June 30, 2004

Welcome to your latest edition of the FirstGov Buzz e-letter!

In this issue:

• The E-Gov Spotlight — CIO John Marshall — USAID

• Interagency Committee on Government Information Issues Web Content Recommendations

• FirstGov.gov Tops 200,000

• FirstGov.gov on PBS Program ‘The Visionaries’

• FirstGov.gov Adds Content for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

• ‘Money’ Points Readers to FirstGov.gov

The E-Gov Spotlight — CIO — USAID

John Marshall

Assistant Administrator for Management
Chief Information Officer
U.S. Agency for International Development

Helping to rebuild Afghanistan and Iraq and fighting HIV-AIDS around the globe top a daunting to-do list at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

John Marshall wears two hats at USAID, the main U.S. agency that helps countries recover from disaster, escape poverty, and engage in democratic reforms. Marshall is Assistant Administrator for Management and Chief Information Officer (CIO).

His portfolio includes human resources, procurement, financial management, information technology, and administrative services. Said Marshall, “My mission is to lead the transformation of USAID's management capabilities worldwide, including modernizing antiquated business systems, addressing the President's Management Agenda (PMA), and increasing administrative collaboration with the State Department."

Major CIO challenges have included implementing best practices in IT management to ensure success of the agency's modernization program, and planning for the integration of common business systems, IT infrastructure and network with those of the State Department.

“Our major modernization initiative is the world-wide roll out of a new integrated accounting and procurement management system,” Marshall said. Other challenges have included developing a State Department-USAID enterprise architecture and improving USAID's capital planning and investment control process.

“Those are the technical challenges, and they're the easy part,” Marshall said. “The hardest parts are the people challenges--getting everyone on board and pulling in the same direction…”

USAID works in areas such as agriculture, democracy and governance, economic growth, the environment, education, health, global partnerships, and humanitarian assistance in more than 100 countries.

Marshall has been in his current post since November 2001. Previously, he was with IBM Business Innovations Services in Bethesda, Md., and with the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs as a senior advisor to two chairmen, Senators Bill Roth of Delaware and Ted Stevens of Alaska.

“IBM is a classic turn-around story of a company that got too comfortable in a profitable niche, missed a mega-trend, nearly died, and re-engineered its way back to industry leadership,” Marshall said. As a leader of the company's government consulting practice, Marshall said he was trained in the same business transformation practices that worked for IBM. He has subsequently helped government clients use those practices to improve the performance of their organizations.

“We're using the same tools today at USAID and across the government through the PMA–enterprise architectures, IT project management tools, strategic sourcing, and E-government technologies,” he said.

At the committee, Marshall said staff looked at how leading companies were restructuring and applying IT to achieve significant performance improvements and cost savings. The committee passed landmark management reform legislation, including the Government Performance and Results Act and the Clinger-Cohen Act.

“We're implementing these reforms today through the PMA,” Marshall said. “We also looked at duplication and overlap in functions across the government and identified opportunities for consolidation of common business lines–as is now happening through the PMA “Quicksilver” and “Line of Business” initiatives.”

Major accomplishments on the management reform front include:

• USAID's first-ever “clean” audit opinion;
• Steady progress on the PMA scorecard and internal customer service metrics;
• Development of best practices in IT project management, enterprise architecture, and capital investment planning;
• Saving millions through interagency collaboration;
• Ramping up recruitment and training functions that were shut down in the 1990s, and;
• Rethinking the agency's business model and using a modern workforce planning tool to “right-size” USAID's workforce.

“But it's only the beginning of a five-to-six-year turn-around project at the current funding level,” Marshall said.

Marshall also said that resources for staff and operations have not nearly kept pace with a significantly greater workload, particularly with regard to challenges in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the war on HIV-AIDS. “This disparity has created enormous challenges, including: rebuilding human capacity after a decade of downsizing in the 1990s that left the agency with serious staffing and skill shortages; modernizing business systems and restoring the agency's credibility after a failed $100 million modernization effort in the 1990s; and doing all these things on a shoestring,” he said.

Interagency Committee on Government Information Issues Web Content Recommendations

On June 9, the Interagency Committee on Government Information issued a report to OMB on “Recommended Policies and Guidelines for Federal Public Websites.” Bev Godwin, Director of FirstGov.gov, serves on the Interagency Committee on Government Information (ICGI) as sponsor of the interagency Web Content Workgroups.

The report, a product of direction included in the E-Government Act of 2002 and work of 22 ICGI workgroup members from across government, suggests that government Web sites should:

• Be easily identified, use the government domain (.gov), provide current and accurate government information, and follow basic common linking practices
• Be written and organized from the citizen’s point of view
• Be designed and written to ensure easy access, including standard metadata
• Promote seamless movement within agency sites and between department portals, including, all sites should link to FirstGov.gov
• Establish priorities for posting information
• Comply with security, privacy, accessibility and other laws and regulations
• OMB should establish a Web Content Advisory Council, create processes to approve common content and links, coordinate cross-agency portals, and require agencies to report on progress and compliance with Web content policies and requirements.

The ICGI developed the recommendations by reviewing federal Web sites and identifying common practices, compiling existing laws, regulations and other official directives, and soliciting suggestions from agencies and the public through FirstGov.gov.

The full report is available on the ICGI Web site.

By September, the committee will develop a Web Content Management Toolkit on FirstGov.gov that will include examples and best practices of how to implement OMB and congressional requirements, as well as resources and additional guidelines for making federal Web sites more citizen focused.

FirstGov.gov Tops 200,000

One of FirstGov.gov’s performance measures is the number of other Web sites that link to FirstGov.gov. At the end of FY 2002, 77,000 Web sites linked to FirstGov.gov. By the end of FY 2003, this had increased to 129,000 Web sites. As of June 2004, over 209,000 Web sites link to FirstGov.gov. Some other performance measures used on FirstGov.gov include: number of public contacts/site traffic (i.e. page views, visitors), American Customer Satisfaction Index customer satisfaction survey score, number of email subscription referrals (to federal government e-newsletters), usability testing results, number of FirstGov search affiliates, and awards.

FirstGov.gov on PBS Program ‘The Visionaries’

FirstGov.gov will be recognized as a ”trailblazer in government” when the Public Broadcasting Service series “The Visionaries” airs this fall.

The program’s producer, Bill Moser, explained that since 1995, “The Visionaries” has been “telling stories about people and organizations engaged in creating positive social change throughout the world.” The series is hosted by Sam Waterston (Law & Order, I’ll Fly Away, and The Killing Fields).

“Because the series reaches a nationwide audience on public television,” explains M.J. Jameson, Associate Administrator for Citizen Services and Communications at GSA, “this program will raise awareness about FirstGov.gov, which, in turn, means we will be able to provide greater service to the American people.”

FirstGov.gov Adds Content for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren  

A FirstGov.gov visitor asked via email where citizens might find government information and help for a grandparent raising a grandchild. FirstGov.gov researched this issue and found that over 5.5 million grandchildren are living in homes with a grandparent. And indeed the government has a lot to offer--from HHS, SSA, OPM, Census, USDA, GSA, Education, and most states. In response, FirstGov.gov created a page to centralize this information. Check out the new page at http://www.firstgov.gov/Topics/Grandparents.shtml.

‘Money’ Points Readers to FirstGov.gov

In its June issue, Money magazine referred readers to FirstGov.gov in an article on home foreclosures titled, “Bargains for the Brave.” http://www.FirstGov.gov/shopping/realestate/realestate.shtml.