhere around $450 billion.


“Holtz-Eakin declined to put a floor on the deficit projection, but said he was not expecting "a big number in terms of shock value" in the upcoming projections.”

"The big wild card has always been how fast money gets spent in some of these Iraq accounts," he said.

For more information see: http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=bondsNews&storyID=5748514

[Poster]

The GAO has finished an investigation on federal tax violations and the IRS. The report states that the IRS has a problem with lack of information and that the IRS’s deficiencies come from a lack of data sharing between agencies. The GAO investigation found that numerous companies have filed fake tax returns, posted the incorrect amount of employees, or inflated earnings. In addition, twenty-five percent of businesses that applied to hire immigrant workers since 1997 had owed back taxes, failed to file tax returns or never registered with the IRS.


"It's unbelievable," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa). "Tens of thousands of businesses get away without bothering to file tax returns, even when they report taxable income to another government agency. The message here is it's OK to ***** because odds are you won't get caught."

For more information see: http://www.accountingweb.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=99528&d=815&h=817&f=816&dateformat=%25B%20%25e,%20%25Y

[Poster]

Federal officials are not happy with the new way OMB is evaluating agencies progress in achieving the President’s Management Agenda. The new system is administered quarterly giving agencies a grade based on a tri-color coded system: green signifying success, yellow meaning the agency has achieved some criteria, and red indicating serious flaws. Officials are arguing the system is very ambiguous, and makes it difficult to compare one agency to another. They argue if the system is not fixed it might become meaningless in the near future.

"We need to come across with more uniform metrics on how we determine the color coding and the progress across the government or else [the score card] is fairly meaningless," he said during a panel discussion at the Excellence in Government 2004 conference.

"A single color is too simplistic a measure for the complexities you need to take into account on an agency's success," said David Chu, undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness.

Fro more information see: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0726/web-scores-07-27-04.asp

[Poster]

An audit conducted by the GAO has found that only seven of 24 agencies are in compliance with a law requiring that agencies certify and accredit their information systems' security. The guidelines were issued by the OMB, but only two agencies have 100 percent of their critical information systems certified and accredited to operate. Those agencies that were found not to be up to par are claiming they do not have the funding to make the mandatory changes.

Putnam, who is head of the House subcommittee that oversees federal information technology policies, expressed his disappointment with the report's findings. "The current information security threat environment that exists in the world today demands that the federal government lead by example," he said.


For more information see: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0726/web-gao-07-29-04.asp

[Poster]

According to the White House, the US budget Deficit will be $445 billion this year, or roughly 3.8% of total economic output. This amount is lower than the expected deficit given earlier this year of $521 billion. The reason for the lowering of the estimate according to OMB was an extra unexpected $82 billion in revenues since February. Although the deficit was reduced for this year, the OMB predicts the deficit to remain for years to come.

“The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said the rising deficit was due to an extraordinary succession of negative economic pressures including the 2000 economic downturn, the subsequent recession, the 9/11 attacks, the war on terror, increased spending on homeland security and a series of corporate scandals.”

For more information see: http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=073104115429

[Poster]

The GAO is calling for a cross-industry database for financial regulators in order to keep track of enforcement actions. As of now, the information is kept on separate information systems making access to data across agencies very difficult. The GAO says that the database could be costly, but that these issues must be addressed.

"Proposals for improving information-sharing capabilities or tools...need to address concerns about sharing and protecting different types of regulatory data that have varying degrees of sensitivity," the report states.

The "release of unsubstantiated information, particularly with regard to customer complaints and open investigations, raised liability concerns for some regulators," the report states. Releasing data in an ongoing case could "jeopardize that investigation and existing sources of information," regulators told GAO.

For more information see: http://thecre.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=234

[Poster]

The CBO is projecting a record deficit of $422 billion for the fiscal year 2004. This is lower than the agency’s March estimate of $477 billion, and much lower than OMB’s $521 billion estimate in February. The White House claims that the lowering comes from the success of new economic policies. However, critics claim that the budget is still too high.

“They also point out that when the Social Security surplus is removed from the equation, the deficit is more than $600 billion, an important point because those dollars will dwindle away with the coming retirement of the baby boom generation.”

For more information see: http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040805-064610-3346r.htm

[Poster]

A study by the Industry Advisory Council’s eGovernment Shared Interest Group conducted for OMB is calling for improving the techniques for data storage and retrieval. Agency officials commented on the variety of systems used between agencies, and recommended that OMB set up a way to encourage standardized data collection and performance metrics.

“The study defines 11 categories of productivity metrics and describes the pros and cons of each. The most frequently used metric is an obvious one: user satisfaction measured by a survey.”

For more information see: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0809/web-erm-08-09-04.asp

[Poster]

The GAO is calling for the Department of Defense to reform its business-system procurement policies to the project management practices used in the corporate world. The GAO warned that if the 14 recommendations are not successfully implemented the future IT investments by the DOD will be put at risk.

“Without such oversight capabilities, it's ‘likely that acquisition risks will become cost, schedule and performance problems,’ the GAO said.”

Fore more information see: http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2004/0,4814,95068,00.html

[Poster]

The CBO has issued a report claiming that President Bush’s tax cuts favor the rich, putting the federal tax burden on middle-class families. Households in the top 1% of income had an average of a $78,460 tax cut, while middle income families averaged a tax cut of $1090. The report is expected to heat the debate between Senator Kerry and George Bush on whether the tax cuts helped the economy.

“The newspapers, citing the CBO report, said about two-thirds of the benefits from the cuts went to households in the top 20 percent, with an average income of $203,740.

People in the lowest 20 percent of earnings, which averaged $16,620, saw their effective tax rate fall to 5.2 percent from 6.7 percent, though their average tax cut was only $250. “

For more information see: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=5966706

[Poster]

The OMB is calling for federal agencies to do a better job of managing costs in the next budget year by reducing improper payments, tightening controls over federal credit cards, and managing real property. The OMB is pushing the agencies have greater access to reliable data stating “the ultimate goal is to have accurate and timely information, on demand, for decision-making and to manage costs.”


“Agencies are moving from being good financial reporters to good financial managers.”

For more information see: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/26906-1.html

[Poster]

According to the GAO there is widespread fraud in the Medicaid program, and the federal government is not doing enough to stop it. Only eight federal employees monitor state efforts to fight Medicaid fraud. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), who review the state programs, plan to expand its management staff to deal with the reviewing process.

"CMS has a problem with Medicaid fraud and its limited oversight is insufficient to protect the integrity of the program."

“A pilot program in California in one year produced a reported $58 million in savings and more than 80 cases against health care providers suspected of fraud, GAO said.”

For more information see: http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040818_2387.html

[Poster]

The CBO has released a new report on digital copyright issues offering a set of principles for lawmakers. The principles call for avoiding interests closely tied with industries or consumer groups. The paper states the possible economic effects of imposing digital copyright laws.

"Revisions to copyright law should be made without regard to the vested interests of particular business and consumer groups," the congressional economists wrote. "Instead, they should be assessed with regard to their consequences for efficiency in markets for creative works and other products."

“Changing laws to favor either consumers or copyright holders could reduce efficiencies of the market but boost the market--if they helped reduce piracy or opened up new digital markets, according to the paper, which was released independently by the Congressional Budget Office, without being requested by a member of Congress.”

For more information see: http://news.com.com/Congressional+economists+tackle+copyright+issues/2100-1028_3-5304486.html

[Poster]

The OMB has issued specific criteria for agencies to meet the green level on the President’s Management Agenda scorecard where agencies are graded on a tricolor system of green, yellow, and red. The OMB sent a memo to 27 agencies CIO’s explaining the administration expects from agencies for “cost, schedule and performance, earned value management, and operational and data analysis.” The next quarterly grading is scheduled for September 30.

“Some of the things they are looking for from agencies include:

1. Providing examples of how the agency uses data and analysis to make project management and IT portfolio management decisions 2. Establishing cost, schedule and performance baselines for all projects 3. A documented agency policy for using earned value management. Earned value management criteria is a project management system used by the contractor that integrates the scope of the work with the cost and schedule milestones for planning purposes."

For more information see: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/27033-1.html

[Poster]

A new report by the GAO has been released stating that a high percentage of Army Reserve soldiers experience pay problems. Army personnel officials are undertaking both short-term and long-term steps to fix the problem. The GAO recommends that the Army give unit commanders or administrators the authority to fix pay problems. Currently several reservists in Afghanistan or Iraq are unable to fix pay irregularities because local officials do not have the authority to fix the problems.

"The pay problems we found were caused, at least in part, by design weaknesses in the extensive, complex set of processes and procedures relied on to provide active duty pays, allowances and related tax benefits," GAO auditors concluded.

"These pay problems caused considerable frustration, adversely affected soldiers' morale, and placed an additional unnecessary burden on both the soldiers and their families," the report stated.

For more information see: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=29304&printerfriendlyVers=1&

[Poster]

The OMB has hired a marketing group for three e-government projects. The company, Edelman Public Relations of New York, will create a strategy for E-Authentication, International Trade Process Streamlining and Recreation One-Stop. If successful these plans could be used for at least seven more initiatives.

“These are among the projects that are ready to graduate, so to speak,” said Karen Evans, OMB’s administrator for IT and e-government. “They are technically done and now their issues are just about utilization.”

“[OMB deputy director for management] Clay Johnson asked whether it makes sense for agencies to be marketing experts or hire someone do that,” she said. “This is a bit different than how we traditionally put up services.”

For more information see: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/27065-1.html

[Poster]

The GAO has released a report stating that companies located in overseas tax havens are more likely to have a competitive advantage over domestic companies in regards to federal contracts. In the study, large “tax haven contractors” were compared to large domestic contractors in 2000 and 2001.

“In both years, tax haven contractors were about one and a half times more likely to have no tax liability as domestic contractors,” the GAO concluded.

“I am pleased that the GAO has documented what many of us suspected—that there is an unfair playing field between U.S. companies and corporate inverters when it comes to federal government contracts.” “American companies should not suffer a competitive disadvantage because tax haven contractors have inverted ownership to gain an unfair edge by avoiding paying corporate tax.”

For more information see: http://gcn.com/cgi-bin/udt/im.display.printable?client.id=gcndaily2&story.id=27086

[Poster]

The OMB has mandated that agencies report on how they have improved their cybersecurity over the past year. Last year agencies claimed 62% of all systems were secured, and earlier this month they claimed that number had risen to 70%. OMB’s goal was to have 90% of systems secure by December 2003. OMB is now especially wary of peer-to-peer file sharing networks.

“While there are many appropriate uses of this technology, a number of studies have shown the vast majority of files traded on P2P (peer-to-peer) networks are copyrighted music files and *****graphy,” the memo said. “Data also suggests P2P is a common avenue for the spread of computer viruses” in IT systems.

For more information see: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/27089-1.html

[Poster]

According to a new GAO report the federal government is mismanaging its vehicle fleet. Government agencies did not know if their fleet size was correct or whether they had the right vehicles for the job. The Department of Interior plans to fix the problem after being notified by the GAO report.


“Fleet maintenance is now on our radar screen," says Assistant Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett. "We're trying to do better... save the taxpayer dollars while also fulfilling our mission,"

I was astonished to learn that the federal government spends some $1.7 billion each year on its fleet," says Sen. Collins.

For more information see: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5868529/

[Poster]

According to the CBO this year’s federal budget deficit will reach $422 billion. This total amount is expected to break the record of last year's budget deficit of $375 billion. The agency also announced expectations for next year's deficit totaling $348 billion.

"This is by far the biggest deficit in American history," said Thomas Kahn, Democratic staff director of the House Budget Committee. "There is no credible way Republicans can portray the record deficits they have created as good news."

"Deficits are going down, jobs are going up, the economy continues to improve," said Sean Spicer, Republican spokesman for the House Budget panel. "I don't see how you can't be happy with that news."

For more information see: http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/09/07/budget.deficit.ap/index.html

[Poster]

OMB is forming a interagency council to coordinate exchanges of terrorist information between agencies. President Bush established the council in an executive order signed last month. The council will include representatives from 10 departments.

“We want a person who can help make decisions on what to types of systems to deploy and what guidelines to develop,” said Karen Evans, OMB’s administrator for e-government.

For more information see: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/27198-1.html

[Poster]

A newly released GAO report is urging Congress and the Labor Department to toughen ERISA, a federal law on retirement plans, requiring pension plans and their fiduciaries to disclose their votes. The report states that corporate executives and fund managers could have a conflict of interest when deciding on pension plan issues and investments "because various business relationships exist, which can influence a fiduciary's vote." The GAO report recommends that Congress appoint an “independent fiduciary” to vote a company’s stock on some pension plan issues.


“'It's an open secret that these conflicts do affect the way people vote,' says Charles Elson, director of the University of Delaware's Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance."

“In a written response to the GAO, Labor Department official Ann Combs contends that the law adequately deals with potential conflicts through "high standards of fiduciary duty" and the "personal liability of fiduciaries for their decisions."

For more information see: http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/retirement/2004-09-08-pensions_x.htm

[Poster]

OMB is hiring an outside contractor to ensure that all 25 e-government projects comply with federal laws and regulations. This is the second contract OMB has recently awarded, having hired a marketing plan developer last month for 10 initiatives.

"Agencies will know what they will be getting for their money," said Karen Evans, OMB's administrator for e-government and IT.. "There may be a basic operation and maintenance fee every agency involved in the project will pay, and then there may be a premium charge to agencies that want service above and beyond the basic services. It is like basic cable and premium cable." *

"We will determine what gaps, if any, each project has, and we will fill them," said Evans.

For more information see: http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/19_12/news/24450-1.html

[Poster]

According to the CBO a debt of $2.3 trillion will accumulate over the next 10 years. If the Bush tax cuts are extended past 2011 the deficit could reach as high as $3.6 trillion.

“The deficit, which is roughly $56 billion less than was originally projected in March, still remains $46 billion ahead of last year, the CBO said.”

“Both parties seized on the CBO estimates to promote their candidates for the White House. The Republicans highlighted the $56 billion improvement over the CBO's earlier deficit estimate, while Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry quipped, ‘Only George W. Bush could celebrate over a record budget deficit of $422 billion.’”

For more information see: http://www.webcpa.com/WebCPA/index.cfm/txtFuse/dspShellContent/fuseAction/DISPLAY/numContentID/53860/numSiteID/12/numTaxonomyTypeID/10/numTaxonomyID/937.htm

[Poster]

The GAO has released a report questioning the federal government’s plan on producing a consolidated financial statement. GAO auditors claim that a lack of proper systems and processes make it difficult to consolidate different agencies’ statements.

“But as was the case in the past seven years, the lack of systems and processes means GAO auditors do not have the information they need to offer an overall opinion on the government's fiscal 2003 statement.”

“The first priority is to secure the significant financial problems at the Department of Defense in order for the government to get an opinion," said Gary Engel, a director of financial management and assurance at GAO.”

For more information see: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0913/web-financials-09-13-04.asp

[Poster]

OMB has come out with new estimates in regards to Bush’s Medicare plan, stating that the program could cost an additional $42 billion over the next 10 years due to the Medical Modernization Act, the new prescription drug law. The new total for the President’s Medicare plan could reach as much as $576 billion over 10 years.

"We're in deep trouble," said Robert Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center, as he examined a Medicare chart belatedly released by the administration.

“But administration officials over the weekend strongly disputed that the chart indicates that the drug program's projected cost has been increased by $42 billion.”

For more information see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32182-2004Sep18.html

[Poster]

According to the CBO, the President’s goal of sending astronauts to the moon again could cost around $100 billion. However, when adjusted for inflation it is roughly the same amount that was spent on the Apollo program, which reached the moon in 1969.

“Unveiled by Bush on Jan. 14, the plan calls for NASA to complete the International Space Station and retire its shuttle fleet by 2010, freeing up the money needed to send astronauts back to the moon by 2020.”

“The Congressional Budget Office, however, looked at NASA's fiscal performance on 72 projects dating back to the 1970s. The average cost overrun: 45 percent. The Congressional analysts simply added that to NASA's projection to come up with a cost of about $100 billion to return an astronaut crew to the moon by 2020.”

For more information see: http://www.floridatoday.com/news/space/stories/2004b/spacestoryN922MOONCOST.htm

[Poster]

The GAO has announced that the "offshoring" jobs to India, China, and other low wage countries has not affected the US job market. Economists have been unable to measure the impact of offshoring because no federal agency collects data on the issue. In one survey mentioned in 2003, it was found that only 13,000 out of 15 million layoffs were attributed to offshoring, or less than 1%.

“U.S. high-tech jobs have been evaporating since the technology stock bubble burst in 2000, but ‘the reasons for these declines cannot be specifically linked to offshoring,’ the GAO concluded.”

“Moreover, while sending U.S. work offshore can cause some job losses, the trend also may offer benefits, "including lower prices, productivity improvements, job creation ... and overall higher growth," it found.”

For more information see: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0923outsource23.html

[Poster]

OMB is considering having federal agencies share services for financial management and human resources. These two areas could join other consolidated projects which include e-government projects, e-payroll, and e-travel. This consolidating could lead to large outsourcing contracts for the private sector.

"’It's a very feasible model for the federal government,’ said Lisa Mascolo, managing partner of Accenture's federal client group.”

"’As much as there is enormous potential for elimination of redundancy and savings, there is an equally huge barrier in terms of the complexity of implementing that type of solution,’ said Payton Smith, an analyst at market research firm Input Inc. of Reston, Va.”

For more information see: http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/19_13/federal/24602-1.html

[Poster]

A new GAO report states that the Department of Homeland Security is planning to establish goals, performance measures, and timelines for 8 priority IT areas in the next few months. The DHS is undertaking these measures in response to a previous GAO audit which criticized IT management.

“'Initial road maps have been developed for each of these priority areas,' said Anna F. Dixon, DHS’ director for departmental GAO and inspector general liaison."

“’The operational reality of starting a new organization such as DHS is that it must strike a balance between its pursuit of new and enhanced systems and establishing the means for achieving a family of systems that optimally support departmentwide operations and mission performance,’ GAO concluded.”

For more information see: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/27466-1.html

[Poster]

Bush officials are looking to formalize fee-for-service arrangements to fund mature e-government projects which would end the “pass-the hat” method. The official financial plans should be released later this month according to Karen Evans, the Office of Management and Budget's administrator for e-government and information technology. However, everyone does not agree with the financial transformation.


“The concept of fee-for-service is a way the government runs day in and day out,’ said an OMB official who requested anonymity.”

"One could imagine a scenario whereby you are essentially taxing agencies on the number of times they downloaded material from the Web site," the official said. "If it isn't broke, don't fix it. We've got a workable arrangement right now, and it does involve financial contributions from our cooperating agencies."

For more information see: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0920/news-egov-09-20-04.asp

[Poster]

The OMB is asking federal agencies to reduce the paperwork burden on the public through 3 new initiatives. Agencies will be required to reduce the amount of total hours it takes citizens and businesses to provide departments with information by 1 percent.


“OMB director Joshua B. Bolten said OMB wants initiatives that: 1) Improve program performance by making agency information collection more efficient. 2) Reduce the burden per response significantly. 3) Prompt comprehensive reviews of entire programs, including regulations and procedures."

“‘Our goal this year … is to eliminate all existing violations of the PRA (Paperwork Reduction Act) as soon as possible,’ Bolten said in the memo issued Friday.”

For more information see: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/27503-1.html

[Poster]

According to a new CBO report, a new House Republican bill which would implement the recommendations of the 9/11 commission could cost $15 billion from 2005-2009. The bill would create a national intelligence director, and increase anti-terrorism, identity theft, illegal immigration and border security powers.

"’I hope that we can complete action this week,’ Collins said. ‘If not, then I think we could complete action in October and come back later this month for a day to vote on the conference report.’"

“House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California called the Republican bill ‘weak where it should be strong,’ in areas such as security at the nation's ports and railways. ‘We can do better, and we must,’ she said.”

For mor information see: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/terror/20041005-1533-congress-intelligence.html

[Poster]

The GAO has released a new report encouraging the IRS to revise its rules regarding false social security numbers. The GAO recommends the IRS institute a system to punish employers who file wage statements that contain inaccurate Social Security numbers.

“In its report, the comptroller general recommended that the IRS consider revising the reasonable cause waiver, and that it consult with other agencies that could be affected prior to issuing any regulations.”

“The IRS said that it would consider changes, including requiring employers to verify SSNs provided to them by employees, as part of a study it is conducting.”

For more information see: http://www.webcpa.com/article.cfm?articleid=7461

[Poster]

The GAO has undertaken new security measures after a report from the agency was found in an Afghanistan cave in 2001. Since December 2001, 15 reports have been classified as unsuitable for public viewing which is less than 1% of the 1400 total reports. However, some critics say classifying a report as NI, or non-internet suitable, is too easy.

"’The only criteria they seem to have is that an agency asks them to do it,’ said Patrice McDermott, deputy director of the Office of Government Relations at the American Library Association. ‘There are legitimate reasons that information wouldn't be put out on the Internet, but they need to have clear criteria.’"

“’We work in concert with the agency to determine an NI designation,’ said Jeff Nelligan, GAO's managing director of public affairs. ‘The whole point is to make the information not as easily available, given the agencies' concerns.’"

For more information see: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/1004/pol-gaosec-10-04-04.asp

[Poster]

The Treasury Department has released the final total for the 2004 U.S. federal budget today for a grand total of $413 billion. The CBO projected a $415 billion deficit for 2004 last week which was $7 billion less than the estimate given last month. The lowering of the estimated deficit resulted from better than expected corporate tax collections according to the agency.

For more information see: http://www.indystar.com/articles/3/186535-3053-010.html

[Poster]

The OMB is suggesting that agencies lease their IT systems rather than buying and installing their own. Small agencies will be forced to show the OMB that their systems are adequate or else they will be forced to switch to a centrally managed system.


“’The biggest complaint agencies had about the e-government projects was that they had to contribute money they had not asked for in their budget requests,’ said Tim Young, associate administrator for e-government and information technology at the Office of Management and Budget. ‘We are going to [align] the transition to the service centers with the budget process.’”

For more information see: http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=347519

[Poster]

The GAO has released a new report stating that the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration and customs related agencies have significant problems that could interfere with the protection of the country. The report states that some field officials are unclear of their job responsibilities, and have experienced communications problems.


"‘We found in our field work that there wasn't enough [communication] for the organizational components to work well together,’ said Richard Stana, GAO's director for homeland security and justice issues.”

"‘The mission of DHS is critical to the safety of Americans. If things don't work right for DHS, it could have serious consequences for the country, so we want them to work as quickly and as efficiently as they can,’ Stana said.”

For more information see: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1004/102004k1.htm

[Poster]

According to the federal health IT Czar, the OMB has included promotion of health care IT in the scorecard for the President’s Management Agenda for agencies involved in health care. President Bush has pushed for the broad use of electronic health records within ten years.


“This change is afoot. We’re all locked on, and we’re not going to let go until it gets done,” said Dr. David Brailer, national health IT coordinator of the Health and Human Services Department.”

“Brailer said the administration would also present initial proposals by July for possible regulatory revisions that could reduce hurdles to wide implementation of health care IT.”

For more information see: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/27690-1.html

[Poster]

The CBO has released a new report on the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (H.R. 4520). The bill, signed by President Bush, affords deductions for domestic manufacturing while repealing the extraterritorial income exclusion.

“The CBO said the repeal on the ETI would hike revenues by nearly $50 billion, but would be more than offset by the deductions for the manufacturing sector, which would cut revenue by nearly $80 billion.”

“The CBO said that overall, the bill would have little effect on the deficit as it is projected to slash revenue by nearly $7 billion between years 2005 and 2014 and decrease spending by roughly the same amount.”


For more information see: http://www.webcpa.com/article.cfm?articleid=8707

[Poster]

The GAO has released a new report stating that in 2004 the Social Security Administration (SSA) released over $1 billion in extra benefits to citizens that had already returned to work. Those people who make over $810 a month are ineligible to collect Social Security. However, the SSA process for identifying those who have returned to work can take up to 18 months.

"’The Social Security Administration's failure to identify those who work and earn more than the law allows undermines the integrity of the disability program and hastens the insolvency of the trust fund,’ said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who requested the study.”

“‘SSA officials told us that the age of the earnings data impedes the agency's ability to effectively detect potential overpayments in a timely manner,’ GAO said.”

For more information see: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1152&slug=Disability%20Overpayments

[Poster]

The Office of Management and Budget is considering a new funding system to pay for the agency’s lines-of-business consolidation projects. The fund would pay for the projects initially and be paid back from the savings that the changes garner. OMB has not yet asked Congress for this type of funding, but it is considering the option.


“'It would be similar to a governmentwide working capital fund,' Sindelar said at the 14th annual Executive Leadership Conference sponsored by the Industry Advisory Council and the American Council for Technology.”

“OMB has had little luck getting congressional approval for central funding of cross-agency projects. Over the past three years, the administration requested $100 million but received only $13 million for its Quicksilver e-government projects fund.”

For more information see: http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/27740-1.html

[Poster]

A new report issued by the GAO has been released criticizing the Census Bureau’s planning and methodology used on the new "American Community Survey" which will be used for the next census. The GAO claims that if changes are not made, Americans may face filling out the same criticized “long forms” of the 2000 census.

“Associate bureau director Preston Jay Waite, who oversees the new survey, said the GAO findings were mainly disappointing and that the report was outdated and contained numerous factual errors.”

“Bureau director Louis Kincannon had not seen the GAO report Monday but said he ‘hoped it has the effect of being reassuring and not raising false questions.’"

For more information see: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-census-2010,1,4508496.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[Poster]

According to the director of the CBO, Doug Holtz-Eakin, there is little near-term danger of an economic catastrophe due to current large budget deficits. However, Holtz-Eakin said that Americans need to be concerned with the long term impacts of a potential $2.3 trillion accumulated deficit over the next decade.

"Those numbers get so large you would have to have tax increases well beyond the range that the American public has ever consented to ... and you can't borrow like that."

"It's difficult to make the scientific case that... (this) forecast is for catastrophe, he said. The next four years are potentially critical in terms of time for policy.”

For more information see: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N09577905.htm

[Poster]

The OMB is planning to initialize a new “lines of business” initiative which will incorporate the private sector in order to provide harmonization and uniform metatag standards.

“By December, OMB officials ‘will make some decisions and identify agencies that are either potentially good candidates for becoming service centers or candidates for migrating to those service centers.’"

“It's not just a matter of data but also who has the clearance to see the data.”

For more information see: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/1108/web-lob-11-10-04.asp

[Poster]

A new report issued by the GAO criticizes the oversight by the FAA, claiming that the FAA provides weak oversight of its 13,000 private contractors which inspect and certify airlines’ planes and repairs. The GAO is recommending that the FAA evaluate all certification programs for contractors (or “designees”) and improve management.

“The FAA said it ‘will carefully examine the expert opinions cited by the GAO.’ It says it has already taken steps to improve oversight and provide more training.”

The agency said, "The continually improving U.S. safety record speaks for itself, due in large part to the work of the nation's designees."

For more information see: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2004-11-18-faa-oversight-criticized_x.htm

[Poster]

According to the Kaiser Family foundation, Medicare’s new prescription drug coverage will help the most elderly and poorest the greatest. The study was based on CBO estimates for a new benefit which the foundation estimates 18.6 million people to sign up for.


“Kaiser's study ‘shows the law mostly ended up being a low-income benefit,’ said Barbara Kennelly, head of the consumer group National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.”

“Officials for the agency that runs Medicare said some of Kaiser's data was ‘flawed,’ adding it did not include other coverage options from state programs, supplemental insurance and retiree plans. “

For more information see: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=571&ncid=751&e=8&u=/nm/20041122/hl_nm/health_medicare_dc

[Poster]

The GAO has announced that it will investigate vote counting irregularities in which machines experienced problems, as well as how officials counted provisional ballots. The agency cautioned the public that if irregularities are found the agency can take no action, and that the probe is not being done to challenge the results of the election outcome.


“‘We are pleased that the GAO has reviewed the concerns expressed in our letters and has found them of sufficient merit to warrant further investigation,’ said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) on his website. ‘We are hopeful that GAO's nonpartisan and expert analysis will get to the bottom of the flaws uncovered in the 2004 election.’"

"If the GAO is able to confirm that there were incredible variety of problems with virtually every type of e-voting machine, then that lays the groundwork for dialogue with election officials to change election processes, improve voting technology and update election regulations."

For more information see: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,65830,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_3

[Poster]

A new report issued by the GAO studying Medicare payments for cancer drugs concluded that while the payments will drop, they will still cover the costs that doctors pay for them. Cancer doctors and some patient advocates worry about whether the lowering of the payments would lead to patients not receive the care they needed.

“But Medicare payments for the drugs will exceed doctors' costs by 6 percent on average, while reimbursements for other services will be more than double, on average, what they were two years ago, the congressional Government Accountability Office said.”

"Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who requested the GAO study, said, 'This report is good news for cancer patients and highlights the adequacy of payments to oncologists, both in drug payments and drug administration services.'"

For more information see: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1152&slug=Medicare%20Cancer%20Drugs

[Poster]

The OMB has issued a memo requiring agencies to show OMB their internal IT review procedures for eliminating redundant investments. Agency CIO’s will be required to submit a joint statement to Karen Evans, administrator for E-government and IT, confirming the agency is neither planning nor scheduled to duplicate IT investments or acquisitions.

“’We want verification that agencies have these processes in place,’ Evans said. ‘If agencies are doing their capital planning and IT investment controls, and if CIOs are making sure these policies are being used, and this memo makes that assumption, then OMB is just performing its oversight role.’”

“‘The administration has been focused on getting agencies to look at business cases and make decisions whether their investments are the right ones, and now we are asking for the documentation that shows they are doing it,’ Evans said. ‘A lot of what we are doing now is looking at the execution of the plans we’ve put in place over the last few years.’”

For more information see: http://gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/28028-1.html

[Poster]

The GAO has released a report on Medicare’s toll free hotline, 1-800-MEDICARE, criticizing the call line for accurately answering questions only 61% of the time. Many frequently occurring problems were incomplete answers, disconnected calls, incorrect transfers, and failing computer systems. CMS, expecting around 7 million calls in fiscal 2004, drastically underestimated the amount of calls to the center which received nearly 4 million calls in May 2004 alone. GAO recommends better training and evaluation for representatives, testing of scripts, and more frequent monitoring.


"’We believe we responded as well as we reasonably could, given the unique and demanding circumstances,’ wrote Mark McClellan, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.”

“’On a more complicated question, in which representatives had to assess whether an individual's income would qualify for the $600 credit associated with the drug cards, representatives gave the correct answer on only 20 percent of the calls.’”

For more information see: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1204/120904dk1.htm

[Poster]

The OMB has sided with the Senate on language in the fiscal 2005 defense authorization law requiring the Air Force to openly compete for any new purchasing of aerial refueling tankers. House lawmakers asserted that the Air Force can continue its current efforts to acquire 100 tanker aircraft from Boeing.

“OMB said the recently enacted authorization act ‘revokes the authority of the Air Force to lease tanker aircraft, and requires full and open competition in any procurement of tanker aircraft.’"

“Referring to a Nov. 19 letter from Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to the Senate Armed Services Committee, the White House agency noted that Wolfowitz stated the Pentagon's intention ‘to require competition in any procurement under the new law.’"

For more information see: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1204/120704cdam4.htm

[Poster]

The Director of the CBO, Douglas Hotlz-Eakin, has announced that the Bush administration’s plans to stabilize Social Security might entail benefit cuts since the president has ruled out an increase in payroll taxes. Holtz-Eakin said the plan to privatize Social Security will not solve the funding problems and could actually make matters worse. He is calling for Congress to limit spending to protect against future tax increases.

"'Now is an opportunity to do something,' with the economy settling comfortably into its fourth year of expansion and unemployment on the decline, he said."

“The president said ‘members of both political parties understand now is the time’ to reform Social Security.”

For more information see:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/business/20041215-115558-2930r.htm

[Poster]

The GAO has issued a new report stating that the FAA’s acquisition management system (AMS) has improved, but still needs additional oversight and policy strengthening. In 1995 Congress ordered the FAA to develop a new AMS after it was plagued by restrictions imposed by federal acquisition and workforce regulations. The GAO recommends that the Transportation Secretary advise FAA officials and align the AMS with commercial best practices.


"’Past GAO reports have demonstrated that the success of an acquisition process depends on good management, whether it be under AMS or’ Federal Acquisition Regulations, the report states.”

For more information see: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/1213/web-faa-12-15-04.asp

[Poster]

The OMB has released a new report stating the agency's plans to evaluate federal electronic government efforts on whether people are actually using them. OMB has hired a contractor to evaluate 10 of the 24 e-gov initiatives. Karen Evans, the OMB’s e-government administrator, wants to have the performance measures for future evaluations with the president’s 2006 budget in February.

"Now we have to go out and find out, 'Did we hit the mark?' Evans said. 'We don't want to rest on our laurels.... Are we really hitting our audience and achieving the results?'"

"'[We're] going to have a very transparent process, so people can see what successes we're having,' Evans said. 'This outlines where we are, which is great, and as we go forward, when we release a budget chapter, you're going to see how we're doing.'"

For more information see: http://www.govexec.com/daileyfed/1204/122104p1.htm

[Poster]

The GAO has announced that for the eighth fiscal year in a row the agency is unable to determine whether the federal books meet generally accepted accounting principles because the government’s records are inadequate. Linda Springer of the OMB admitted there are problems with the financial statements, but claims that the Bush administration is making progress. Auditors reported the greatest problems were at the Defense Department where property and equipment inventory reports were not able to be proven.


”’Proper accounting and financial reporting practices are essential in the public sector,’ Comptroller General David M. Walker wrote in a Dec. 14 cover letter to his agency's audit report on consolidated financial statements for fiscal 2003 and 2004. ‘The U.S. government is the largest, most diverse, most complex, and arguably the most important entity on earth today. . . . Sound decisions on the current results and future direction of vital federal programs and policies are made more difficult without timely, reliable and useful financial and performance information.’"

“‘We believe . . . that we owe the taxpayers no less than a private company would to its investors in being able to account for their money,’ Springer said in an interview Friday. ‘We believe that's a sign that we're managing their money properly, if we can account for it and do that in a timely way.’"

For more information see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14775-2004Dec20.html

[Poster]

The CBO has issued a new report criticizing the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA). The report discusses the pros and cons of altering the Act or allowing it to expire on schedule on December 31st. However, the report does not discuss or recommended any course of action. The report states that under its current form TRIA subsidizes insurance and “dampens incentives for mitigation activities”.

“It says that since TRIA became law more than two years ago, ‘the most significant development seems to be a growing sense that the terrorism threat to the United States will continue for the foreseeable future. That development suggests that the economy, especially the stock of physical capital, needs to be responsive to the prospective losses from terrorist attacks. For example, new construction might be designed, located and built to withstand such attacks. Existing structures might need to be retrofitted with safety features. Those needs argue against extending the TRIA program in its current form, which subsidizes insurance and dampens incentives for mitigation activities.’

“Federal Terrorism Reinsurance: An Update” is available at www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/60xx/doc6049/01-05-Terrorism.pdf.

For more information see: http://www.businessinsurance.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=4861

[Poster]

The OMB is releasing a report announcing that savings from job competitions between federal employees and private workers saved about $1.25 billion last year, up from $1.1 billion in 2003. The savings work out to about $20,000 per full time employee, and likely resulted from restructuring and eliminating positions.

“‘The fact that the government is saving money proves we need to continue these public-private competitions,’ said Cathy Garman, senior vice president of public policy at the Contract Services Association.”

"We and others have concerns about how they are calculating costs. We're concerned about these being 'guesstimates' and not representative of all costs associated with [competitions], such as staff time spent on holding competitions,” said John Threlkeld, legislative representative for the American Federation of Government Employees.

For more information see: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0105/011005k1.htm

[Poster]

The GAO has announced that video footage released by the Office of National Drug Control Policy violates a legal ban on official propaganda. The footage contains scenes of people using drugs, and interviews with federal officials discouraging drug use. The videos were released to media outlets to be used as news reports for the general public without any notification they were produced by the government.

“ONDCP's estimates show that the video footage reached more than 22 million households, GAO noted, ‘without disclosing to any of those viewers - the real audience - that the products they were watching, which 'reported' on the activities of a government agency, were actually prepared by that government agency, not by a seemingly independent third party. This is the essence of the 'covert propaganda' violation.’"

“A spokesman for the White House drug office said GAO was ‘making a mountain out of a molehill,’ adding the video releases contain footage that is commonly used in media campaigns.”

For more information see: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0105/010605h1.htm

[Poster]

The OMB has released its new report card for federal agencies management efforts. For the first time since 2002, four agencies have received downgrades in the green, yellow, and red rating system. The harsh grading on the President’s Management Agenda rated five key initiatives: human capital, competitive sourcing, financial performance, e-government, and budget/performance integration. No agency has yet received all green scores across the board, but five agencies scored green on four out of the five initiatives.

“‘The message from these status downgrades is that implementing the PMA is hard work, requiring significant, unequivocal attention by management; and we are serious about holding departments accountable,’ said Clay Johnson, OMB's deputy director for management, in written remarks.”

"The progression is still to green. Four years ago, you saw a sea of red; today, you're seeing green cropping up. This is great news," said Carl DeMaio, president of the Performance Institute, an Arlington, Va., think tank devoted to the study of government management.”

For more information see: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0105/012005k1.htm

[Poster]

The CBO has announced that the 2005 budget deficit will reach $368 billion, before any war costs are added in. Those projected war costs are currently at $100 billion. Last year the White House predicted a budget deficit of $331 billion for 2005. The projected deficit over the next ten years improved from $2.3 trillion dollars between 2005 and 2014 to $855 billion from 2006 to 2015. However, analysts said this improvement was due to rolling the years one year forward.

"’The projected 2015 deficit that is being added is likely to be considerably smaller than the fiscal 2005 deficit that will be tossed out because the budget rules require CBO assume that all the tax cuts sunset (run out) and this leads to a much smaller 2015 deficit,’ Goldman Sachs said in its research.”

For more information see: http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=bondsNews&storyID=7424074

[Poster]

The GAO has released a new study listing the Defense Department as the agency with the highest risk. The GAO cited the department in 14 out of 25 areas, which included several areas noted in the first report conducted in 1990. The report has been issued biannually since 1993.

“GAO comptroller General David Walker called the record unacceptable.”

“Walker called for several reforms within the Pentagon, but said creating a full-time position to run business transfer ‘is essential for success.’"

For more information see: http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050125-023147-4560r.htm

[Poster]

The OMB has announced that federal agencies saved $1.4 billion in fiscal 2004 by holding job competitions between federal employees and the private sector. The total is the projected savings over the next three to five years, which is up from $300 million one year ago. OMB plans to release a more detailed report about competitive sourcing including a breakdown by agency.

“The increase in savings can be attributed to the types of positions being competed, improved efficiency at holding competitions and possibly lower bids, said Geoffrey Segal, director of government reform for the Reason Foundation, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization”

“‘Given the budget deficit, I think this new report will show that it's worth pursuing at a greater pace simply because of the savings that it has brought,’ Segal said.”

For more information see: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0105/012105k1.htm

[Poster]

The GAO is suggesting that declassifying some intelligence information will eliminate roadblocks. As of now there is poor information-sharing in both inside and outside the government, and it is threatening homeland security. Specifically, information from fingerprint databases was shared between the Homeland Security and Justice departments at a “slow pace” in 2004.

“‘We haven't achieved the homeland security that the law requires us to achieve,’ said Sen. Joe Lieberman, the top Democrat on the Senate committee that oversees the Homeland Security Department. ‘And therefore, in this sense, the name 'high-risk list' takes on special, urgent meaning, more than the normal risk of financial failure or waste or fraud or abuse. The risk here is to the personal security of the American people at home.’"

“‘We disagree with the assessment that we have made no significant progress in information sharing,’ said (Homeland Security spokesman Brian) Roehrkasse, ‘especially since we have created an information-sharing capacity at the federal level that never existed’ before the agency was formed in 2003.”

For more information see: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=57703762

[Poster]

The Director of the CBO, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, has publicly announced that the aging Baby Boomer generation will strain the federal budget in the coming decade. He says Social Security poses a problem but that Medicare and Medicaid face the greatest budget dangers. He also noted that an improving economy alone is not very likely to improve Social Security.

“Higher real wages resulting from improved productivity ‘do provide higher payroll taxes into the federal budget, but they also give the recipients higher benefit awards out of the federal budget. Over the long term it's essentially neutral with respect to productivity,’ Holtz-Eakin said.”

“‘In particular, the rising cost of health care will contribute to the growth of programs for elderly and low-income beneficiaries,’ Eakin said in prepared testimony before the Senate Budget Committee.”

For more information see: http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B260BBFAC-4E7D-44FE-9FF7-83C7E941223C%7D&siteid=google&dist=google

[Poster]

The OMB is considering standardizing the cybersecurity business processes of agencies. A meeting with the Homeland Security Department in March will be held to consider if the consolidation of common processes, services, and technologies to see if security could improve performance while reducing costs. Roughly $4 billion is spent each year on securing federal information technology.


“‘A common solution doesn't mean it's consolidated,’ Evans said. ‘A common solution means that we're doing the work in the same way.’"

For more information see: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0205/020805p1.htm

[Poster]

The GAO has released a report stating that while the Social Security system is not in a crisis, it does need reform. According to the agency, the program faces serious problems with regards to solvency and sustainability. However the agency also warned that financial stability should not be the only issue when evaluating a proposed alternative to funding for the program.

“The auditor general added that any changes enacted with Social Security should be made ‘in the context of the broader challenges facing our nation,’ such as those concerning private pension systems, Medicare and Medicaid.”

“The GAO also labeled Social Security's problems ‘a subset of our nation's overall fiscal challenge.’”

For more information see: http://www.webcpa.com/article.cfm?articleid=10592

[Poster]

The Smithsonian Institution has received failing grades on the President’s Management Agenda Scorecard in all five categories. The Smithsonian Institution explains that progress has been slow because the agency was not exploring best management practices prior to the start of PMA, and it does not have the same funding as larger agencies. The Smithsonian wonders why it is even included in the PMA.

“‘OMB and the Smithsonian concluded that it was consistent with the President's Management Agenda and it would serve the public well to include it, even though it's a smaller agency,’ said an OMB official.”

“‘We've always been red in outsourcing; that's just the nature of the Smithsonian,’ said St. Thomas, noting the agency's small size. The Smithsonian employs 6,000 people.”


For more information see: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0105/020205k1.htm

[Poster]

"Over the long term, the nation’s growing fiscal imbalance stems primarily from the aging of the population and rising health care costs. ... Continuing on this unsustainable path will gradually erode, if not suddenly damage, our economy, our standard of living and ultimately our national security."

Read Report http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05325sp.pdf

[Poster]

The GAO has issued a memo to federal agencies warning not to issue prepackaged news stories without revealing the government as the source. HHS and the Office of National Drug Control Policy have already been criticized by the GAO in the past year for violating anti-propaganda laws. Federal agencies have more commonly issued broadcasts to news agencies to broadcast messages to the public.

“‘It is not enough that the contents of an agency's communication may be unobjectionable,’ wrote Comptroller General David M. Walker. ‘Neither is it enough for an agency to identify itself to the broadcasting organization as the source of the prepackaged news story.’"

“‘[T]elevision-viewing audiences did not know that stories they watched on television news programs about the government were, in fact, prepared by the government,’ Walker wrote. ‘We concluded that those prepackaged news stories violated the publicity or propaganda prohibition.’”

For more information see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40318-2005Feb20.html

[Poster]

The GAO has released a report stating that the Air force improperly favored The Boeing Co. on a $4 billion contract to upgrade C-130 cargo planes. The GAO says that it would have recommended an entirely new competition, but since the contract has been in place for 3 years it is not practical. The report recommends holding a new competition for the remaining parts, and gives ideas to compensate Lockheed Martin Corp., BAE Systems, and L-3 Communication Inc. which complained the contract was given as a special interest favor.

"'The record ... shows that the Air Force conducted discussions in a manner that favored Boeing,' according to a two-page summary from the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress."

"Doug Karas, an Air Force spokesman, said the resolution of the protest allows the Air Force 'to continue moving forward in repairing the harm caused to its acquisition system by the illegal and unethical actions of Miss Druyun. We commend GAO's prompt adjudication of the protest and will address their ruling accordingly,' he said."

For more information see: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/10983345.htm?1c

[Poster]

The OMB has announced that federal agency's computer security systems are stronger than ever. However, the announcement comes after the House Committee on Government Reform gave government wide cybersecurity a grade of D in its annual report card. OMB announced that 77% of 8,623 systems were now certified and accredited as safe. Needed improvements include plans of action and milestones, and the continuation of the development agency certification and accreditation processes.

“’The federal government has made significant progress in identifying and addressing its security weaknesses,’ OMB said in the report. ‘However, uneven implementation of security measures across the federal government leaves vulnerabilities to be corrected.’”

“’Less than full reporting hampers the government’s ability to know whether an incident is isolated at one agency or is part of a larger event, e.g., the widespread propagation of an Internet worm, and thus complicates and delays appropriate response such as distributing security patches or other compensating controls,’ OMB noted.”

For more information see: http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/35225-1.html

[Poster]

The CBO has issued a new report stating that long-term deficit will worsen as a result of President Bush’s budget plan. However, the report stated that this year’s deficit will be about $394 billion, lower than White House estimate of $427 billion. The CBO stated that the deficit would rise to a total of $2.6 trillion over 10 years compared to the estimate of $980 billion before Bush’s proposal. The main reason for this increase is due to the proposed extended tax cuts.

“’Under the president's policies, deficits would continue throughout the 10-year period,’ the report said.”

“‘Today's analysis from CBO is the latest in a long line of evidence, all indicating that the administration's fiscal policies are moving us deeper and deeper into debt,’ said South Carolina Democratic Rep. John Spratt.”

For more information see: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=7813603

[Poster]

Before the House Ways and Means Committee, the head of the GAO, David M. Walker, stated that Social Security does not face an immediate crisis, but long-term financing problems are expected and should be dealt with soon. Walker criticized President Bush for trying to convince the public of his plan to allow for private investments accounts. Walker says these accounts would have a negligible effect on the financing of the system.

“‘I would have done it differently, I would have done it differently,’ Walker said, under aggressive questioning by Rep. Charles B. Rangel of New York, the top Democrat on the panel. In his opening statement, Rangel declared, ‘Private accounts will not be on the table if you are looking for bipartisanship.’"

“The panel's chairman, Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif., said in his opening remarks, ‘Clearly, the current program, because the American population has changed, is not sustainable based on the old method of financing.’"

For more information see: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=565107

[Poster]

The OMB is expected to publish a new rule specifying when agencies are required to use earned value management, a method of measuring performance against expectations and cost. Government contracts over $20 million already require the method at the Pentagon, but are optional at contract amounts less than that. OMB has been focusing more on performance measures in contracts lately, and sites this as the reason for the new rule. One criticism of the rule is that private companies will be forced to unwillingly share information with agencies.

“Harper urged contracting officials to require contractors to share the data needed to compute earned value before the contract is signed. ‘Earned value,’ he said, ‘will give you an early warning when something's going south.’"

For more information see: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0305/031405k1.htm

[Poster]

The GAO has found numerous problems with the Department of Homeland Security’s electronic database of tracking student visa information. The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System has been improved since last year says the GAO, but both students and schools continue to experience major problems.

“‘However, these educational institutions still cite residual help desk problems, which they believe create problems for students and exchange visitors,’ the report said.”

“The department itself admitted that the two-year-old system had tangled foreign student’s attempts to gain lawful admittance and gave unclear guidance to schools.”

For more information see: http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/35307-1.html

[Poster]

The GAO has released a new report stating that the Securities and Exchange Commission needs to strengthen its oversight of data security. According to the report, the SEC needs to improve control over user accounts and passwords, access rights and permissions, network security and audit, and monitoring of security events to prevent unauthorized access to its systems.

“‘Sensitive data—including payroll and financial transactions, personnel data, regulatory, and other mission critical information—are at increased risk of unauthorized disclosure, modification or loss, possibly without being detected,’ said Gregory Wilshusen, GAO’s director for information security issues.”

“’We also understand that the GAO is not advocating ‘quick fixes,’ but rather a sustained effort that deeply embeds the principles of strong information security throughout our technical environment, our agencywide business processes and our organizational culture,’ SEC officials responded in a letter earlier this month.”

For more information see: http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/35358-1.html

[Poster]

The CBO has issued a report stating that U.S. households could face an 18.1% rate hike in the fees on their telephone bills depending on what changes are made to the universal service fund (USF). Long distance telephone carriers make payments to the USF which subsidizes telephone service for low income families, as well as internet access for schools and libraries. Wireless plans and prepackaged minute deals have cast doubt on whether the USF will continue to be sustainable.

“’The economic cost of raising a dollar in general revenues, which may influence the supply of labor and capital, is generally less than the economic cost of raising a dollar from sector-specific taxes, which tend to distort consumers' choices by affecting the prices of goods and services,’ the report said.”

“If no action is taken, a shrinking long-distance revenue base and increased demand on the USF program would cause the average payment by each household to rise 8.1 percent to $2.26 a month in 2007 from $2.09 per month in 2003, the CBO said.”

For more information see: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=8016663

[Poster]

Clay Johnson, the Deputy Director for management at OMB, says that the government will be able to save billions of dollars by holding agencies accountable for failing programs, overhauling the government payment method to employees, and organizing its operations. Johnson also announced that OMB plans to issue legislative proposals, as well as a new website tracking the performance of the government’s 1,200 programs.


“‘I’m not sure we want to run the federal government like a business. We want to run it with a focus on results,’ Johnson said during a luncheon hosted by the IBM Center for the Business of Government.”

“OMB intends to liquidate 5 percent of the government’s unused or rundown properties in four years, which would generate $15 billion, he said”

For more information see: http://federaltimes.com/index2.php?S=738815

[Poster]

The GAO has released a new report criticizing the State Department for its loosening of export regulations in regards to weapons and arms. The report examines whether the department’s efforts to streamline export controls have increased the likelihood that terroists could obtain weapons and technology. State officials say that the arms-export control system does not need to be changed or reviewed due to the war on terror.


"The report points to a number of unwelcome trends and raises troubling questions, foremost among them is why the State Department continues to pursue policies and procedures designed before 9/11 to 'streamline' or relax arms-export controls -- even as these policies raise serious concerns among U.S. law-enforcement agencies."

“Christopher Burnham, the department's chief financial officer, said: ‘There is no reason to believe that any U.S. defense items have been used in terrorist attacks, or that our enemies have used them against U.S. military forces, or those of our coalition partners.’"

For more information see: http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050406-114050-2087r.htm

[Poster]

The CBO has issued a letter standing by its original estimate that oil companies would likely pay $5 billion for the right to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). This letter was in response to a letter Senator Feingold of Wisconsin issued doubting that government would get the revenue promised by the CBO based on the average bid prices for an acre of land. The CBO countered stating that the analysis does not affect the agency’s findings.

“‘CBO does not consider average amounts paid per acre as a useful metric for predicting bonus bids,’ Holtz-Eakins said. ‘The fact that bonus bids are lower from some acreage than others is a logical consequence of expected variations in the geologic--and hence economic--potential of different properties.’"

"We believe that expectations about the long-term price of oil are higher than they were in the past."

For more information see: http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0...2797471,00.html

[Poster]

OMB is planning to help the Defense Department with its management failings by encouraging support from the GAO. Experts from both agencies will work to solve the DoD’s supply chain management problems. Supply chain management is the planning and tracking of supplies as they move from the factory to the field.

“OMB decided to focus first on supply chain management because it isn’t the hardest area to fix, nor is it the easiest, said Clay Johnson, deputy director for management at OMB”

“I think we’re going to have to break down some of the elements, where we see some of the biggest weaknesses and potentially some of the biggest payoffs.”

For more information see: http://federaltimes.com/index2.php?S=774742

[Poster]

A new report issued by the GAO has been released stating the IRS needs to fix security weaknesses that could threaten taxpayer data. The report found that the IRS has not completely solved 21 previously reported weaknesses, and must now also fix 39 new system weaknesses.

“‘These weaknesses increase the risk that sensitive ... data will be inadequately protected from unauthorized disclosure, modification, use or destruction,’ the report said.”

“GAO said the IRS should implement all elements of the IRS' security program, which still has not been done. Until then, IRS facilities, computing resources and information processed, stored and transmitted on its systems will remain vulnerable, GAO said.”

For more information see: http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050415-052947-8955r.htm

[Poster]

According to the director of CBO, reducing the size of the investment portfolios held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would not reduce market liquidity. Douglas Holtz-Eakin gave his written testimony to the Senate Banking Committee which is conducting hearings on the regulation of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Bank System. He stated that the companies’ investment purchases were no more effective in lowering mortgage interest rates that their purchases of home loans.

"The large mortgage portfolios held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not necessary for the secondary mortgage market to operate efficiently."

"Those enterprises' issuance of mortgage-backed securities can accomplish that outcome."

For more information see: http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=bondsNews&storyID=8253846

[Poster]

GAO has released a new report criticizing the SEC for not recognizing market timing abuses in the mutual fund industry. Market timing is the rapid buying or selling of mutual fund shares to profit from pricing inefficiencies. The SEC has since responded with numerous reforms and investigations into the matter.

“‘The SEC must take a stronger position on finding, preventing and punishing abuses by insiders, or Congress will be forced take another look at how mutual funds are examined and regulated,’ said Rep. James Sensenbrenner.”

“‘We have significantly changed our examination process to be better able to detect emerging areas of compliance risk and undisclosed practices,’ said SEC spokesman John Nester. "While detecting collusion is always difficult, agency inspectors are digging deep and demand more emails from firms."

For more information see: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=8269334

[Poster]

OMB is planning to unveil a new website this summer laying out how 1,200 programs targeted for review by President Bush are faring. Deputy Director of the OMB Clay Johnson plans to raise the public’s expectations of government by revealing whether programs are meeting their goals and what’s being done to improve them.

“‘I don’t think it’s particularly well-understood by the American people what they get now for their money,’ said Clay Johnson.”

“We’re going to be real candid with the American people about what we’re doing and how we’re getting better.”

For more information see: http://federaltimes.com/index2.php?S=808141

[Poster]

The Congressional Budget Office has released a report on the future costs of shipbuilding for the US Navy. While both the Navy and CBO agree that more spending is needed to achieve its minimum fleet target, the Navy believes that CBO is overestimating what the service should ask for. Current plans call for the Navy to have a fleet of between 260-325 ships by 2035. CBO estimates that the Navy will need an average of $15 billion a year to meet the target.

"'Even with those reductions, budgetary requirements would still be much higher than the roughly $10 billion a year that the Navy has spent for ship construction, on average, over the 2000-2005 period,' CBO said."

"'Although we continually evaluate our budget options, and we appreciate CBO's work and analysis, we feel that $12 billion annually for shipbuilding is still the correct amount for the programs we have in place,' Navy spokeswoman Lt. Tamara Mills said."

For more information see: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7BB1724641-1C7B-494A-B4D7-5136684F4862%7D

[Poster]

GAO has released a report stating that TSA baggage screeners are not getting their mandated amount of training due to staffing shortages and the lack of high-speed internet training courses. Two months ago, screeners in Atlanta claimed they had been ordered to falsify training that they did not receive. This report does not address that specific situation, but does recommend that the nation’s 45,000 screeners receive the high-speed internet training and improve the monitoring of such training.

“'As of October 2004, nearly half of the screener workforce did not have high-speed access to the Online Learning Center at their training facility,’ according to the report.”

"'I think at the end of the day, American screeners are the most highly trained' screeners in aviation history,” said Yolanda Clark, a TSA spokeswoman.

For more information see: http://www.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/05/03/airport.screeners/

[Poster]

OMB is developing a new web site to launch later this summer. The stated intention is to clarify government expenditures and assets. Currently, many systems within the government are not linked, in particular among the military, and the plan is to connect all systems together, and make the information web accessible. The positive side is that all the information will be grouped together, and theoretically organized into a coherent ‘summary’. The negative side is that this is a process-driven protocol, and individual agencies may interpret the results differently.

According to C.T.O. Norman Lorentz, “Agencies will be able to access their architectures and update them as needed through this website.”

"Agencies must identify the outcomes based on the component architecture,” Lorentz said.

http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/18777-1.html

[Poster]

05/12/05 CBO: Small Businesses Suffer From Lost Reservists
A new CBO report shows little effect when a reservist is called to active duty, as has happened so much since the war on Iraq. The report says that about a fifth of reservists with civilian jobs work for small businesses. Businesses hurt most by the activation of reservists are ones with the fewest employees or where highly specialized skills are involved. Senator John Kerry has proposed tax legislation to offset this disruption.

"This CBO report is proof that the lengthy and repeated deployment of our Guard and Reserve troops has created a tremendous strain on many of our country's small businesses, their employees and their employees' families," said Kerry.

"Congress needs to enact my legislation to provide an immediate tax credit to these patriotic small business people," Kerry said, noting that small businesses support the "citizen soldiers".

For more information, see:
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=47256

[Poster]

According to the GAO, prisoners who are in the country illegally cost state and local legal systems hundreds of millions of dollars. California, the most impacted, spends more than half a billion dollars every year keeping prisoners who are illegal immigrants, about 40% of the national total, most of whom originated from Mexico. This problem is neither new nor obscure, and has been a consistent complaint for more than a decade.

Senator Dianne Feinstein called it a "gross miscarriage of justice." She added, "Protecting our borders is a federal responsibility, yet the federal government has failed to live up to its responsibility."

Merced County Sheriff Mark Pazin said, "Unfortunately, when we don't get reimbursed, the general fund of the county ends up taking the biggest hit."

For more info see:
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/10482570p-11278422c.html

[Poster]

An email circulated pushed for more privatization in the Forestry Service. In question is the appropriateness the timing and the quantity. There has been a push to bid 100 government jobs to the private sector. At issue is the wording, which seems to indicate that the cart has been put before the horse. The decision seems to be a foregone conclusion, although information is being disseminated with rather little time for the Forestry Service to respond accordingly.

"It appears to us that the decision [has] already been made, and now the agency is scrambling to do the analysis to justify [its] decision," said William Dougan, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees' Forest Service Council.

A lobbyist for the American Federation of Government Employees, said, "the numerical privatization quotas, although outlawed by Congress and ostensibly repudiated by OMB, are, unfortunately alive and well . . . resulting in [public-private competitions] being conducted for political reasons, rather than policy reasons."

For more info, see:
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0505/051305a1.htm

[admin]

Based on data from the CBO, a bipartisan group of senators on the Finance Committee want to eliminate a tax aimed at the wealthy. The law that was first made 3 decades ago to prevent the wealthy from using tax loopholes now applies to a broad segment of the American population due to inflation. Additionally, the CBO reported that hundreds of people with six-figure incomes still managed to avoid paying taxes. The tax currently accounts for more than half a trillion dollars of revenue over a decade, but Senators Baucus, Kyl, Wyden, and Grassley are aiming to repeal it.

"It's time for a major overhaul of the AMT before millions of American families, including many of Montana's working families, wake up to a stealth tax increase," said Senator Max Baucus of Montana.

"The time and the bureaucratic water torture that this tax puts people through just seems to me to cry out for reform," Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon said.

For more info, see:
http://www.wsoctv.com/money/4519068/detail.html

[Poster]

In a 40 page internal document creditable to the GAO Director of Information Security Issues and addressed to two Congressmen, the GAO stated that careful attention to contractors' access to federal systems can reduce security risks. Contractors provide valuable services to the government, but pose risks including "operational, strategic, and legal", and must be "managed effectively". These risks include unauthorized personnel, use by foreign nationals, ineffective patch management, and malicious or harmful third software.

Resulting suggestions for improvement include testing and evaluation of management, tighter scrutiny of contractors, and a remedial process for creating and evaluation security standards.

For more info, see:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05362.pdf

[Poster]

The OMB has announced a new imperative. All agencies are to use "strategic sourcing". This essentially boils down to a combination of comparison shopping and buying in bulk. The government is the nation's top consumer. The new missive tells agencies that they have to find ways to use their buying power to cut costs. Specifically, each agency must find 3 specific items to save on by January.

"Strategic sourcing is just another example of our efforts to best leverage the government's buying power and to realize the most savings for taxpayers," said David Safavian, an OMB spokesperson.

"They don't have good usage information on what their internal customers are buying, and they're struggling to get that data together," said Jeffrey Hawting, director of federal government services for Office Depot.

For more info, see: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0505/052505k1.htm

[Poster]

A CBO study says that most of the payments made by Medicare pay for a small number of patients. Chronic Disease and End of Life patients take up most of the Medicare budget. People afflicted with diabetes, asthma, and other chronic, but not fatal, diseases account for a large part of the medicare budget. Older patients who incur high costs are more likely to die, as a large part of the budget goes to patients in the last year of life. The avenue for cutting spending will be in controlling chronic disease costs.

"CMS will have the necessary results to provide expansion of disease management across the Medicare population," said the CEO for American Healthways.

For more info, see:

http://health.cch.com/news/medicare/052405a.asp

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050517-123706-2123r.htm

[Poster]

The CBO has projected that Social Security will be able to pay all benefits until the year 2052, at which time it will have to reduce them to 80%. The Center for Economic Policy Research, however, has released a report listing other factors which will alter the way Social Security remains solvent, such as changes in healthcare costs, changes in the value of the dollar, and housing.

The CBO has not yet had time to issue a statement regarding the report, which was just released.

For more info, see:

http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0601-20.htm

http://www.cepr.net/publications/ss_shortfall_list_2005_05.pdf

[Poster]

Based on a new OMB report, different areas of government are in different stages of compliance with a regulation that mandates tight computer security. The act, FISMA, is rather detailed or simple to comply with. Agencies overwhelmed by other tasks, such as the DoD focusing on war in Iraq, are rather far behind in the endeavor. The quantity of new legislation has imposed a huge problem.

Andrew Tull of BioPassword said, "Over the last five years, Congress has put in place so many stringent requirements for protecting business and customer data that companies are struggling to keep up."

"The task is brutally difficult, at best," said Yvonne Donaldson of BindView.

For more info, see: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/jpVN9hR29AG9xG/Securing-Federal-Computers-Brutally-Difficult.xhtml

[Poster]

The OMB, under a directive to outsource more federal jobs, has been bidding out federal jobs that do not fall under a 'critical' category to the private sector to spur a savings. in the end, however, less than 10% of the jobs have actually gone to third parties, with in house bidders winning most of the contracts. The review of the contracts and the bidding process was elaborate and costly, at about $110 million. That price tag, for nominal savings yet to be disclosed, has caused a sharp criticism of the process, as a waste of money that they hoped to save in the first place.

"It's time for OMB to stop frivolously spending hardworking American's money, and own up to its mistakes," said AFGE President John Gage.

Gage added, "Competitive sourcing is nothing more than the administration's attempt to pad the pockets of its contractor buddies."

For more info see:
http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/m-news+article+storyid-11268-PHPSESSID-dc46e349de4b32c016b4494fd9c9e1e5.html

[Poster]

OMB is pushing the US mint to bid out labor-intensive jobs, such as forklift operators, to the private sector. While the Mint has already attempted this once, with no bids at all, there is a renewed vigor. The companies targeted by the Mint had been wholly unsuitable for the operations, and the Mint did not pursue it further. An OMB search into the reasons for the lack of outside contractors found that suitable companies were not aware of the avenues the government was using for contractor procurement. Generally, OMB does not interfere with individual agency decisions, but that maxim is being tested.

"Based on OMB's direction, the Mint should reopen the [competition] in order to solicit expressions of interest from local and small businesses."

"Federal agencies that follow the competitive sourcing rules but don't come to OMB with plans to privatize federal jobs are being sent back to do it again," said Diana Price of AFGE.

For more info, see:
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0605/061005k1.htm

[Poster]

The GAO has been instructed to determine the effects of jobs being outsourced to other countries, particularly in the third world.
The GAO has responded with a wait and see approach, effectively doing nothing, but Congress tucked much needed funds quietly into a budget bill to fund an outside group called NAPA to reasearch the matter.

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) said they were, "...looking to see what the implications are for our educational system."

Bill Gadsby of NAPA says the study is, "in the early stages of planning".

For more info, see:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/05/outsourcing.study/index.html

[Poster]

Citing greed and *******ion, the head of the AFGE, John Gage, said the OMB's new personnel plen was pure rubbish. If approved, the plan would cut salaries. The OMB wants to strengthen management, but admits to being uninformed about negotiations.

Deputy Director Clay Johnson said, "I would like to see a world where the managers are good at managing".

"This is about money -- not about providing the best possible service to the American taxpayer," said Gage

For more info, see:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050621/dctu066.html?.v=10

[Poster]

Payday loan companies are targeting military personnel. That is the conclusion of a study by universities in Florida and California. The GAO has been looking into the matter, and finds it disturbing. At a time when new recruitment is exceedingly low, this poses a big threat to military enlistment as debt problems can threaten security clearances or even cause discharges. The study found that payday loan companies (frequently associated with low-income neighbourhoods) have sprung up in large concentrations near military bases. Military officials are supposed to use educational programs to discourage such loans.

"Military folks tend to be young, they often come from financially vulnerable backgrounds and tend to have less education," said Professor Christopher Peterson, one of the authors of the study.

"It just kind of keeps snowballing if you don't have the money to cover it," said Thomas Burden, a military officer who became entangled in debt with a payday lender.

For more info, see:
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050626/REPOSITORY/506260390/1013/NEWS03

[Poster]

Security Clearances required for many federal jobs, as well as many contractors, are slow to come by under normal circumstances. Currently, however, the transition from the Defense Department to the Office of Personnel Management is not helping.

"... the security clearance process is a major national security and human capital challenge that needs to be resolved immediately," said Senator George Voinovich.

Derek B. Stewart of the GAO said that, "...despite having two years...DoD and OPM did not ensure that software was available for the seamless submission of requests from DoD's system to OPM's."

For more info, see:
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0605/063005r1.htm

[Poster]

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has devised a way to stop pouring some of our tax dollars into prescription drugs. He's forcing the drug companies to remove advertising costs from medications sold through Medicare and Medicaid. The CBO praised Wyden for his idea and subsequent legislation, citing a savings of up to half a billion dollars per year.

"Billions of taxpayer dollars could be saved through the advertising provisions Senator Sununu and I are working on," said Senator Wyden.

"I'm pleased that we've found a way here to get savings in the Medicaid program without hurting anyone," added Wyden.

For more information, see:
http://www.newsashland.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=304609&cp=4296

[Poster]

IBM has released software for the government dubbed Sarbanes-Oxley software. The software is designed to assist with government compliance with financial reporting. It was designed spefically to comply with OMB reporting formats.

The software "allows financial managers to identify those line items having the largest dollar impact, and to focus on the key controls associated with those items," says Rebecca Buisan, an IBM manager.

For more info, see:
http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=165700271

[Poster]

Wineries are gearing up for a contentious debate with OMB. The Tax and Trade Bureau and the OMB are planning to increase labelling fees, association fees, and various other administrative fees to pad their budget. New wineries would pay thousands more in startup costs due to permits and registrations.

WineAmerica's David Sloane said OMB, “is driving the effort to get these Tax and Trade Bureau user fees."

“We pay a federal excise tax on every bottle of wine we produce that no one else pays. That excise tax is not insignificant,” Sloane said.

For more info, see:
http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=67&SubSectionID=785&ArticleID=18374&TM=52033.43

[Poster]

Three Senators requested a study from the GAO regarding chemicals released into the environment. The 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act gives the EPA the authority to regulate potentially harmful substances, but an ambiguous limitation that the EPA demonstrate "unreasonable risk" and a 1991 appeals court decision in New Orleans has made the EPA almost powerless over chemical substances.

"It's so arcane and complicated that it's almost impossible to regulate," said a member of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"Most chemicals used in consumer products today have never undergone any federal safety review," said Sen. Jim Jeffords, I-VT.

For more information, see:
http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=116&sid=542472

[admin]

OMB reported that regulations governing the use of share-in-savings agreements to purchase technology will be finalized in September. The regulations, provided for under the 2002 e-Government Act, were required to be published in September, 2003. The delay in finalization has cost the taxpayers, according to Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), chair of the House Government Reform Committee.



Opponents of the contract system claim the program raises grave financial and good governance concerns. Jacque Simone, public policy director for the American Federation of Government Employees called the programs “extremely expensive and expensive in a way that's almost uncontrollable.”



For more information, see:

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0805/080105a1.htm

[admin]

According to a GAO mandated DHS review, Congress' decision to bar the construction of permanent monitoring stations along the Arizona-Mexico border has led to dramatically lower number of immigration arrests there.

The U.S. Border Patrol has been using temporary, mobile checkpoints to patrol the 260-mile stretch of border. Known as the Tuscon Sector, this is the only sector where permanent checkpoints cannot be erected. DHS fears this compromises immigration enforcement, drug eradication and homeland security efforts.

For more information, see:
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050803-100228-4964r.htm