EXCLUSIVE: OMB guidance sets technology tone for 2010, beyond

The White House has given agencies its first formal instructions for how to continue with the Bush administration's e-government and lines of business initiatives.

In internal budget documents obtained by FederalNewsRadio, the Office of Management and Budget set new deadlines for full use of secure identity cards under Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12, for 10 agencies to move back to using the Grants.gov portal and for moving to financial management and human resource shard services providers.

The documents also detail OMB's plans this administration's high-profile initiatives such as data center consolidation, the use of cloud computing and cybersecurity spending.

"My first reaction was this kind of stuff has never been our passback before," says one government official, who requested anonymity because the information is considered pre-decisional.

"It was good to specifically see them discuss the former presidential initiatives. I've been through so many changes and sometimes throw out baby with bath water so I was pleased to see the continued execution of those that did work. There has been little indication from this administration about whether to keep these things going or do things differently."

Other federal and industry sources, who also requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information, say there were few surprises in the document. Most were pleased that OMB finally is applying some rigor and clarifying the future of these initiatives.

"I thought it was pretty good," says another government official. "One thing it does is give agencies options to do planning and assessment. It's less of a directive and more strategic."

OMB instructed agencies in 2011 to use development, modernization or enhancement (DME) and/or operations and maintenance (O&M) funding to update existing logical and physical access control systems to use Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 secure ID cards.

Sources say this is the first hard deadline OMB has given agencies to make sure both physical and computer network systems use the secure ID cards.

"They came up with something more tangible for how agencies to take out of overhead," the first government official says.

"Still, I'm deeply troubled by the lackadaisical approach they have permitted agencies to take. They still are talking about a potentially stove pipe approach, but the requirement is a step forward. They need to keep the pressure on so there is true interoperability."

OMB also instructed the General Services Administration to spend $3.3 million for governmentwide use of public key infrastructure.

"Stabilizing and upgrading the PKI is a high priority," the documents state. "[GSA's] Federal Acquisition Service should work with the Office of Governmentwide Policy to develop a plan to strengthen the PKI and submit the plan to OMB by Jan. 8. The plan should have the goal of completing the upgrades by Sept. 30."

To the Cloud

A former government official says the move to force agencies to use HSPD-12 cards is tied closely to the cloud computing initiative.

"Agencies have got to start using cards and to do that they need to upgrade the applications to use the cards," the former official says. "As agencies move out with cloud computing, those credentials are the only way prove who you are so agencies have to redo applications to use the cards."

OMB provided some specific guidance around cloud computing.

The administration told agencies that they should do an alternatives analysis for all major IT projects, and justify why they wouldn't move to this technology in 2012.

And in 2013, agencies have to do an analysis for all mixed lifecycle projects, which are projects that require new and steady state spending.

"They are not saying use it, but are pushing us to look at it and do an analysis of alternatives and make a decision based on our business needs," the second government official says. "They are pushing us to look at it, yet giving us the ability to decide whether it makes sense."

Along those same lines, OMB wants agencies to submit plans to consolidate data centers. The White House also will issue guidance around data centers by Jan. 15. This comes after OMB found in a survey earlier this summer that agencies ran more than 1,200 data centers.

The first agency official says it may be tough to comply with the plans around cloud computing as their experience and research finds few public clouds able to meet their agency's needs.

Agencies also must provide OMB by Dec. 18 with cost information about cybersecurity. The documents call for agencies to provide:

• Money budgeted for certification and accreditation activities;
• Cost and number of government and industry employees who have security responsibilities;
• Cost of managed security services contracts;
• Cost for licensing security products;
• Percent of total IT budget spent on security;

Sources say this level of data has never been collected before by OMB. Sources also say this may be in part a reaction to the grilling federal CIO Vivek Kundra received recently on Capitol Hill after he couldn't answer some of these cost questions, as well as the beginning of a larger initiative.

More information sharing

OMB also is trying to send a message around information sharing, according to the former government official.

The Homeland Security Department must set up a program management office for fusion centers and spend $7.7 million to support the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) program office.

The fusion center PMO would "establish cross-linkages with the Justice Department Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) initiative…," the documents state.

By Feb. 1, the Information Sharing Environment (ISE), which includes 11 agencies such as DHS, Justice, Energy, the Director of National Intelligence and others, must update their inventory of programs and systems that create and maintain SAR reporting information, and by 2011 all programs must align with the sensitive but unclassified standards for SAR.

By March 1, Justice must establish a SAR program management office within existing funding to oversee nationwide activities.

OMB also makes it clear that the financial management and human resources lines of business will continue, and agencies must continue to fund the e-government projects.

The document calls for agencies by March 31 to have a plan to go to a private or public sector provider for FM and HR services.

And the agency leads for all of these initiatives should develop a plan of action and milestones by Sept. 1 to modernize through a segment architecture. And by 2012, these initiatives must spend money on new technology that either uses cloud computing or a platform that uses cloud computing.

The second government official expressed some disappointment that the administration didn't end the LOBs and e-government initiatives all together.

The official says it's not they are bad ideas, but the governance structure remains the biggest issue, and some agencies believe they aren't getting a service equal to what they pay for.

Other highlights from the budget guidance:

• By March 31, OMB will require the 10 agencies that left the Grants.gov portal to move back. OMB let these agencies stop using the portal last spring after OMB decided Grants.gov couldn't handle the traffic from the Recovery Act. Since then, the Department of Health and Human Services has spent more than $6 million to upgrade the site.
• OMB also will issue guidance by Jan. 15 detailing information and reporting requirements to create an efficient workplace platform. Agencies must submit by March 31 a report detailing their policies, employee usage, technical and application data and savings estimates around teleworking.
• All non Defense agencies must complete their migration to one of the three E-Travel systems by Sept. 30.
• By March 31, agencies must review and provide OMB with an analysis of the Budget Formulation and Execution Management tool and the Performance Measurement Manager module to decide whether they will use it for the 2012 budget process.
• By April 1, the Geospatial Line of Business program management office will provide recommendations to revise its governance structure, a 2012 business case and budget request for imagery for the nation and a modernization plan, including a target architecture of the geospatial platform.
• By Sept. 30, Justice, Interior, GSA, DoD, OMB, Social Security Administration, Treasury, the National Science Foundation, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Small Business Administration must digitize the paper back-files for employees through the Enterprise Human Resource Integration program. And DoD must complete its implementation of the Electronic Official Personnel Folders (eOPF) by Dec. 31, 2013.
• The Office of Personnel Management will publish guidance for how they will assess HR shared services providers and payroll providers every 18 months to ensure they are meeting the needs of agencies.

"OMB is reaffirming that the things done by the Bush administration were good things and they need to continue," the former government official says.

"They are not coming out directly, but saying things like managing partners and e-government agencies still need to contribute money to the projects is important. You can't move to government-as-a-platform as Vivek Kundra has said many times if agencies haven't optimized their business processes."

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