E-gov firmly at center stage

Two years ago, the Office of Management and Budget's 25 electronic government initiatives grabbed headlines with their advocacy of cross-agency initiatives. Many of them have been in the limelight ever since.But as Staff Writer Gail Emery explains in this issue's special report, e-government is so much more than OMB's initiatives. It comes into play nearly every time the government applies technology to meeting its mission.What is considered e-government also is evolving. It has gone from efforts to get information and services on the Web to integrating back-office systems so agencies can collaborate. The focus is on streamlining operations and improving efficiency and customer service, whether the customer is citizens, businesses or other government agencies.The e-gov theme continues on our front page, which is inside this issue's special cover. There you'll find Staff Writer Joab Jackson's story on application servers and how that technology is becoming the backbone of many e-government projects, especially for agencies that don't want to jettison systems already in place.While e-government is spreading, there is still work to be done, and OMB isn't relinquishing its leadership role. Mark Forman, OMB's administrator of IT and e-government, is talking about new cross-agency projects to be announced in September. Ask him all about them during a Washington Technology Web Forum at noon July 22.