RE: [egov-ms] OASIS eGOV MS : NEW GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS

[John Borras <John@pensive.eu>]

Daniel

Thanks for the feedback.  Whilst of course our paper is not just about the USA experiences, many of the pitfalls we have indentified are relevant to them as you have indicated, eg lack of single vision, no central governance, no one driving change, personal agendas, etc.  So there are lessons for USA Gov folk in this paper, as there are for many other Governments around the world.  Whether they do anything about it is somewhat out of our hands.  At least if we can be the catalyst for a debate on some of these key issues that will be a start  and maybe we can/will follow up with more detailed discussions on specific aspects.

The other important point I take from your reply is that "many have already been technically addressed".  I think that is at the heart of the problems, ie the main issues are at the political and business levels and not at the technical levels.

And a final comment on your last point "the promises and benefits of E-Government and E-Commerce in the United States will remain largely unachieved."  This is precisely where we started our thinking on this paper, ie the business case for eGovernment is not being realised.  Hopefully our paper goes someway to highlighting that problem.
 
Regards
John
________________________________________
From: Daniel.E.Turissini.(Affiliate).ORC1000000106.ID [turissd@orc.com]
Sent: 16 March 2010 19:44
To: John Borras
Cc: egov-ms@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: Re: [egov-ms] OASIS eGOV MS : NEW GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS

John,

The eGov Pitfalls is a very good report, and while it does address many
relevant issues, many have already been technically addressed. A problem
common to all of the issues [at least in the US] appears to be lack of
focus and accountability leading to 'stove-piping' and the proliferation
of personal agenda. For over ten years US E-Government legislation and
regulations have promised the U.S. citizenry:
-- Electronic Records vs. Paper Records
-- Electronic Transactions vs. Paper Transactions
-- Electronic Signatures vs. Wet Signatures

Governance and infrastructures have been created by the Government to
provide commercially-available, Government-sanctioned identification,
authentication, authorization, and electronic signature capability for
use by Federal agencies and others in E-Government and E-Commerce.
Nearly ten years ago the Office of Management & Budget identified more
then 5,000 Federal applications covered by the Government Paperwork
Elimination Act:
-- Fewer than 10% of these applications currently comply with GPEA’s
citizen-focusing requirements
-- The vast majority of these applications are represented by millions
of static Web Pages with only very limited interactive capabilities and
no real requirements for the identification, authentication, and
authorization of users
-- Stovepipes are increasingly common, presenting the citizenry with
many different methods for accessing and interacting with Federal
applications
-- E-Government remains more a promise than a reality

The General Services Administration (GSA) reported two years [+/-] ago
that it had spent more than $50 million on electronic identity
authentication systems, but still cannot establish a market for those
services among the Federal agencies. GSA is now actively repackaging
these initiatives, while at the same time concentrating its efforts on
the implementation of Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12
(HSPD-12). It appears that there has been no market for GSA’s
citizen-focused electronic identification, authentication, and
authorization services because the interactive, citizen-focused
E-Government services envisioned by the existing statutory and
regulatory environment have materialized due to a lack of accountability
measure that could enforce specific mandates. Instead of fielding good
solutions [far better then the absence of a solution] we continue to
spend millions re-crafting governance and guidelines in a quest for a
perfect solution where everyone is happy - not necessarily secure.

Unfortunately, no single entity in the U.S. Government has been willing
to take on the responsibility for successful implementation of a
citizen-focused Electronic Government envisioned in the E-Government Act
of 2002, and until that happens the promises and benefits of
E-Government and E-Commerce in the United States will remain largely
unachieved.


John Borras wrote:
> To All Members
> Your eGov Steering Committee (SC) has produced two new Guidance
> documents which are attached for your review and comment please. These
> are the first in a series of documents that we intend to produce on a
> variety of aspects relevant to eGov matters.
> 1. eGov Pitfalls - this document highlights the major pitfalls of eGov
> Programmes and provides advice on how to avoid and overcome these
> issues. It draws on the first hand experiences of SC colleagues and
> references many examples of good practice.
> 2. FLOSS Guidance - this document is a follow-up to our webinar last
> December on the subject of Open Source. It also draws on the first
> hand experiences of SC colleagues and references many examples of good
> practice.
> Could I please ask you to let me have any general views, detailed
> comments, suggestions for additional content, etc *by 6th April*. The
> SC will then consider all proposed changes at their next meeting on
> 12th April and look to approve and publish the documents for public
> consumption soon thereafter.
> Regards
> John Borras
>
> Chair eGov Member Section
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe from this mail list, you must leave the OASIS TC that
> generates this mail.  Follow this link to all your TCs in OASIS at:
> https://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/portal/my_workgroups.php

--

Daniel E. Turissini,

CEO, Operational Research Consultants, Inc.

11250 Waples Mill Road, South Tower, Suite 210, Fairfax, Virginia 22030

703-246-8550

:: View the ORC/ FiXs Presentation [http://tinyurl.com/p6rs52] from
AFCEA LandWarNet 2009 ::

The information transmitted in this e-mail is for the exclusive use of
the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain legally
privileged or confidential information. If you are not the intended
recipient of this e-mail, you are prohibited from reading, printing,
duplicating, disseminating or otherwise using or acting in reliance upon
this information. If you have received this information in error, please
notify the sender at Operational Research Consultants, Inc. immediately,
delete this information from your computer and destroy all copies of the
information.