E-Gov Funds Face Test

Although President Bush proposed a $100 million electronic government fund, getting that money will mean clearing a high hurdle, according to Jasmeet Seehra, senior policy analyst in the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Speaking at the FedWeb 2001 conference March 7 in Bethesda, Md., Seehra said that should the budget request become reality, OMB officials would give "a fairly comprehensive scrub of any project that came in" applying for a grant. Seehra said the scrutiny would
rival that given agency requests for year 2000 repair money during 1998 and 1999.

She also said OMB would pass along agency proposals to their appropriating committees on the Hill, as it did with year 2000 requests. Projects will be examined in light of their security and privacy provisions, and adherence to the Government Performance and Results Act, among other things.