Establish an Information Infrastructure

Improve Government's Information Infrastructure

Electronic government requires an information infrastructure. This
infrastructure consists of the technologies needed to allow information
to flow smoothly, as well as the operational policies, procedures, and
standards that support electronic government applications.

An effective government information infrastructure will lead to
complementary and cooperative interagency programs and an integration of
databases among these programs. Therefore, privacy and security issues
have the greatest priority. The public requires assurance that controls
exist to guarantee the integrity, security, and privacy of the
information the government maintains.

The government needs to improve the way it buys information technology
(IT). Additional Accompanying Reports of the National Performance
Review, titled Reinventing Federal Procurement and Reinventing Support
Services, contain specific recommendations on improving IT acquisition.

The initiatives in this section of the report require the support and
backing of federal, state, and local government as well as industry.
Incentives are needed to reward federal managers and private sector
contractors for innovations that result in successful reengineering
programs.

Although the recommended actions in this report offer potential savings
in the billions of dollars, there will be some initial start-up costs
for innovative interagency projects.  Certain measures can be taken to
finance pilot programs. These include creating a governmentwide venture
capital fund, initially seeded by taking a small percentage from
existing agency IT budgets to avoid the need for new spending
appropriations; multi-year funding of IT programs; and retaining savings
from IT projects for reinvestment in new IT initiatives.

A key element in realizing the vision of an electronic government is
government's approach to improving human resources for IT management and
use. Keeping pace with the service demands of citizens and the advances
in technology requires a full-scale shift from minimal training to
continual strategic learning.

Electronic government requires an information infrastructure. This
infrastructure consists of the technologies needed to allow information
to flow smoothly, as well as the operational policies, procedures, and
standards that support electronic government applications.  An
effective government information infrastructure will lead to
complementary and cooperative interagency programs and an integration of
databases among these programs. Therefore, privacy and security issues
have the greatest priority. The public requires assurance that controls
exist to guarantee the integrity, security, and privacy of the
information the government maintains.

The government needs to improve the way it buys information technology
(IT). Additional Accompanying Reports of the National Performance
Review, titled Reinventing Federal Procurement and Reinventing Support
Services, contain specific recommendations on improving IT acquisition.

The initiatives in this section of the report require the support and
backing of federal, state, and local government as well as industry.
Incentives are needed to reward federal managers and private sector
contractors for innovations that result in successful reengineering
programs.

Although the recommended actions in this report offer potential savings
in the billions of dollars, there will be some initial start-up costs
for innovative interagency projects.  Certain measures can be taken to
finance pilot programs. These include creating a governmentwide venture
capital fund, initially seeded by taking a small percentage from
existing agency IT budgets to avoid the need for new spending
appropriations; multi-year funding of IT programs; and retaining savings
from IT projects for reinvestment in new IT initiatives.

A key element in realizing the vision of an electronic government is
government's approach to improving human resources for IT management and
use. Keeping pace with the service demands of citizens and the advances
in technology requires a full-scale shift from minimal training to
continual strategic learning.

Riding on the Information Highways

The vision of an electronic government requires computer hardware,
software, and telecommunications equipment to make data flow smoothly
across the nation's information highways. It also requires policies,
procedures, and standards to support the development and operations of
services that use the physical technology components. Practices and
standards, for example, ensure that newly acquired hardware and software
are compatible with existing equipment and interoperable with other
systems to which they must be linked. Privacy and security practices,
methods, and standards ensure adequate user protection and systems
integrity.

An effective information infrastructure requires high levels of
interoperation and integration among diverse users.  For example, a
large enterprise might require high-capacity, high-performance, and
expensive technology, such as a fiber optic line leased from the phone
company at a cost of several thousand dollars per month. An individual,
on the other hand, could link to the same information infrastructure--at
lower capacity, lower performance, and lower cost--via a residential
telephone and a modem for a minimum access charge.  Technical
requirements are based on the amount of information transmitted.

The computer and communications industry is in a period of rapid
technological innovation producing a continuous revolution in
information processing capabilities and products. Notable among these
are (1) vast improvements in the ratio of price to performance in
integrated circuit design and manufacturing; (2) improvements in user-
friendliness and the automation of complex procedures; (3) enhanced
interoperability among multi-vendor systems; and (4) universal access to
computer networks by both wireless and land-line connections. At the
same time, the telecommunications industry is creating new integrated
voice and data communications networks. These networks will provide the
critical underlying structure for rapidly accessing and receiving
information from assorted sources, rapidly coordinating actions, and
sharing resources across diverse, geographically distributed
organizations.

Elements of a nationwide information infrastructure are already being
incorporated into baseline federal, state, and local government
operations, based on capabilities provided by the private sector. The
federal government has contracts in place to take advantage of existing
telecommunications infrastructure for voice, video, and some data
communications services. The standard vehicles for agencies to acquire
these services are the FTS2000 contracts awarded to AT&T and Sprint by
the General Services Administration (GSA) in 1988. FTS2000 provides the
basic intercity telecommunications infrastructure for the federal
government. The various services available under the present contract
make it possible for a given agency to craft its own network services
based on its own requirements.

In addition, Internet is a basic data communications infrastructure for
(computer-based) communications for some federal agencies and much of
the rest of the nation and the world. Today, this cooperative "network
of networks" links millions of computers throughout the world providing
the framework for an information highway.  Over 17,000 networks are
linked in 102 countries, and many of these networks contain thousands of
computers.1

Internet makes possible collaboration and resource sharing among
millions of government workers, academics, educators, and researchers,
and a growing list of commercial organizations and services. Nearly half
of the presently attached networks are nonacademic in nature. It is a
rapidly evolving testbed for new information-based services. Private
citizens and business can gain access to Internet for a monthly fee. The
Internet is a common ground for linking governmental, academic, and
commercial networks for electronic mail. Most of the major commercial
on-line information and electronic mail services (Prodigy, CompuServe,
MCI, and AT&T) provide gateways to Internet. Major segments of the U.S.
component of Internet are funded by the Department of Defense (DOD),
National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy (DOE), National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and other agencies that are
involved with research and development programs.

Federal agencies such as DOD, DOE, Department of Commerce (DOC), and
NASA are in the process of shifting their scientific and technical
information (STI) programs from paper-based operations to electronic
digital libraries. These electronic digital libraries will contain vast
quantities of agency-generated STI which can be accessed over the
National Information Infrastructure (NII). Test-bed electronic libraries
of STI are currently being developed using wide area information
servers, graphical user interfaces, and Internet connections.  Common
policies and standards regarding federal STI will be essential in
simplifying the use of these databases and in providing one-stop
shopping for NII users.

Recent federal initiatives improving access to government information
in electronic form--e.g., Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular
A-130 and the GovernmentPrinting Office Electronic Information Access
Enhancement Act of 1993--will accelerate the need for electronic
connections to the outside world for most agencies and Congress. A wide
variety of access methods will need to be supported, including
connection to publicly available communications networks, such as
Internet, Prodigy, and CompuServe, as well as dial-up access to
government-sponsored bulletin boards. Agencies must ensure that their
formats for information storage and linkages for interconnection are
compatible with these access methods.

Telecommuting is a potentially important application of the
infrastructure. Concepts include working from home or from facilities
located at the outer edge of large metropolitan areas, dividing time
between a regular office and a remote workplace, and combinations that
involve using remote or roving workplaces.[2] Recent action by Congress
directs GSA to facilitate the development of three pilot federal
telecommuting centers in Maryland and Virginia.[3] Telecommunications to
the base office will require high-speed data links for workflow and
videoconferencing to promote office interactions, training, and business
meetings. These inter-workplace telecommunications facilities will merge
with government's evolving information infrastructure and the more
widespread NII, thus blurring the workplace/home distinction.

State and local governments are moving forward on their own plans to use
advanced telecommunication systems. An example of one approach is the
Iowa Communications Network. It is envisioned as an advanced information
network providing voice, data, and video information services to state
and local agencies, libraries, local schools, community colleges, and
universities within Iowa. The state has been coordinating its efforts
with GSA, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Veterans
Affairs, and the U.S. Postal Service to investigate how such a
comprehensive network could be used to integrate the delivery of federal
and state government services.[4] California, North Carolina, and Texas
all have major initiatives underway with local telecommunications
carriers.

The government's strategy for using information technology will be
refined and improved in the future as the national strategy, vision,
policies, and technology for the NII emerges.  The government needs to
take action to ensure the compatibility of intergovernmental systems
with this evolving infrastructure.

Need for Change

The underlying technologies for the information infrastructure are
evolving rapidly, and no one can accurately predict the technology of
choice for the year 2000. The government must develop a coherent
information infrastructure to evolve with technology and support
electronic government. A cross-government coordinated plan for
infrastructure deployment is needed to reduce duplication, system
redundancy, and costs.[5] Significant opportunities exist for sharing
existing data and computing resources, reengineering delivery of
government services, improving the quality of service, and decreasing
costs. No single data center or single communications network can serve
all government information needs. The flexibility afforded by high-
capability networking and new computing technologies can, however, offer
significant opportunities for cost savings by facility sharing and
"rightsizing" of local systems.

The government must position itself to take advantage of the evolving
infrastructure by taking steps today to coordinate its existing
"components" of infrastructure--e.g., data processing centers and basic
function applications.

Cross References to Other NPR Accompanying Reports

Department of the Interior, DOI03: Establish a National Spatial Data
Infrastructure.

Reinventing Human Resources Management, HRM07: Enhance Programs to
Provide Family-Friendly Workplaces.

Department of Transportation, DOT13: Create and Evaluate Telecommuting
Programs; and DOT14: Improve DOT Information Technology Management.

Endnotes

1. Broad, William J., "Doing Science on the Network: A Long Way from
Gutenburg," The New York Times (May 18, 1993), p. C1.

2. U.S. Department of Transportation, "Transportation Implications of
Telecommuting," April 1993.

3. Public Law 102-393.

4. Interagency Information Resources Management Infrastructure Task
Group, "Iowa Communications Network Study," April 1, 1993, pp. 1-2.  5.
A recommendation for securing this plan was described in the Leadership
section of this report.