Orszag says IT can close public sector productivity gap

Lagging productivity in the public sector compared to the private sector can be made up by information technology, said Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag.

"We have massive room for improvement," Orszag said June 8 while delivering a speech at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C.

For example, Orszag said, the Patent and Trademark Office receives more than 80 percent of patent applications electronically, but then prints out those applications and scans them for entry "an outdated case management system."

The federal government is taking steps to improve efficiency by cutting down its number of data centers through adoption of cloud computing, identifying and rooting out waste and making federal data more available so the public can easier access government services, he said.

Rooting out waste and efficiency is particularly important in light of President Obama's pledge to place a three-year freeze on discretionary funding, Orszag added. OMB guidance for fiscal 2012 agency budgets also requires all agencies--whether involved with security or not--to propose how they would cut five percent of their discretionary programs.

OMB will also reveal more on the coming weeks about changes to federal financial system management, Orszag said.

For more:
- see a transcript of Orszag's remarks (.pdf)
- watch a video of his speech

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