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Department of State E-Government Act Implementation
Released by the Bureau of Information Resource Management Public Law 107-347 (The E-Government Act of 2002) requires the Department of State to develop citizen and productivity-related performance measures for use of E-Government and IT in meeting the Department’s objectives, strategic goals, and statutory mandates. The Department has worked to implement the E-Government Act by identifying and employing IT technologies that deliver services to constituents – citizens, businesses, other governments, non-governmental organizations, and their employees – faster, cheaper, and more effectively. This process is institutionalized. 1. Overview. In February 2003, the IT Capital Planning (ITCP) Process was reorganized as part of an e-Government implementation effort. Establishment of a working group, advisory group, and e-Government Program Board enhanced the Capital Planning and Investment Control (CPIC) process and IT investment governance. A CPIC guide and an Enterprise Architecture (EA) with a "To-Be" blueprint were published in September 2003. An IT Strategic Plan Goals Paper was written and released in April 2004. The Goals Paper is based on a simple vision for IT: empowering diplomacy with tools and information available anytime, anywhere. Under the FY 2001- FY2005 IT Strategic Plan, the Department successfully laid the groundwork to move toward this vision and pursue the new FY 2006 - FY 2010 goals:
Goal 1: The Right Information: Knowledge Leadership for Diplomacy ►State Messaging and Archive Retrieval Toolset (SMART)
Goal 2: Anytime/Anywhere Computing: Diplomats on the Move Global IT Modernization Goal 3: External Partnerships: Diplomacy Through Collaboration Joint Financial Management Systems Goal 4: Risk Management: Mission Effectiveness and Security ►Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and Biometrics Goal 5: IT Organization and Workforce: Leading Change ►indicates initiatives discussed in this report Electronic Medical Records converts existing paper medical record data to electronic data and establishes a single authoritative source (database) of information that is readily retrievable for: patient care, medevac and hospitalizations, medical clearance decisions, medical record release actions, medical program planning and management, immunization tracking, and pharmacy inventory tracking. The milestone is to transform all patient medical records, which are now fragmented on paper in many geographically disparate locations, into one secure and integrated electronic medical record system that incorporates PKI technology. In the short-term, there will be savings in file space and a decreased reliance on nursing staff to process papers, increasing their availability for patient care and interaction. Already there is a decrease in the time to process a medical clearance and process release of medical information requests. Long range, readily available information on patients will also allow for increased emergency preparedness worldwide, and decreased time to make medical evacuations, hospitalization, and treatment decisions in Health Units worldwide. Integrated Logistics Management System (ILMS) provides the technology to integrate stovepipe functions and adopt best practices in logistics for worldwide requisitioning, procurement and contracting, warehouse management, transportation, personal effects movement, diplomatic pouch & mail, property management, customer support and process management, thus reducing the turnaround time for delivery of goods and services to embassies and consulates. ILMS replaces many paper-based logistics practices with start-to-finish electronic solutions. The enterprise wide supply chain system will provide a more efficient and effective process, significantly reducing the administrative burden on posts throughout the world, while simultaneously providing for more accurate and complete financial reporting. Re-tooling E-Government Across Changing Horizons (REACH) will provide high-quality services through electronic means to improve collaboration and reduce the time, cost and effort of internal and external interactions. The integration of software tools and services will facilitate speedier and less costly creation of secure, enterprise-scale solutions supporting interagency information sharing and collaboration. Post Administrative Suite System (PASS) is a portal of many administrative applications used by posts worldwide. It is considered the administrative standard for applications at the posts and serves as the vehicle for deploying a common, service-oriented architecture at every post in the world. Data from separate applications is available to all applications. Data is typed once and used multiple times as needed, eliminating redundant data entry, increasing accuracy and consistency of data, and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of Post employees. Since the applications within PASS have a common look and feel, training costs are decreased. e-Allowances will collect data on living costs abroad, quarters allowances, hardship differentials, and danger pay allowances and compute compensation for U.S. Government, civilian and DoD employees related to assignments abroad. Commercial companies currently rely on the information as a basis for compensating their employees when traveling and living abroad. The program will eliminate the need for paper submissions from overseas posts by introducing an on-line web-based submission capability and will provide Per Diem information in several electronic file formats.Other agency partners currently include approximately 40 US Government agencies with employees overseas; 475,000 uniformed services members; approximately 120,000 contractors; and a significant number of private industry employees who travel abroad and are reimbursed according to the USG Per Diem guidelines. The system, which if based upon business process reengineering, will result in reduced training time, and reduced ad hoc requirements, such as responding to inquiries from overseas posts pertaining to allowances, and how to complete the survey. Humanitarian Information Unit is a directed effort to improve collaboration among military and civilian government agencies through a well-coordinated information management system that will collect and disseminate unclassified information for overseas crises that affect humanitarian and peacekeeping operations. It provides improved access to humanitarian emergency information through dissemination of interactive web-based products and services to other U.S. Government agencies. Joint State / USAID Enterprise Architecture provides a common framework that will streamline the Department and USAID’s IT business processes and infrastructure through use of the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) and its five reference models: (Business, Performance, Data, Service Component, and Technical). This IT modeling effort will be collected in a shared EA repository that will allow investment reviews to preclude development of redundant systems and applications, within each agency and across the two agency boundaries. The EA will reduce costs through IT portfolio management, and increase efficiencies through improved business operations and consolidated use of applications and technologies. It will document the Department’s current performance, business, data, application, and technology environments and provide a desired target for these environments based on enhanced business processes, data sharing and collaborative application and technology initiatives. This will result in a more efficient use of IT spending, reduction in search costs related to data, reduced business process cycle time, and well utilized and standardized applications and technology. Defense Trade Application System (DTAS) is a web-based export license application system critical to national security. As Secretary of State Collin Powell stated at the formal rollout of the first and most visible licensing application component of DTAS, the D-Trade system, February 18, 2004: "D-Trade is the first entirely paperless, most user-friendly and security-sensitive defense technology export licensing system ever created." The Department, in compliance with the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) is responsible for strictly regulating exports and re-transfers of defense items and technologies. The DTAS system processes some 50,000 to 60,000 annual requests to export sensitive technologies valued at approximately $70 billion. Corporate applicants electronically submit export license applications via the Internet. Department license officers are then able to review, query, process, and report via this automated system. Roughly 30 percent of the annual applications must be distributed to the Department of Defense (DoD) and other agencies for comment. This system manages license application data referral that previously included copying, collating and distributing paper-based hardcopies. In addition, the Trade Registration, Enforcement and Compliance System (T-RECS) subsystem provides service to the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, and Department of Commerce. To meet necessary security requirements, the system uses digital certificates to identify and authenticate users and digital signatures for signing and approving license applications. The system supports various document formats (e.g., Adobe .PDF files, Microsoft Word documents, etc.), along with the standard license application forms, and workflow capabilities (e.g., automated case assignment, work list generation, automated workflow progression, and an electronic coversheet). Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and Biometrics utilizes digital signatures while improving web-based transactions. It ensures that the Department is able to communicate internally and externally with confidence that the information is secure. PKI hardware and software will provide digital certificates to over 20,000 domestic and overseas users. Ongoing Dialogues. The Department maintains ongoing dialogues with interested parties through several innovative activities:
2. Privacy. PIAs were conducted on all new FY2006 IT investments and those being developed, procured or modified. Certifications of accuracy were required for PIAs completed in the previous FY to ensure that they were current and that those systems had not undergone significant modifications that would create new privacy risks. In compliance with the publication requirement of Section 208, a list of PIAs conducted on Department systems was recently added to the Department of State web site dedicated to information access programs. The site is located at www.foia.state.gov. PIAs are made available upon request, but are only released after complete reviews have been conducted for any possible vulnerability and security risks the assessments might expose to classified, sensitive or private information. Privacy Policies on Websites Privacy Policies in Machine Readable Format a. The reporting of each instance where persistent tracking technology is used. For each instance agencies must:
The Department of State does not use persistent tracking technology. A software application is used to create summary statistics, identify the general trends of users, and collect information such as demographic data through analysis of information made available to the web server during the session. This information is used for statistical purposes only. No specific or personal information is collected about a user. Nothing is left on the end user’s browser. For site security purposes and to ensure that web service remains available to all users, the State Department also uses software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause IT damage. The Department’s Privacy Policy expressly states that, "unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this Department’s site are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986. Information also may be used for authorized law enforcement investigations. Except for the above purposes, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits." The Department of State follows OMB guidance and does not permit the use of persistent cookies. In the case that such tracking would become necessary, the Department has a recognized methodology for obtaining approval for the use of tracking technology by the Secretary of State. Specific criteria must be met in order to justify the use of persistent tracking technology. The Departments regulations are published in the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) (see below) and can be viewed at http://www.foia.state.gov/masterdocs/05FAM/05M0740.PDF.
For site management, information is collected for statistical purposes. The Department of State Web Site uses software programs to create summary statistics for such purposes as assessing what information is of most and least interest or identifying system performance or problem areas. The following is the type of information collected about your visit to the web site: the name of the Internet domain from which you access State Department web sites (for example, "aol.com" if you are connecting from America Online) and the date and time you access our site. If you choose to provide us with personal information in an email message, we use it only to respond to your email. For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, the State Department uses software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986. Information also may be used for authorized law enforcement investigations. Except for the above purposes, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act For More Information b. A readable agency privacy policy machine or an explanation of why it is not readable. Secretary Powell officially launched the Internet Steering Committee on April 30, 2001. The Internet Steering Committee considers and recommends policies, procedures, and functions related to the Internet presence, use and services maintained by the Department. In compliance with section 208, privacy provisions of the E-Government Act, the Committee evaluated all major points of entry to State Department websites to determine the best technology for making our privacy policies machine-readable. After conducting tests and audits of domestically located Department of State websites for compatibility, the Internet Steering Committee’s Web Hosting Working Group adopted the Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) industry standard as recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). When visitors access our website at any major point of entry, the user is informed of the data-collection practices of our domestic websites and how such information may be used. Embassies and Consulates in foreign countries and some domestic websites are small, independently hosted websites and are not major points of entry to the main State Department sites. All posts have required Privacy Act notices, but many have limited website support services to implement P3P technology. We are assessing the capabilities at posts. c. The contact information (name, title, phone number, and email) of individual(s) appointed by the head of the Executive Department or agency to serve as the agency's principal contact(s) for information technology/web matters and the individual (name and title) primarily responsible for privacy.
Agency principal contact responsible for information technology matters Agency principal contact responsible for web matters Agency principal contact responsible for privacy policies 3. IT Human Resources Strategy. The Department of State has established a comprehensive program to develop a trained, productive Information Technology (IT) workforce. Such a workforce is an essential component for achieving the Department’s IT goals and to carrying out the Department’s diplomatic mission. We continue to make significant strides in our IT human capital programs to foster a continuous learning environment that will support IT well into the future. Before the year 2000, the Department’s information technology worldwide workforce was severely understaffed, lacked many critically needed skills, and was hampered by non-competitive salaries and a very lengthy hiring process. Since that time, we have improved recruitment and established a hiring bonus program; instituted a comprehensive IT skills certification program and linked it to retention allowances; and developed an extensive, continuous IT training program which includes a substantial distance learning program, as well as long-term university training. The specialty areas identified in last years report remain consistent with those needed to meet the Department’s mission. The project management specialized job activity has recently gained federal government-wide momentum. To ensure that managers, supervisors and project managers were well prepared to manage IT projects, in 1997 the State Department began requiring that all IT project managers complete the Department’s comprehensive "Managing State Projects" course provided by the Department’s Foreign Service Institute (FSI). FSI is the federal government's primary training institution for officers and support personnel of the US diplomatic and foreign affairs community, accepting approximately 30,000 enrollees annually from the State Department and more than 40 other military and civilian agencies. FSI has developed and made available a full project management curriculum that provides IT project managers with "PMBOK" (Program Management Body of Knowledge) aligned training consistent with the body of knowledge necessary for certification. This training is available through a variety of methods including classroom, distance learning and a combination of both classroom and distance education. Following the release of OPM’s Training Report and the CIO Council/OMB IT Project Manager Qualifications Guidance, the Department established a working group to review and enhance its IT project management program to include many of the training institutions recommended therein (i.e., CIO University) as additional external continuing education opportunities. Certification training opportunities are provided for Department IT employees. The Foreign Service Institute’s School of Applied Information Technology offers courses supporting more than 20 different commercial IT certifications, including those from CompTia, Microsoft, Cisco and PMP. To ensure that the Department maintains an expert IT staff, State’s retention allowance program for IT specialists has been linked to continuing education requirements, some of which require specific certifications. This program, the Skills Incentive Program (SIP), has produced dramatic improvements in the skill sets of our IT workforce, and has helped ensure that both current and future technology support needs are met. The program is reviewed annually and revised, as needed, to ensure that future IT requirements and emerging technologies and specialized job activities are considered. One example of the success of this program is that before its inception, less than 20 Department IT employees were certified as Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers (MCSE). Today, over 330 IT employees possess the MCSE professional certification. Over 600 others employees have earned additional certifications and completed continuing education in critical IT areas. Due to the continued need for qualified IT project managers and to further support training and development in this specialized area, IT project management has also been recommended and is now under consideration for inclusion in the Skills Incentive Program. Individual Development Plans are required for all IT employees within the CIO’s organization requesting training. This planning tool supports managers and employees in the assessment of critical strengths and weaknesses while helping them make well-informed decisions about training and career goals needed to maximize training efforts. The Department has made major advances towards ensuring that our IT workforce is recruited, retained, well-trained and prepared to meet the current and future demands of information technology. We are committed to the development of our IT workforce and are confident that our programs are working well, and have laid the solid foundation needed to address emerging technology and meet future challenges. The Department’s IT training program and opportunities, along with the Secretary of State’s Leadership and Management Training Continuum, provide a comprehensive methodology for building skilled IT experts, managers and IT project managers. These programs enable employees to find and obtain training courses needed to assist them in reaching their personal goals as well as the Department’s goals, and to address any deficiencies. OPM has recognized the Department’s recruitment and retention programs as a "best practice." State’s program was described as "an impressive case study illustrating a CIO office that is effectively leveraging existing pay flexibilities in order to attract and retain skilled technology workers," and the Federal CIO Council has encouraged other agencies to incorporate State’s "streamlined practices." These pay incentives have effectively attracted IT professionals and minimized attrition, thereby helping to strengthen the overall performance and results produced by the Department’s IT workforce. 4. Internet Information Availability. Since 1991 (through a Bulletin Board and later a gopher site), the State Department has been committed to making information available and accessible to the public on the Internet. State’s first website was created in December 1994, fairly early in the era of websites. A comprehensive range of information (see http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/rls/38791.htm as well as our A-Z index at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/a2z ) continues to be cleared, checked for accuracy, and posted on www.state.gov. Content is updated frequently throughout the business day and after hours. Priorities and schedules, as well as an opportunity for the public to respond to them, are made available through a link to http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/rls/38791.htm (also available in various other locations throughout the site: http://contact-us.state.gov; http://www.state.gov/aboutstate/; and, http://www.state.gov/press/.
eAllowances
The eAllowances initiative directly supports the Department’s strategic objective to Strengthen Diplomatic and Program Capabilities with a goal of Management and Organizational Excellence. When fully operational the system will: Compile statistics on overseas living costs, quarters allowances, education, hardship differentials, and danger pay. Support the computation of allowances to compensate USG civilian and contractor personnel assigned abroad. Federal Enterprise-wide product. The Department provides the resulting allowances data to 36 other USG agencies, US citizens, and private industry. The impact extends to 475,000 uniformed service members, 120,000 employees of contractors to the Federal Government and a significant number of employees who travel abroad and are reimbursed according to USG guidelines. The alternative of piecemeal data collection and analysis of allowances data by US citizens and private industry would be cost-prohibitive. The change from the manual system to the proposed electronic business process will improve performance in several ways: Reduce work hours spent on manual calculations and result in fewer errors. This reduction produces a positive ROI. Reduce training time for post personnel to complete the allowance surveys overseas and improves the turn-around time to update and publish per diem rates. Integrate the financial management systems that deliver allowance data to the DoS financial centers and to other agencies, thereby speeding up the time for employees to see allowance adjustments reflected in their paychecks. Aggregate electronic data rather than single typed and printed reports, thus reducing the burden on personnel completing the surveys and analysts reviewing the data in Washington. Reduce redundant data. Post Management Officers (Foreign Service Officers primarily responsible for consolidating and sending the allowances information to Washington) reported that allowance surveys had redundant, irrelevant questions that were too lengthy and did not provide transparency into the allowances business processes and scoring methodology. Performance measures for FY 2005:
Cost Avoidance. Over a ten-year life cycle, the new system is projected to conservatively produce $9,658,583 in discounted Present Value benefits. These benefits are primarily attributable to productivity improvements. The streamlined business processes will allow personnel who are currently subjected to long hours (including nights and weekends) dedicated to work-arounds and manual business processes, to improve the effectiveness by applying these hours to other priorities. Analysis Methodology. The time, resources and costs required to complete the baseline processes were documented. The business processes were grouped into 24 categories. Based on the requirements for the new system, estimates of the business process costs using Subject Matter Experts were derived. The new system costs were compared to the current system costs to derive the quantifiable benefits.
Defense Trade Application System (DTAS)
The DTAS system supports the State Department’s strategic objectives of Strengthening Diplomatic and Program Capabilities; Achieve Peace and Security with Goals of Management and Organizational Excellence; Regional Stability. Implements the control of arms sales to foreign parties, safeguards national security and advances foreign policy objectives in accordance with §§ 38-40 of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) (22 U.S.C. 2778-2780) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) (22 C.F.R. Parts 120-130). Enforces the AECA and the ITAR, through prudent licensing, assurance of proper end-use of licensed exports, implementation of sound practices based on statutory and regulatory interpretation, and detection/prevention of unauthorized transfers. Improves analysis and final decision-making on license applications for defense trade exports, and handling matters related to defense trade compliance, enforcement, and reporting. Annually, there are 50,000 to 60,000 requests to export sensitive technologies valued at approximately $80 billion. Each request must be assessed so that parties with interests inimical to the interests of the United States (e.g., adversaries, illegal arms brokers, and terrorists) are denied access to military items and technologies. Federal Enterprise-Wide collaboration. DDTC works closely with other agencies to ensure compliance with U.S. regulations and, when violations of the AECA and ITAR occur, appropriate enforcement. Referrals to DoS bureaus, NASA, DoD, and Customs are made using electronic data. Opinions, positions, and provisos are returned electronically and incorporated into the license. Performance measures for FY 2005:
Cost Avoidance. Law requires verification of all license applications. Manually reviewing applications is not feasible. An employee or administrative contractor would optimistically be able to complete 20 applications in a day or 5,000 applications per year with a high probability of errors. The implementation of the DTAS system avoids the necessity of hiring a team of 10 additional employees and two additional supervisors to fulfill the legislated requirements. In addition, the electronic document management system that is part of the DTAS initiative provides a research capability that will reduce future search and retrieval times, thus reducing application processing costs. Analysis Methodology. Process Analysis (estimated time for steps and effort of employees). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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