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Issue 6: June 27, 2006
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The DotGov Buzz is an e-mail newsletter published by the GSA Office of Citizen Services and Communications to keep opinion leaders, policy makers, IT professionals and others up on the latest developments in e-government. Pass it along to your colleagues and let us know if you want to subscribe on your home e-mail. To SUBSCRIBE, submit a new e-mail to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV, with SUBSCRIBE THEBUZZ in the body of the message, followed by your first name and your last name. This and previous issues of The DotGov Buzz are available at www.firstgov.gov/dotgovbuzz. |
 CIO Spotlight: Teresa M. Takai, State of Michigan
Informed that Teri Takai had delivered a keynote address at a recent information technology conference, one of her fellow State CIOs responded, "Teri Takai-she's a rock star!" While she didn't actually sing, play music, or prance around the stage, Teri Takai does have a certain star power. She is in demand as a speaker, and clearly wields a lot of influence among her fellow CIOs. They have chosen her as vice president of the National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO), in line for the presidency. Her influence is also apparent in her home state, where, in three years as Director of the Michigan Department of Information Technology (MDIT), she has created a new 1,700-person organization and brought Michigan the Center for Digital Government's #1 ranking among all 50 states. A metro Detroit native, she holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics and an MBA from the University of Michigan. She spent most of her career as an executive working with IT for the auto industry. At the Ford Motor Company, she led the development of the company's IT strategic plan; at EDS, she managed the global supply chain for General Motors; and at Federal Mogul, she was the director of process development. She was named to the Crain's Detroit Business list of the 100 most influential women and Detroiter magazine's top 100 emerging business leaders in Southeast Michigan, and the Association for Women in Computing presented her with the "Top Michigan Women in Computing" award. In 2003, when she was appointed Director of Information Technology reporting directly to the governor, she had had no public sector experience. But she quickly learned how to deal with political realities and work within the system. Soon after taking office she had consolidated the State government's data centers, telecommunications, and desktop resources while renegotiating contracts, reducing staff and saving the state $100 million. And she still has friends in State government. Her stature as a public official has grown steadily as she confronts the ongoing challenge of meeting the demand for cutting costs while still providing ever-expanding IT services for Michigan. She was named Public Official of the Year in 2005 by Governing magazine. VARBusiness magazine named Takai to their 2005 list of "The Top 50 People, Trends, Technologies, Innovations and Projects in Government You Should Know." These days, the accomplishment for which she is most honored is the government-wide IT consolidation-the largest departmental transformation in Michigan history-consolidating 19 different IT organizations into a single department that supports 19 state agencies with 800 critical business applications and over 54,000 desktop computers in more than 1,300 locations. "The challenge isn't about technology and how governments can use it to improve service," she says. "It's about overcoming the real and complex cultural, governance, funding and jurisdictional challenges within the public sector so that we can put the interests of citizens and their communities ahead of everything else." Technology is just the enabler. Often asked to share her lessons learned with IT professionals who are confronting the need to tackle major organizational change in both public and private sectors, she has developed a list of "Teri's Top Ten" pointers on managing change in large IT organizations. She delivers them, Letterman-style, in reverse order: Number 10: Go for the money (with a smile). Get control of all IT spending. The MDIT is funded by the State agencies, but she controls the budget. "If you don't control the money, you can't bring the hearts and minds with you," she says. At the same time, it's important to establish a customer-service mentality, which will get the agencies on your side. Number 9: Engage the politicians early, notably by building strong relationships with key legislators Number 8: Make sure the boss likes you. In her case, this is Governor Jennifer Granholm, with whom she has a thriving relationship. Number 7: Take brave pills-stand up and be counted. She positioned herself and her organization as a major force in State government by developing a Cabinet Action Plan and championing the governor's initiatives. Number 6: Make lemonade! Don't cry about the programmatic and budgetary lemons you inherit. Use available-if inadequate-funding sources to accomplish priority objectives. Number 5: Find ways to deliver tomorrow's solutions with today's people. Leadership becomes of paramount importance in overcoming employee resistance to the massive change initiatives. Number 4: Maintain momentum without wearing out your people. People inside and outside IT didn't want the Michigan reorganization to work. "We had to overcome agency, staff and vendor resistance," she said. "We had to be stubborn and persistent but not make people angry." Number 3: Expand your horizons. When the governor pushed her to work outside the State government, she developed an Office of Technology Partnerships, which created partnerships with colleges, universities and township associations, and she found out what Michigan's citizens really care about. Number 2: Don't forget who you work for, and continue to improve services to citizens, focusing all the while on providing citizen value. Number 1: It's not a popularity contest-they'll never love you. "Keep the faith," she says. "IT transformation of government is not an end point, it's a journey." It may not be a popularity contest, but if it were, Teri Takai would likely win it, hands down. |
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E-Gov Initatives: OMB releases Financial Management Line of Business guidance
The Office of Management and Budget has released updated draft guidance for agencies moving to the financial management Line of Business. The guidance offers competitive framework, template for migration project plan, change management best practices and a menu of services that financial-management shared-service providers can deliver. The Migration Planning Guidance aims to answer procedural questions and provide insight when agencies conduct competitions for financial-management services from a public or private shared-service provider. According to the memorandum, agencies are to conduct public-private competitions and migrations as directed in OMB Circular A-76 for activities performed by more than 10 FTEs. Agencies should consult with OMB if they need to deviate from that directive. The document also, among other guidance, directs agencies to "hold the selected provider accountable for results through an appropriate implementation structure." Federal Acquisition Regulations govern if an agency selects a vendor. That means the customer agency must have a quality assurance surveillance plan in place, a team to implement it and continuously evaluate the contractor's performance. If the agency chooses a federal center of excellence, the customer agency and federal service provider sign an interagency agreement clearly identifying the workload, performance levels, cost and quality assurance plan. Suggestions on developing supplements to the initial framework may be sent to FMLOB@omb.eop.gov. |
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CIO Council: IPv6 transition guidance released
The CIO Council's Architecture and Infrastructure Committee has released a compilation of recommendations and best practices to help agencies transition to the next version of the Internet, Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) by OMB's June 2008 deadline. IPv6 is the next generation protocol for the Internet, designed to support continued Internet growth in number of users and functionality. The current version, IPv4, was developed in the 1970s and provides the basis for today's Internet interoperability. IPv6 has been under development by the Internet community for over ten years and will greatly expand available IP address space, by incorporating features such as end-to-end security, mobile communications, quality of service, and system management burden reduction. The newly released document, IPv6 Transition Guidance, offers recommendations and best practices that were compiled in the private sector, the Internet research community and the Defense Department over years of testing and preparing for transition for years. It is a follow-up document to the Committee's Integrating IPv6 into Agency EA Planning, issued in December. |
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Policy: OMB calls for agency reviews of privacy policies and processes
In the wake of the theft of a government laptop containing data on millions of veterans and active duty military personnel, then-OMB Acting Director Clay Johnson III reemphasized the need to safeguard sensitive personally identifiable information in a May 22 memo to heads of departments and agencies. The memo calls for agencies to review their privacy policies and procedures and report back to OMB. It reads, in part: Please have your agency's Senior Official for Privacy conduct a review of your policies and processes, and take corrective action as appropriate to ensure your agency has adequate safeguards to prevent the intentional or negligent misuse of, or unauthorized access to, personally identifiable information. This review shall address all administrative, technical, and physical means used by your agency to control such information, including but not limited to procedures and restrictions on the use or removal of personally identifiable information beyond agency premises or control. Agency heads should include the results of these reviews in their agency reports due this fall under the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). Johnson's memo also includes a list of all agencies' senior privacy officials. |
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HSPD-12: GPO to provide PIV cards to help Federal agencies meet requirements
The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) is energizing its security documents unit to help agencies meet the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12) requirement for all Federal agencies to issue biometrically encrypted smart cards to new employees and contractors, starting October 27. As part of its mission to provide safe and secure design, production, distribution and management of secure documents for the Federal government, GPO will provide Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards for Federal agencies as an alternative to in-house ID card personalization or the exclusive use of commercial sources. GPO's Security and Intelligent Document Business Unit, which currently produces electronic passports for the State Department, plans to provide PIV cards as the primary sponsor of turnkey solutions to Federal agencies and as a backup source to other Federal agencies. The agency hopes to achieve economies of scale by centrally locating contractor-run ID card manufacturing, personalization and issuance activities. "GPO is ramping up to produce high volumes of e-passports; it makes sense for GPO to capitalize on its economies of scale by providing other e-credentials, such as HSPD-12 smartcards as well," said Benjamin Brink, Assistant Public Printer, Security and Intelligent Documents. GPO will also provide the ancillary support services for HSPD-12, including identification management systems, enrollment and issuance services, and card management services. GPO plans to achieve a rapid ramp-up to produce smart card-based identity documents for Federal agencies in time to meet the HSPD-12 deadlines that were laid out in a pre-solicitation notice issued June 7. A request for proposals will be issued this summer. |
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Congress: House committee votes $3 million for the E-Gov Fund, $2 million less than requested
The House Appropriations Committee has rejected the Administration's budget request for $5 million for the E-Gov Fund, limiting funding for interagency e-government projects to $3 million for next year. This is $30,000 more than Congress approved in 2006, but $2 million less than the President requested for 2007. The funds were included in the FY 2007 appropriations bill for the Departments of Transportation, the Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, District of Columbia and independent agencies. The Appropriations Committee, which approved the bill June 9th and sent it to the House floor, again refused to allow OMB to use $40 million in surplus funds in GSA's General Supply Fund to finance e-government projects. Instead, the bill requires GSA to evaluate its pricing structure to determine if the build-up in the Supply Fund comes from overcharging its Federal customers and to report back to the committee 120 days after the legislation is passed. "The committee refuses to relinquish oversight of the development and procurement of information technology projects of the various agencies under its jurisdiction," the committee said in its report accompanying the bill. |
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International: GSA Leads U.S. Collaboration with Other Countries on IT and Other Services
Leaders of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) got together June 23 in Ottawa with their counterparts at Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), in their third bilateral meeting. The group discussed public buildings operations, acquisition management, e-government and e-infrastructure, human capital, customer service, and other issues common to both agencies. Officials from the two similar organizations meet every one or two years to share information on the issues surrounding their governments' general services programs. At the first meeting in Ottawa in 2003, a memorandum of understanding was signed by PWGSC Deputy Minister I. David Marshall and former GSA Administrator Stephen Perry, calling for ongoing communications between GSA and PWGSC. The MOU specified that the group would come together at least biannually. The next meeting was held in Washington in 2004. "A strong network of officials at all levels has been developed between counterparts on both sides of the border resulting in a valuable knowledge partnership where experiences and best practices are exchanged and lessons are shared," the Canadians reported afterwards. This year, the GSA delegation was led by Deputy Administrator David L. Bibb. It also includes David Winstead, Commissioner, GSA Public Buildings Service; G. Martin Wagner, Acting Commissioner, GSA Federal Acquisition Service; John Sindelar, Acting Associate Administrator, GSA Office of Governmentwide Policy; and Emily Murphy, GSA Chief Acquisition Officer. The new GSA Administrator, Lurita A. Doan, could not attend, but sent a message to the group affirming its objectives. The GSA/PWGSC bilateral meeting is one of many intergovernmental forums arranged each year for GSA leaders, information technology officials in Federal, State and local governments, and government IT professionals from around the world by the GSA Office of Citizen Services and Communications (OCSC). In keeping with its mission to help governments learn from other governments, OCSC organizes high-level meetings of government officials and knowledgeable professionals to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, insights and best practices and to foster the development of collegial ongoing relationships among U.S. officials and their peers. As a key player in expanding e-government, an important part of the President's Management Agenda, OCSC has long led U.S. intergovernmental coordination in the IT area. Each year, its staff coordinates the U.S. participation in "North American Day," tri-partite talks among the senior IT officials of the United States, Mexico and Canada. This group has been meeting for six years, with a different country hosting the talks each year. This year's North American Day was held in Warrenton, VA, May 31-June 2, hosted by Karen Evans, Associate Administrator for E-Government and Information Technology in the Office of Management and Budget. The Canadian and Mexican delegations were also led by their national chief information officers, Jim Alexander, acting CIO for Canada, and Abraham Sotelo, head of the Mexican e-Gov and IT Policy Unit. The participants discussed each their experiences using technology to improve citizens' interactions with their government across local, state, and federal levels. They explored ways to:
IT leaders from the three countries will continue to work together to collaborate on issues of common concern. Canada will host the 2007 North American Day talks. Over the past few years, there has been a growing demand for increased international communication to leverage the power of technology to improve government services. This year, OCSC arranged for U.S. CIO Council members to meet with their Mexican counterparts this past spring to help establish a Mexican CIO Council-which the U.S. Agency of International Development has identified as critical to accomplishing that nation's "good government" agenda. OCSC has also brought together the CIOs from the major English-speaking countries to share ideas on their advanced electronic government programs. That meeting of the CIOs from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, was held in Austin, TX, May 1. Discussions centered on identity management, realizing benefits from IT, and measures to assure integrity of government information. The group agreed to expand to include Australia and, possibly, New Zealand, and to continue this collaboration, through quarterly teleconferences. The first, on shared services, will be held August 1. |
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Local Government: San Francisco civil grand jury recommends a strong central CIO to improve IT
A group of San Francisco residents, convened by law as a Civil Grand Jury, has recommended that the City and County of San Francisco strengthen its Department of Telecommunications and Information Services (DTIS) and elevate the DTIS head to Chief Information Officer to improve IT services. The 19-member group, selected by random from 30 citizen volunteers, was required to develop constructive recommendations for improving the operations of the municipal government. Investigating the city/county's IT operations, it found "a general dissatisfaction with DTIS costs and its ability to deliver services in a timely manner." (Customer satisfaction in 2003-2004 reached only 43 %.) Its report, entitled San Francisco's Information Technology Highway: Potholes or Possibilities, released in May, outlines several IT-related concerns. The group found that DTIS is not respected by other agencies; the IT advisory group is not living up to expectations; City departments rarely share IT knowledge; neither small departments nor enterprise departments are well served by the current organization; and that similar recommendations for improvement over the past 10 years were not taken. The report's recommendations include:
Finally, the report recommended that the mayor of San Francisco ensure that "the CIO is provided with the authority needed to overhaul the City's fragmented system and oversee all aspects of the City's IT," along the lines of Philadelphia's IT organization. |
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Kudos: Franke Award, 6 Intergovernmental Solutions Awards, National Technology Champion, AFFIRM Awards
John J. Franke Award Department of the Navy CIO Dave Wennergren was presented with the American Council for Technology's John J. Franke Award for embodying leadership traits in the cause of good government. The sixth recipient of the annual award, Wennergren was honored at ACT's annual Management of Change conference June 4. The conference was also the setting for the presentation of six ACT Intergovernmental Solutions Awards. More than 60 nominations were submitted this year. The awards are given to Federal, State and local projects that serve as examples of the outstanding progress being made at all levels of government through the innovative use of technology for more effective and efficient business processes. Intergovernmental Solutions Awards The annual Intergovernmental Solutions Awards were presented to six winners, and 16 finalists were announced at the ACT Management of Change conference June 5. 2006 Federal and Department of Defense Winners were:
2006 State and Local Winners were:
The winners and sixteen finalist projects were chosen based on these criteria:
National Technology Champion Award The National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO) presented Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt with its National Technology Champion Award. The award, which recognizes an individual for outstanding contributions in the field of information technology policy, was presented to Leavitt at the NASCIO Midyear Conference June 1. AFFIRM Leadership Awards Robert J. Shea, counselor to the OMB Deputy Director for Management, received the 2006 AFFIRM Executive Leadership Award for Information Management at an awards luncheon June 14. AFFIRM, the Association for Federal Information Resources Management, recognized Shea for his work in developing the Performance Assessment Rating Tool (PART). Other AFFIRM leadership awards were presented to the following:  |
Transitions: Changes in the IT Community Also available in pdf 599 kb |
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Upcoming Events Calendar
Excellence in Government Conference CIO Council IT Quarterly Forum on Project Management Expedition Workshop: Networking Wiki Information Technology itsGov Technology Buying at Year-End Showcase Western Information Technology Council Expedition Workshop: Networking Semantic Interoperability National Association of Government Webmasters Conference NASCIO Annual Conference Executive Leadership Conference National Electronic Commerce Coordinating Council Annual Conference |
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Please send your comments, concerns, complaints and questions to dotgovbuzz@gsa.gov. Check out our previous editions at www.firstgov.gov/dotgovbuzz.html. The DotGov Buzz is produced by the following individuals in the GSA Office of Citizen Services and Communications: |