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Working with Other Governments
What's New in the Office of Intergovernmental Solutions
Keep up with events in the Office of Intergovernmental Solutions (OIS) Office of Intergovernmental Solutions Publishes Innovative Funding Newsletter GSA's Office of Intergovernmental Solutions (OIS) has just published their fifteenth newsletter. This issue focuses on Innovative Funding and includes thirteen articles from federal, state, local and international governments as well as industry and nonprofits. The newsletter addresses the challenge facing large organizations to acquire the necessary resources to fulfill their missions and meet the growing needs of customers. For government entities, funding projects that are not earmarked for appropriated funds are a special challenge. Accordingly, many governments have found new ways to meet their financial needs by using various innovative funding strategies. It is those strategies that will be discussed in this newsletter and they range in scope from the Innovation Fund and Invest to Save Budget, to Fee for Service. Each article in this issue provides a point of contact for obtaining further information that may assist other government entities in their own efforts related to Innovative Funding. The newsletter can be accessed by scrolling down the left side of this page and clicking on Newsletters. GSA Hosts Netherlands Delegation - Learning about E-government and Telecommunications Policies and Strategies in the United States On October 18, 2004, GSA’s Office of Electronic Government and Technology and the Office of Intergovernmental Solutions (OIS) within the Office of Citizen Services and Communications co-hosted a five-member delegation from the government of the Netherlands, who were seeking information about best practices related to E-Government and Telecommunications in the United States Government. The delegation led by Mr. Mark Frequin, Director General, Directorate-General for Telecommunications and Post, within the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Mr. Keith Thurston, Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of E-Government and Technology discussed the status and future direction of the President’s E-government Strategy and Telecommunications policy and strategy within the United States government. Ms. Terry Weaver, Director, Office of IT Accommodations discussed the U.S. strategy to ensure accessible IT and Telecommunications services to individuals with disabilities. Mr. John Clark, Program Director, Office of Intergovernmental Solutions (OIS) provided an overview of the Office of Citizen Services and Communications, OIS and their role in supporting the President’s E-government Strategy and sharing best practices between federal, international, state, and local governments. For further information, contact Annie Barr via e-mail at annie.barr@gsa.gov or John Clark via e-mail at john.clark@gsa.gov.
On October 13, 2004, GSA’s Office of Intergovernmental Solutions (OIS) within the Office of Citizen Services and Communications hosted a six-member delegation from the government of South Korea, who were seeking information about best practices related to E-Government, Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) and the Enterprise Architecture Management System in the United States Government. The delegation led by Mr. Hun-Jung Lee, Team Manager, National Computerization Agency, Republic of Korea. Mr. Denis Gusty, Director, Office of Intergovernmental Solutions (OIS) provided an overview of OCSC, OIS and their role in supporting the President’s E-government Strategy and sharing best practices between federal, international, state, and local governments. Mr. David Layton, Senior Program Analyst, Office of Electronic Government and Technology provided an overview of his office support of the FEA program and automated tools developed to support the government-wide implementation of the FEA such as the Enterprise Architecture Management System (EAMS). Mr. Stephen Lowe, Senior Enterprise Architect, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provided specific lessons learned from implementing the FEA and the use of EAMS within his agency. OIS Official Participates at NASCIO Annual Conference The Office of Intergovernmental Solutions (OIS) within the General Services Administration’s Office of Citizen Services and Communications attended the National Association of State Chief Information Officers’ annual conference held September 19, through September 22, 2004 in New Orleans, LA. Four hundred attendees included government representatives from 37 states, several federal agencies; several trade journals, and numerous information technology (IT) companies. Major topic areas covered during the conference included enterprise architecture, homeland security, IT contract issues (limited liability and intellectual property), the permanent fiscal crisis which impact on State IT budgets, privacy and security issues, the aging workforce, partnerships with higher education, and the opportunities and risks of open source technologies. Highlights of the conference included a keynote address by: Mr.. David Osborne, Senior Partner with The Public Strategies Group, a consulting firm that helps public organizations develop and implement strategies to improve their performance. Mr.. Osborne has authored or co-authored a number of books including The Price of Government: Getting the Results We Need in an Age of Permanent Fiscal Crisis (2004), which was the subject of his keynote address. Mr.. Osborne challenged the audience to re-evaluate existing and new IT programs during their next budget cycle. In this regard, he indicated that across the board cuts would no longer be enough to balance state budgets but elimination of entire programs that fail to deliver the government services citizens’ demand at a reasonable or affordable cost. For the 17th Consecutive year, NASCIO, representing the chief information officers of the states, has selected winners to receive the 2004 Recognition Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Information Technology. The awards are given annually to state IT programs and systems that have created proven cost effective, innovative solutions in the operation of state government. This year the program received 120 nominations from 36 states. Winners were selected in eight categories (See the list of winners below). Communications Infrastructure: Digital Government - Government to Business: Digital Government - Government to Citizen: Digital Government - Government to Government: NASCIO's Awards committee, comprised of state and corporate members, chose the award winners. Peter Quinn, CIO for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, chaired the committee. Criteria for selection included a description of the project with length of time in operation; relative significance to the operation of government; benefits realized by service recipients, taxpayers, agency, state; and return on investment. Full submissions from all nominations are posted on NASCIO's website at https://www.nascio.org/awards/index.cfm. NASCIO President and Missouri CIO, Gerry Wethington, stated, "The NASCIO Recognition Awards program showcases preeminent state information technology solutions. Award recipients define NASCIO's vision to fully serve the public trust through the efficient and effective use of technology. NASCIO is pleased to recognize best practices in the states, highlighting their continued efforts to deliver quality services to citizens and enable state business agendas." For further information, contact John Clark via email at john.clark@gsa.gov. GSA Hosts Two South Korea Government Delegations - Learning about E-government, Enterprise Architecture and E-Forms On September 14, 2004, GSA’s Office of Intergovernmental Solutions (OIS) within the Office of Citizen Services and Communications hosted a five-member delegation from the government of South Korea, who were seeking information about best practices related to E-Government and Electronic Document handling in the U.S. government. The delegation was led by Mr.. Ho-Soon Song, Director, Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs and Mr.. Si-Hyeong Yoo, Senior Researcher, National Computerization Agency. Mr.. Denis Gusty, Director, Office of Intergovernmental Solutions (OIS) provided an overview of OCSC, OIS and their role in supporting the President’s E-government Strategy and sharing best practices between federal, international, state, and local governments. Mr.. Keith Thurston, Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of E-Government and Technology discussed the status and future direction of the President’s E-government Strategy and Business Gateway’s E-Form Initiative. Keith also answered a series of specific questions from the Korean delegation regarding U.S. policy and current practices on the use of electronic documents. The next day, September 15, 2004, GSA’s OIS in collaboration with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) hosted a ten-member delegation from South Korea at OMB’s New Executive Office Building. The delegation led by Mr.. Jong-In Yoon, Director, e-Government Bureau, Korea's Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs (MOGAHA). This delegation was seeking information about best practices regarding the implementation of the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) and the Business Reference Model (BRM) in the U.S. government. Mr.. Denis Gusty, Director, Office of Intergovernmental Solutions (OIS) provided opening remarks and welcomed all the participants and then provided an overview of OCSC, OIS and their role in supporting the President’s E-government Strategy and sharing best practices between federal, international, state, and local governments. Mr. Stephen Lowe, Senior Enterprise Architect, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provided specific lessons learned from implementing the FEA and BRM within his agency. Mr. Richard Brozen, Senior Advisor to the Administrator, E-government and Information Technology, OMB gave an overview of the FEA and BRM on its government-wide application in the U.S. government. For further information, contact John Clark via e-mail at john.clark@gsa.gov. OCSC Examines the Slow Take Up by State and Local Governments of GSA’s IT Schedule Contracts The U.S. General Services Administration’s Office of Intergovernmental Solutions within the Office of Citizen Services and Communications announces the release of a new report on the impact of Section 211 of the E-Government Act of 2002, which allows state and local governments to purchase information technology equipment and services from federal contracts (GSA’s information technology (IT) Schedule 70 contracts). Take-up by state and local governments has been slow. GSA recorded $5.1 million in sales to state and local governments from the IT Schedule 70 contracts from May to September 2003. GSA estimated that sales to state and local governments would reach $100 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2004. Two factors contribute to the slow take up. IT Schedule 70 became available to state and local governments on May 7, 2003, under an interim rule before a final rule was published on May 18, 2004. This meant GSA was still accepting comments and entertaining revisions to the rule (procedures for using IT Schedule contracts) for an entire year. As of February 2004, an approximately one third (1400) of the 3500 IT Schedule contract holders had modified their existing contracts with GSA to allow state and local governments access to their contract offerings. In recent months, GSA’s Federal Supply Service (FSS) has undertaken a “two pronged” approach to promoting use of the IT schedule contracts to state and local governments. Develop training materials for state and local governments and vendors to use schedule contracts. Research state and local governments barriers to use schedule contracts in order to develop an effective and efficient promotional plan. The report cites GSA’s expectations’ that state and local use of the IT schedule contracts will grow over time as their IT purchasers become more experienced with IT schedule contracts. There is an expected learning curve state and local procurement officials must experience before use of the IT schedule contracts become widespread. Copies of the report are available online at http://www.gsa.gov/intergov under publications. For more information contact John Clark at john.clark@gsa.gov. Intergovernmental Advisory Board Highlights the Need for Enterprise-wide and Intergovernmental Approaches to Business Continuity Management The Intergovernmental Advisory Board (IAB) has released an online report, “Business Continuity: It’s Not Just an IT Recovery Plan: Intergovernmental and Enterprise Approaches for Governments,” documenting the need for a business-centric business continuity approach as opposed to an IT-centric approach. The goal of Business Continuity Management is to keep operations running in the event of a disruption to normal business processes. As a program, it includes activities such as planning, risk analysis, providing back-up facilities, succession plans, impact assessments and many others. Business Continuity is perceived by many in government as the responsibility of IT offices – event occurs, system goes down, IT shop recovers system, business continues. However, because of the reliance on IT throughout the enterprise, business continuity should really be a concern for everyone in the organization, including senior management. Recent events such as the Year 2000 (Y2K), September 11, 2001 (9-11), Hurricane Isabel and the Northeastern Blackout of 2003 have raised the profile of business continuity in the minds of government managers. The report highlights federal, state, and local government initiatives, research culled from numerous studies and trade publications, and award and best practice programs that recognize business continuity practices. The report also analyzes lessons learned from events such as Y2K, 9-11, and the Northeastern Blackout and Hurricane Isabel. Among the major findings and conclusions:
For more information, please check out the IAB section at www.gsa.gov/intergov. OCSC and NASCIO Discuss Intergovernmental Approaches to Enterprise Architecture Mr. John Clark, Program Analyst with the Office of Intergovernmental Solutions within the Office of Citizen Services and Communications (OCSC) participated in a two-day (August 4 – 5, 2004) enterprise architecture workshop hosted by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO). Mr. Gerry Wethington, President of NASCIO and CIO of the State of Missouri led the Enterprise Architecture Workshop. Workshop participants reviewed and prioritized eight action items for possible completion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2005, under the Department of Justice grant to extend NASCIO’s Enterprise Architecture tool-kit beyond the law-enforcement domain. The top items under consideration for FY 05 were the development of a generic business case to demonstrate the value of Enterprise Architecture, and an assessment of State and local governments’ adoption of enterprise architecture practices. The need for a repository of enterprise architecture artifacts was also discussed. Mr. Clark suggested the General Services Administration’s www.core.gov as a repository of enterprise architecture artifacts and examples common processes and architectural approaches. A follow-on NASCIO Enterprise Architecture Workshop is tentatively planned for February 23-24, 2005 in a location to be determined. For more information, contact John Clark at john.clark@gsa.gov. Intergovernmental Advisory Board Welcomes New Members and Discusses Intergovernmental Priorities at Quarterly Meeting The Intergovernmental Advisory Board (IAB) welcomes new members Dianah Neff, Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Philadelphia; Barry West, CIO of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); Kim Nelson, CIO of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Jenny Deblois of Miami-Dade County. They join other recent additions Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer and New Mexico CIO Moira Gerety. The group held its most recent quarterly teleconference on July 22, 2004. Barry West provided an overview of FEMA’s intergovernmental priorities, which included maintaining current all hazards response capability, information sharing of disaster-related information across agencies and levels of governments, enterprise architecture work and the Disaster Management E-Gov Initiative. Dianah Neff talked about Philadelphia’s priorities, which included GIS data sharing and standards, federal government funding and coordination of high-resolution aerial imagery, homeland security and disaster response. The group also discussed its most recent report on Business Continuity and suggested topics for its next report. The IAB is an intergovernmental organization that exists to promote knowledge and understanding of intergovernmental information technology issues at the federal, state, local, and tribal government levels. The Board provides advice and guidance to The American Council for Technology (ACT). For more information and minutes from the meeting, click on the “IAB” link on the left at www.gsa.gov/intergov. The GSA Office of Intergovernmental Solutions Organizes US/Canada Bilateral Meeting At the request of GSA Administrator Stephen A. Perry, the GSA Office of Intergovernmental Solutions (OIS) coordinated the second bilateral meeting between GSA’s leaders and their counterparts at Public Works and Government Services Canada. The meeting was held in Washington June 22 and 23 and centered around substantive talks about the two countries’ public buildings, federal supply, technology, e-government, and citizen services programs. The delegates heard about the Public Buildings Service’s Design Excellence program from Chief Architect Ed Feiner and were taken on a tour of the U.S. Capitol by Alan Hantman, the Architect of the Capitol. They met in some of GSA’s most impressive facilities in Washington, DC, including the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, and viewed the Prettyman Courthouse Annex construction site. The meeting was capped by receptions in the State Department’s elegant Diplomatic Reception Rooms and at the Canadian Embassy. The group discussed procurement issues, human capital issues, citizen services, real property reform, governmentwide services, IT management and border security. The meeting concluded with agreements to continue to share information on software standards, the use of rate-of-return in portfolio management, performance measures, human capital strategy, citizen services, and risk studies. Three “fora,” comprised of members from both countries, will continue discussions over the next year in the areas of public buildings/real property; federal supply/acquisition; and information technology/e-government. For further information contact Darlene Meskell at (202) 501-1092 or email darlene.meskell@gsa.gov OIS Publishes Newsletter Citizen Relationship Management GSA's Office of Intergovernmental Solutions (OIS) has published their fourteenth newsletter on Citizen Relationship Management (CRM). The newsletter includes nineteen articles from federal, state, local and international governments, as well as industry, nonprofits and academia. This newsletter covers citizen services and the use of CRM for electronic government (E-Gov). CRM systems record, route and manage interactions with citizens and organizations in a coordinated manner. They allow an organization to accurately track interaction with citizens, clearly articulate its services to citizens, predict user needs, reduce response time, improve staff efficiency and meet customer needs and service expectations. Highlights from the newsletter include:
Each article provides a point of contact for obtaining further information that may assist other government entities in their own efforts related to Citizen Relationship Management. The newsletter can be accessed by scrolling down the left side or this page and click on the Publications Library. Issue Alert: Cooperative Purchasing – Sharing of Contracting Vehicles Among Governments OIS's newest "Federal, State, Local Issue Alert" series provides short summaries on emerging issues for quick reference by busy managers. This issue alert covers Cooperative Purchasing, which is the sharing of contracting vehicles among governments. This issue is of special importance with the recent passage of the E-Government Act that allows state and local governments to purchase information technology equipment and services from federal contracts. 
Last Modified 10/21/2004
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