Improve Electronic Mail Among Federal Agencies

1. Improve electronic mail and messaging among federal agencies.

An existing interagency task force established by the Office of
Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
(OIRA) should be charged to report by April 1994. The Department of
Health and Human Services presently chairs this interagency working
group, the E-mail Task Force, supported by the General Services
Administration.  As authorized by the Paperwork Reduction Act, OIRA is
overseeing the task force's work and coordinating it with other
initiatives. The task force is drawing expertise from existing
interagency information technology groups such as the Federal
Information Resources Management Policy Council, the FTS2000 Interagency
Management Council, and the High Performance Computing, Communications,
and Information Technology Subcommittee of the Federal Coordinating
Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology. Four goals for this
group include:

---Identify support for, provide advice to, and evaluate the results of
e-mail pilot programs currently underway. These pilot programs should
establish electronic mail capabilities among departmental science and
technology advisors and the White House Office of Science and Technology
Policy; departmental legislative affairs offices and the Legislative
Liaison Office and parties in the alternative dispute resolution process
of the Administrative Conference of the United States.

---Develop and issue a Request for Information to the private sector.
The Request for Information will outline the challenges faced by the
federal government in its progress toward electronic mail
interconnection and solicit possible technical solutions. The task force
will evaluate industry responses and use this information to fulfill its
other goals.

---Analyze the current use of Internet by federal agencies and its
potential contribution to both near and long-term e-mail requirements.
Coordinate proposals for improving mail interoperation with the High
Performance Computing and Communications Initiative via the High
Performance Computing, Communications, and Information Technology
Subcommittee of the Federal Coordinating Council for Science,
Engineering, and Technology.

---Develop a near-term program plan, including financial and technical
resource requirements, to assist agencies in improving their
capabilities for electronic mail.