OMB tech plans face cuts in Senate

Senate appropriators want to make cuts to Office of Management and Budget fiscal 2011 plans for e-government and cloud computing.

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted July 29 to reduce a $35 million OMB e-gov fund request by $15 million, making the total amount $14 million below the amount Congress allocated to the fund for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

In the report accompanying the markup, Senate appropriators say they support the concepts contemplated by OMB for fiscal 2011 spending such as moving agencies to cloud computing through shared pilots and developing shared services.

But, the e-gov request lacked detail and clearly defined information regarding specific requests, appropriators add.

Committee members also voted to cut by $10 million a $50 million White House request to set up a new program called "Integrated, Efficient, and Effective Uses of Information Technology." White House officials want to use program funds to create a set of "common platforms for universal tasks," allow the creation of several new online dashboards and a "FediPedia" collaborative website, according to OMB's fiscal 2011 budget request.

"The committee is pleased with the proposed initiative and welcomes the comprehensive, innovative approach to modernizing and streamlining common information technology services within the Federal Government," the report states.

Meanwhile, Senate appropriators also voted to cut the General Services Administration's fiscal 2011 request for the Office of Governmentwide Policy by $7.5 million, to $77.6 million.

However, appropriators voted to fully fund the National Archives and Records Administration request of $348.7 million for fiscal 2011, which is $8.9 million more than enacted current fiscal year amount. $3 million of the NARA budget should be used to fund the Office of Government Information Services, appropriators state in the report. OGIS began operations in September 2009 and provides services to mediate disputes between Freedom of Information Act requesters and federal agencies, as well as reviewing FOIA policies, procedures and compliance.

For more:
- go to the THOMAS page of the Senate spending bill or go directly to the report
- go to the Senate Appropriations Committee homepage
- check on the status of appropriations legislation for fiscal 2011
- download the OMB fiscal 2011 budget request (.pdf)

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