ELECTRONIC 

GOVERNMENT 

Progress and Challenges in 

Implementing the Office of 

Personnel Management’s 

Initiatives 

Statement of Linda D. Koontz 

Director, Information Management Issues 

United States General Accounting Office

GAO Testimony

Before the Subcommittee on Technology, 

Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations 

and the Census, Committee on Government 

Reform, House of Representatives 

For Release on Delivery 

Expected at 10 a.m. EDT on 

Tuesday September 23, 2003 

GAO-03-1169T 
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OPM’s five e-government initiatives (summarized in the table) are an 

ambitious attempt to transform the way human capital functions and 

services are carried out in the federal government. OPM faces several 

challenges that, if not fully met, could prevent it from meeting its objectives 

and realizing projected improvements and dollar savings. 

For instance, in order to meet a perceived need for quick results, alterations 

have been made to the acquisition plans for several of the 25 OMBsponsored e-government initiatives, including OPM’s Recruitment One-Stop 

initiative. In OPM’s recent decision to continue with its awarded contract for 

Recruitment One-Stop, despite a successful bid protest by Symplicity 

Corporation, agency officials perceived the need for quick results to be one 

factor outweighing the importance of issues raised by GAO concerning the 

conduct of the procurement. However, by taking this course, OPM risks 

alienating potential supporters of its initiative. 

Further, managing the migration from agency-specific systems to 

consolidated systems will be a challenge, because agencies may be required 

to take positive action to shut down existing systems and invest in additional 

or updated technology to use the new, consolidated systems resulting from 

OPM’s five initiatives. Consequently, it will be crucial for OPM to implement 

effective change management and communication policies. In addition, 

technical integration across agencies to support consolidation, including the 

development of standards, is a formidable task. 

Finally, OPM also faces a significant challenge in realistically estimating the 

cost savings to be derived from these initiatives. In many cases, estimates of 

cost savings are only loosely based on measures that are difficult to quantify, 

such as the average cost of performing a certain function across the 

government. To be truly effective in meeting its goals, OPM needs to 

establish complete, meaningful, and quantitative measures of cost savings. 

Overview of OPM’s Five E-Government Initiatives 

Initiative Purpose 

Recruitment 

One-Stop 

Provide a one-stop Web site for federal job seekers through a single application 

point that provides a range of information and tools, including vacancy information, 

application submission, status tracking, and other tools. 

e-Clearance Improve the efficiency and speed by which federal government clearances are 

granted to maximize the efficiency of collecting data, scheduling cases, locating 

existing investigations and clearances, and retrieving archived records. 

Enterprise 

Human 

Resources 

Integration 

Provide a data repository of standardized core human resource data to replace the 

paper Official Personnel File, with an Official Electronic Record, enabling the 

electronic exchange of information between agencies during an employee’s 

government career. 

e-Training Support development of the federal workforce through simplified, one-stop access 

to high-quality Internet-based training products and services. 

e-Payroll Improve federal payroll operations by consolidating 22 existing federal payroll 

system providers; simplifying and standardizing policies and procedures; and 

better integrating federal payroll, human resources, and finance functions. 

Source: GAO analysis of OPM and OMB documents. 

Electronic government 

(e-government) refers to the use of 

information technology (IT), 

including Web-based Internet 

applications, to enhance access to 

and delivery of government 

information and services, as well as 

to improve the internal efficiency 

and effectiveness of the federal 

government. The Office of 

Personnel Management (OPM) is 

managing five e-government 

initiatives whose goal is to 

transform the way OPM oversees 

the government’s human capital 

functions. These 5 initiatives are 

among 25 identified by the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) as 

foremost in the drive toward egovernment transformation. The 25 

initiatives have ambitious goals, 

including eliminating redundant, 

nonintegrated business operations 

and systems and improving service 

to citizens by an order of 

magnitude. Achieving these results, 

according to OMB, could produce 

billions of dollars in savings from 

improved operational efficiency. 

In today’s testimony, among other 

things, GAO identifies the 

challenges facing OPM as it moves 

forward in implementing the five 

human capital initiatives. 

www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-1169T.

To view the full product, including the scope 

and methodology, click on the link above. 

For more information, contact Linda Koontz at 

(202) 512-6240 or koontzl@gao.gov. 

Highlights of GAO-03-1169T, a testimony 

before the Subcommittee on Technology, 

Information Policy, Intergovernmental 

Relations and the Census, Committee on 

Government Reform, House of 

Representatives 

September 23, 2003

ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT

Progress and Challenges in Implementing 

the Office of Personnel Management’s 

Initiatives 
Page 1 GAO-03-1169T 

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: 

I appreciate the opportunity to participate in the Subcommittee’s 

hearing on the progress of, and challenges to, implementing the 

electronic government (e-government) initiatives that are being led 

by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Generally speaking, 

e-government refers to the use of information technology (IT), 

including Web-based Internet applications, to enhance the access to 

and delivery of government information and service to citizens, 

business partners, and employees, and to improve the internal 

efficiency and effectiveness of the federal government. A variety of 

actions have been taken in recent years to enhance the 

government’s ability to realize the potential of e-government, 

culminating in the enactment of the E-Government Act of 2002,1

which includes provisions to promote the use of the Internet to 

provide government services electronically, strengthen agency 

information security, and manage the federal government’s growing 

IT human capital needs. 

The President has embraced e-government as one of five priorities 

in his management agenda for making the federal government more 

focused on citizens and results. Under the leadership of the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB), a set of high-profile initiatives was 

identified to lead the drive toward e-government transformation. 

These initiatives—now numbering 252

—have ambitious goals, 

including eliminating redundant, nonintegrated business operations 

and systems and improving service to citizens by an order of 

magnitude. Achieving these results, according to OMB, could 

produce billions of dollars in savings from improved operational 

efficiency. However, to realize such savings, it will be critically 

important that these initiatives are well managed as the government 

undertakes the challenging task of turning good ideas into realworld results. 

OPM, the President’s agent and advisor for human capital matters, is 

charged with overseeing the management of the federal 

government’s most important asset—its people. OPM is in the 

process of transformation—from less of a rulemaker, enforcer, and 

independent agent to more of a consultant, toolmaker, and strategic 

partner in leading and supporting executive agencies’ human capital 

 

1

 P. L. No. 107-347. 

2

 Twenty-three initiatives were originally selected in September 2001. A 24th, e-Payroll, was then added 

by the President’s Management Council. In 2002, a decision was made to separate the e-Clearance 

project from the Integrated Human Resources initiative, resulting in the current count of 25 projects. 
Page 2 GAO-03-1169T 

management systems. As part of that transformation, OPM has 

taken on the role of managing partner for 5 of the 25 OMBsponsored e-government initiatives. As requested, in my remarks 

today, I will provide an overview of OPM’s initiatives and identify 

the challenges facing OPM as it moves forward in implementing 

these initiatives. I have also included an attachment that lists other 

pertinent GAO publications on e-government issues.3

Background 

Expansion of e-government was one of five top priorities in the 

President’s fiscal year 2002 management agenda for improving 

government performance.4

 To support that priority, a task force, led 

by OMB, was established in 2001 and charged with identifying 

electronic government projects that could deliver significant 

productivity and performance gains across government. The task 

force analyzed the federal bureaucracy and identified areas of 

significant overlap and redundancy in how federal agencies 

provided services to the public. The task force found that multiple 

agencies were conducting redundant operations within 30 major 

functions and business lines in the executive branch. To address 

these redundancies, the task force evaluated potential projects, 

focusing on collaborative opportunities to integrate IT operations 

and simplify processes within lines of business across agencies and 

around citizen needs. As a result of this assessment, the task force 

identified a set of high-profile e-government initiatives for 

accelerated near-term implementation. These are now the 25 OMBsponsored initiatives.5

The President’s management agenda outlined the following results 

expected as a result of e-government: 

• provide high-quality customer services regardless of whether the 

citizen contacts the agency by phone, in person, or on the Web; 

• reduce the expense and difficulty of doing business with the 

government; 

 

3

 These publications can be obtained through GAO’s World Wide Web page at www.gao.gov. 

4

 Office of Management and Budget, The President’s Management Agenda, Fiscal Year 2002

(Washington, D.C.). 

5

 For more on OMB’s selection process, see U.S. General Accounting Office, Electronic Government: 

Selection and Implementation of the Office of Management and Budget’s 24 Initiatives, GAO-03-229

(Washington, D.C.: Nov. 22, 2002). 
Page 3 GAO-03-1169T 

• cut government operating costs; 

• provide citizens with readier access to government services; 

• increase access for persons with disabilities to agency Web sites and 

e-government applications; and 

• make government more transparent and accountable.

OMB also established a portfolio management structure to help 

oversee and guide the initiatives and facilitate a collaborative 

working environment for each of them. This structure includes five 

portfolios: “government to citizen,” “government to business,” 

“government to government,” “internal efficiency and effectiveness,” 

and “cross-cutting.” Each of the 25 initiatives is assigned to one of 

these portfolios, according to the type of results the initiative is 

intended to provide. Further, for each initiative, OMB designated a 

specific agency to be the initiative’s “managing partner,” responsible 

for leading the initiative, and assigned other federal agencies as 

“partners” in carrying out the initiative. OPM was designated the 

managing partner for five initiatives—Recruitment One-Stop, which 

is to provide a consolidated Web site for federal job applicants; 

e-Clearance, which seeks to improve the process of granting 

security clearances; Enterprise Human Resources Integration, 

which is to replace paper personnel files with electronic records; 

e-Training, which is to provide Internet-based training for federal 

employees; and e-Payroll, which seeks to consolidate federal payroll 

systems. The five initiatives are all part of the internal efficiency and 

effectiveness portfolio. 

In developing this testimony, our objectives were to describe the 

progress of the five e-government initiatives being managed by OPM 

and identify key challenges associated with implementing them 

successfully. To address these objectives, we analyzed relevant 

documentation from OPM and interviewed project officials from 

each of the initiatives. To assess progress to date and identify major 

challenges to implementing the initiatives, we analyzed the reported 

accomplishments and planned activities of the projects and 

compared them with information provided in the initiatives’ original 

business cases. We also held discussions with agency officials to 

obtain additional information. We performed our work in September 

2003 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing 

standards. 
Page 4 GAO-03-1169T 

OPM’s e-Government Initiatives Are Designed to Support a Range of 

Human Capital Functions 

OPM’s e-government initiatives are intended to serve as a complete 

set of electronic support tools for the federal government’s human 

capital functions, including recruitment, security clearances, 

personnel records, training, and payroll. OPM’s retirement systems 

modernization project—not an OMB-sponsored initiative—rounds 

out this set of tools. OPM’s vision is for these initiatives to 

streamline and improve the process for moving employees through 

the entire life cycle of their employment with the federal 

government and to do so consistently with the evolving Federal 

Enterprise Architecture6

 as well as with security and privacy 

standards. According to the agency, the success of the initiatives 

will depend on leveraging of existing IT coupled with 

standardization and consolidation practices that are beneficial to 

end users. 

If successful, these initiatives are likely to accrue savings to the 

federal government by reducing redundancy among agency systems 

and streamlining the various processes involved in tracking and 

managing federal employment. Although we have not evaluated its 

claim, OPM asserts that its e-government projects will save 

approximately $2.6 billion over the life of the initiatives. These 

savings are expected to derive not only from eliminating duplicative 

personnel systems, such as payroll systems, but also from such 

process improvements as reducing the amount of time it takes to 

obtain a security clearance and streamlining the way in which 

training is administered. Table 1 provides an overview of OPM’s 

e-government projects and key milestones, and table 2 provides a 

summary of changes in cost estimates for the initiatives. 

 

6

 Enterprise architectures are blueprints for transforming how a given entity operates, whether it be a 

federal agency or a federal function that cuts across agencies. The Federal Enterprise Architecture is 

intended to facilitate governmentwide improvements through cross-agency analysis and the 

identification of duplicative investments, gaps, and opportunities for collaboration, interoperability, 

and integration within and across government agencies. For more information, see U.S. General 

Accounting Office, Information Technology: Enterprise Architecture Use across the Federal 

Government Can Be Improved, GAO-02-6 (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 19, 2002).
Page 5 GAO-03-1169T 

Table 1: Overview of OPM’s Five e-Government Initiatives 

Initiative Purpose Key Milestones 

Recruitment 

One-Stop 

Provide a one-stop Web site for federal job seekers 

by implementing a single application point that 

includes vacancy information; job application 

submission; application status tracking; employment 

eligibility screening; and applicant database mining. 

• June 2002—implemented an updated Web site at 

www.usajobs.opm.gov. 

• August 2003—implemented database mining tools, 

integrated assessment tools, and status tracking. 

• December 2003—begin shutdown of job search engines 

and resume builders at other federal agencies. 

e-Clearance Improve the efficiency and speed of granting federal 

government security clearances by maximizing the 

efficiency of data collection and case scheduling, 

simplifying the location of existing investigations and 

clearances, and making the retrieval of archived 

records a near real-time event. 

• May 2002—began consolidating clearance investigation 

results to a DOD/civilian database. 

• November 2002—deployed a new clearance certification 

form that allows individuals to indicate changes, if any, to 

their clearance status. 

• June 2004—electronic retrieval and dissemination of 

investigation information available to authorized agency 

users. 

Enterprise 

Human 

Resources 

Integration 

(EHRI) 

Provide a data repository of standardized core human 

resource data to replace the paper Official Personnel 

File with an Official Electronic Record, enabling the 

electronic exchange of information between agencies 

during an employee’s government career. 

• July 2003—selected a systems integrator and began 

work. 

• September 2003—built and deployed a proof-of-concept 

system for a consolidated EHRI data repository. 

• Second quarter 2004—develop and deploy interfaces with 

agencies to exchange data on a biweekly basis. 

e-Training Support development of the federal workforce 

through simplified and one-stop access to high-quality 

Internet-based training products and services to unify 

training services across the federal government. 

• July 2002—launched www.golearn.gov with 37 training 

courses and over 100 books and professional journals. 

• January 2003—enhanced the Web site with additional 

courses and tools. 

• September 2004—interface to or shut down existing 

federal on-line training systems. 

e-Payroll Improve federal payroll operations by consolidating 

the operations of 22 existing federal payroll system 

providers; simplifying and standardizing federal 

payroll policies and procedures; and better integrating 

payroll, human resources, and finance functions 

across federal agencies. 

• January 2003—chose four agencies to be payroll 

providers for all executive branch agencies. 

• January 2003—began agency payroll services 

consolidation. 

• September 2004—complete migration of the existing 

payroll providers to one of the two payroll partnerships. 

Source: GAO analysis of OPM and OMB documents. 

Table 2: Changes in Cost Estimates for OPM’s Five e-Government Initiatives 

Cost (dollars in millions) 

FY 2002 FY 2003 estimated 

Initiative Original estimate Actual Net change Original Current Net change FY 2004 estimated 

Recruitment 

One-Stop 1.2 1.2 0 1.2 9.2 8.0 6.7 

e-Clearance 2.2 5.4 3.2 2.9 9.5 6.6 8.7 

Enterprise 

Human 

Resources 

Integration 3.2 2.8 –0.40 20.3 7.5 –12.8 18.9 
Page 6 GAO-03-1169T 

Cost (dollars in millions) 

FY 2002 FY 2003 estimated 

Initiative Original estimate Actual Net change Original Current Net change FY 2004 estimated 

e-Training 2.1 2.1 0 2.7 2.5 –0.2 2.5 

e-Payroll 2.2 1.3 –0.9 50.8 2.5 –48.3 2.5 

Source: OPM. 

Recruitment One-Stop 

Recruitment One-Stop is a collaborative effort between OPM and its 

federal agency partners to develop a comprehensive Web site 

(www.usajobs.opm.gov) to assist applicants in finding employment 

with the federal government. Full implementation of Recruitment 

One-Stop is expected to benefit citizens by providing a more 

efficient process for locating and applying for federal jobs, and to 

assist federal agencies in hiring top talent in a competitive 

marketplace. As we have previously reported, automation has the 

potential to provide a variety of benefits in streamlining the hiring of 

new employees.7 The specific objectives of Recruitment One-Stop 

that will benefit federal job applicants include 

• a single portal advertising federal job opportunities that supports 

searching for jobs by type, location, salary, or level of experience; a 

standard method for applying for federal positions that provides 

immediate feedback on basic eligibility; and basic eligibility 

screening that addresses issues such as citizenship, age, and special 

occupational requirements, such as the need to carry firearms; 

• standardized vacancy announcements with additional detailed 

information available via electronic “hyperlinks”; 

• tools to build and store an on-line resume, including a resume 

template covering all information normally needed to make basic 

qualifications and eligibility determinations; and 

• the ability to check on the status of federal job applications by 

accessing basic information such as closing and/or cancellation 

dates, dates of candidate referral, and points of selection. 

In addition, agencies are expected to be able to search and review 

the resumes of consenting applicants in the USAJOBS database, a 

 

7

 U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Opportunities to Improve Executive Agencies’ 

Hiring Processes, GAO-03-450 (Washington, D.C.: May 30, 2003), p. 22.
Page 7 GAO-03-1169T 

process called applicant database mining. This feature will assist 

agencies in locating candidates for hard-to-fill positions by capturing 

“passive” job seekers who have resumes on file, but who may not 

have thought of looking for opportunities within a particular agency, 

job field, or location. 

To date, the Recruitment One-Stop initiative has met several 

planned milestones, including implementing enhancements to the 

previously existing www.usajobs.opm.gov Web site in August 2003, 

such as a resume builder to assist job applicants in developing up to 

five versions of their resume with which to apply for federal jobs, 

and a basic application status tracking tool to assist applicants in 

finding the status of their federal applications. By the end of this 

month, OPM plans to have all executive branch agencies using the 

Web site to advertise their jobs. By December 2003, it intends to 

begin working with agencies to shut down agency-unique job search 

engines and resume builders. 

OPM has continued development of the enhanced USAJOBS Web 

site despite a successful bid protest against its contract award for 

implementing the enhancements. On January 16, 2003, OPM 

awarded a contract to TMP Worldwide, Inc., to support 

enhancements to the Web site. However, on January 24, 2003, a 

competing vendor, Symplicity Corporation, protested the award. We 

sustained Symplicity’s protest on April 29, 2003, based on a 

determination that OPM did not exercise certain necessary 

evaluative controls in its review of the bids before awarding the 

contract, resulting in errors in the bidding process that created an 

unfair competitive environment. For example, we found that OPM 

did not perform an analysis of whether the quoted services, labor 

categories, and other direct costs included in TMP’s quotation were 

within the scope of TMP’s approved GSA contract schedule. Based 

on this finding, we recommended that OPM reopen discussions with 

all vendors whose quotations were competitive and request and 

reevaluate revised quotations. However, on July 21, 2003, OPM 

informed us that it would not reopen discussions with vendors, 

citing as one of its reasons the need to complete the system “within 

the government’s required time frame.” On August 5, 2003, we 

submitted a report to Congress summarizing the protest decisions 

and the circumstances of the failure of OPM to implement our 

recommendation. 

OPM is planning to measure the performance of the enhanced Web 

site and features with metrics such as cost per hire, time to fill 

vacancies, and the percentage of federal job applicants using 
Page 8 GAO-03-1169T 

Recruitment One-Stop. OPM expects that once Recruitment OneStop is fully implemented, it will generate a total of $365 million in 

savings through fiscal year 2012. According to project officials, the 

expected cost savings were extrapolated from projected average 

annual decreases in the cost of hiring each new federal employee. 

By fiscal year 2005, OPM’s goal is to reduce the cost per hire from 

$2,790 to $2,678, reduce the time to fill job vacancies from 102 days 

to 97, and increase the percentage of job applicants using 

Recruitment One-Stop from 80 to 84 percent. 

e-Clearance 

The e-Clearance project is designed to improve processing of 

security clearances for federal employees. It focuses on 

consolidating and increasing access to information to improve the 

efficiency of granting or locating previous clearances or 

investigations. OPM intends the e-Clearance project to help 

streamline data collection and case scheduling by making it easier 

to locate existing investigations and clearances, providing for almost 

immediate retrieval of archived records as they are needed. The 

expected benefits include quicker granting of clearances, 

elimination of redundant investigations, and financial savings from a 

reduction in the overall costs of clearances. The initiative consists of 

three modules: 

• Electronic Questionnaires for Investigations Processing involves 

the automation of the Questionnaire for National Security Positions 

(Standard Form 86). This paper-based form requires at least 2 hours 

to complete, and some federal employees are required to fill it out as 

often as every few months to maintain their security clearances. 

Since the current form is processed manually, it must be completed 

each time from scratch. In contrast, the electronic version of the 

form will be populated with previously submitted data, thereby 

streamlining the application process. In addition, a new form has 

been deployed that allows federal employees to indicate that there 

have been no changes in the data provided on the most recently 

filed Standard Form 86, or, where there are changes, to provide only 

the newly changed information. 

• Clearance Verification System consists of the development and 

implementation of a cross-agency system to enable a single search 

to locate investigative and clearance information from any agency. 

This module requires civilian agencies to load their existing 

clearance information into OPM’s Security/Suitability Investigations 
Page 9 GAO-03-1169T 

Index so that new clearance applications can be checked against 

existing information. The module also includes developing a link to 

the Department of Defense’s Joint Personnel Adjudication System to 

access comparable DOD information. 

• Imaging includes the creation, storage, and retrieval of digital 

images of investigative reports and other documents. Often, the 

longest delay in an investigation can be the retrieval, copying, and 

mailing of previous reports. The use of imaging is intended to ease 

retrieval and dissemination of investigative information for 

authorized users. 

Currently, OPM states that all major milestones for this initiative 

have been met, including 

• activating Electronic Questionnaires for Investigations Processing in 

June 2003; 

• completing the Clearance Verification System connection between 

OPM and DOD at the end of 2002, and having 80 percent of agencies 

load their existing clearance information into the Clearance 

Verification System at the end of January 2003; and 

• beginning the process of creating digital images of existing 

investigative records by May 2003. 

The requirements for Imaging were developed between the fall of 

2002 and the summer of 2003, and some agencies have begun 

imaging while others will phase in this capability. Additionally, OPM 

plans to implement a secure network for exchanging imaged files by 

early 2004. 

OPM plans several performance improvements for fiscal year 2005, 

including reducing the average time to process clearance forms 

electronically from 28 to 21 days, adding three additional forms to 

the one now available in the Electronic Questionnaires for 

Investigations Processing application, keeping unscheduled 

application downtime at no more than 2 percent, and providing 

training to all e-Clearance staff. 

OPM estimates that e-Clearance will realize savings of $258 million 

through fiscal year 2012. These savings are to be realized through 

avoiding agency-unique systems procurements and through a $50 

reduction in the average cost of each clearance investigation. 
Page 10 GAO-03-1169T 

Enterprise Human Resources Integration 

The purpose of the Enterprise Human Resources Integration (EHRI) 

initiative is to facilitate human capital management activities by 

providing storage, access, and exchange of standard electronic 

information, through development of a data repository of 

standardized core human capital data for all 1.8 million executive 

branch employees. These data will be in the form of an Official 

Electronic Record, which is intended to replace the current paperbased Official Personnel File. An Official Electronic Record for each 

employee is to be maintained through electronic exchange of 

information among agencies throughout an employee’s government 

career. Because all EHRI information exchanges will be electronic, 

OPM expects to reduce process cycle times, and improve the 

accuracy of transactions. 

The three primary goals of EHRI are to 

• provide for comprehensive knowledge management and workforce 

analysis, forecasting, and reporting to further strategic management 

of human capital across the executive branch; 

• enable expanded electronic exchange of standardized human 

resources data within and across agencies and systems and the 

attainment of associated benefits and cost savings; and 

• provide unification and consistency in human capital data across the 

executive branch. 

OPM plans to implement EHRI in three releases. Release 1 will be a 

prototype of the data repository system and is scheduled to be ready 

by September 30, 2003. Release 2, scheduled for the second quarter 

of fiscal year 2004, is intended to allow biweekly employee data to 

be provided electronically. Release 3 is planned to incorporate 

interfaces between OPM’s Retirement System Modernization system 

and e-Training and to allow two-way electronic transfer of personnel 

data between agencies. The system functionality is to be 

incrementally available between March and September 2004. 

OPM plans to improve performance for fiscal year 2004 in areas 

such as personnel management, savings and cost avoidance, and 

data reliability and quality. For example, it intends to alter 

regulations, executive orders, and laws to enable the conversion of 

records to an electronic format. Another planned measure involves 

eliminating the need for agencies to develop new human capital 
Page 11 GAO-03-1169T 

management capabilities. Other measures include a reduction in the 

baseline data error rate and participation by 9 of the 18 partner 

agencies in electronic workforce forecasting. OPM reported that 

EHRI would save taxpayers around $235 million through fiscal year 

2012. 

e-Training 

The purpose of the e-Training initiative is to create a governmentwide e-Training environment—the Gov On-line Learning Center 

(www.golearn.gov)—which is to support the development of the 

federal workforce and provide a single source for on-line training 

and strategic human capital development for all federal employees. 

The Gov On-line Learning Center is designed to provide users access 

to a broad range of products and services, including mandatory 

government-wide training on topics such as computer security, 

ethics, and preventing sexual harassment, as well as agency-specific 

training and high-interest topics, such as homeland security. Some 

of the courses are to be free, while others are to be available on a 

fee-for-service basis. 

OPM also plans for the GoLearn Web site to provide tools that will 

allow human capital specialists and employees to match an 

employee’s professional and individual development to available 

courses and services. OPM expects that its initiative will allow 

agencies to focus their own training efforts on unique needs, thus 

maximizing the effectiveness of their expenditures on workforce 

performance. Providing agencies with on-demand e-learning 

services is expected to enable the government to better attract, 

retain, manage, and continuously educate the highly skilled 

professionals needed for a flexible and high-performing government 

workforce. 

The e-Training initiative is intended to benefit the government and 

federal workforce by 

• encouraging e-training investments as part of a systematic and 

continuous development of federal government human capital; 

• reducing redundancies in the development and purchase of 

e-training content; 

• achieving economies of scale through consolidated purchasing; 
Page 12 GAO-03-1169T 

• offering easy, one-stop access to a robust, high quality e-training 

environment; and 

• leveraging components of existing e-training systems. 

The e-Training Initiative is composed of three developmental 

modules. Module 1, launched in July 2002, included 37 free 

commercial off-the-shelf training courses (on topics such as project 

management, prevention of sexual harassment, using Microsoft 

Excel spreadsheet software, and change management); “Search and 

Select,” a set of quick 5 to 7 minute learning segments; and “EBooks,” a collection of over 100 professional journals and books. 

Module 2, launched in January 2003, added access to additional free 

commercial and government courses, fee-for-service options for 

e-training products and services, enhanced registration and 

reporting, and blended learning options for law enforcement 

training and executive and management training. Finally, Module 3, 

originally scheduled for June 2003, recently became operational. 

OPM states that this module will include a Merit Systems Principles 

e-course, as well as competency-based workforce development 

roadmaps specifically for IT workforce occupations. According to 

OPM, future releases of the Gov Online Learning Center will move 

from providing content to facilitation of learning. The agency also 

plans to introduce knowledge domains, user communities of 

practice, and virtual collaboration tools. 

OPM estimated that e-Training would save taxpayers about $784 

million through 2012. These savings are expected from the lower 

cost associated with providing on-line training, such as savings 

resulting from less travel. OPM expects to have 30 customized Web 

sites in operation for fiscal year 2004. Its goal is to have 77,000 

courses completed and 48 sites developed. It is planning to measure 

performance of the e-Training initiative through indicators such as 

the number of eligible GoLearn users, the number of participating 

entities, the number of GoLearn courses completed and the number 

of custom sites. For example, OPM plans to increase the number of 

individuals registered on the GoLearn site from 142,000 to 193,000. 

e-Payroll 

The goal of the e-Payroll initiative is to substantially improve federal 

payroll operations by standardizing them across all agencies, 

integrating them with other human resource functions, and making 

them easy to use and cost-effective. To achieve this goal, plans are 
Page 13 GAO-03-1169T 

to consolidate the operations of 22 existing federal payroll system 

providers, simplify and standardize federal payroll policies and 

procedures, and better integrate payroll with other human capital 

and finance functions across federal agencies. 

Major objectives of the initiative include (1) defining governance for 

the initiative, (2) standardizing payroll policies, (3) establishing an 

e-Payroll enterprise architecture, and (4) overseeing consolidation 

of agency payroll operations. The first major project deliverable—

establishing governance—was completed in April 2002 as 

scheduled. OPM chose four agencies to be providers of payroll 

services to all 116 executive branch agencies. The four selected 

providers are the General Services Administration (GSA) and the 

Departments of Defense, Interior, and Agriculture. The initiative is 

divided into two major phases: 

• migrating each of the 18 nonselected payroll system providers to 

one of the four selected providers by September 2004, and 

• merging the functions of the four selected payroll providers into just 

two, while working to develop a single, integrated payroll system for 

all executive branch agencies. 

Although providers have been selected and a migration schedule 

established for nonselected agencies, other actions have been 

delayed. Standardization of policies, originally scheduled for 

completion in July 2002, is currently ongoing. The enterprise 

architecture planning task and the initial phase of agency 

consolidations were both scheduled to begin in October 2002 but 

were not initiated until January 2003. According to the project 

manager, these schedule deviations have not led to a significant 

delay in the overall progress of the initiative toward the original goal 

of consolidating the 22 payroll providers to 4 by September 2004. 

OPM reported that e-Payroll should save $1.1 billion through fiscal 

year 2012. These savings would result from reducing operating 

costs, eliminating duplicative systems investments, and simplifying 

payroll processing. OPM plans to use several indicators to measure 

performance and improvements regarding e-Payroll for fiscal year 

2005, including reductions in payroll costs per W-2 per employee, 

improvements in the accuracy of Treasury disbursements, and 

reductions in response time. Currently, the cost of payroll services 

per W-2 per employee can vary from $125 to $225. OPM’s plan is to 

lower these costs to $97. Other planned improvements include 

increasing the accuracy of Treasury’s disbursements from 98 
Page 14 GAO-03-1169T 

percent to 100 percent and reducing the cycle time involved in 

delivering payroll services. 

OPM Faces Significant Challenges in Implementing Its e-Government 

Initiatives 

OPM’s portfolio of e-gov initiatives represents an ambitious attempt 

to transform the way human capital functions and services are 

carried out in the federal government. In implementing the 

initiatives, OPM faces a number of challenges that, if not fully met, 

could erode support for the initiatives or prevent OPM from meeting 

its objectives and realizing the improvements and dollar savings that 

the agency has projected. We have commented in the past on the 

many challenges facing e-government projects in general.

8

 Today, I’d 

like to concentrate on three challenges that are especially pressing 

for OPM’s efforts. These include (1) managing accelerated

acquisitions, (2) achieving governmentwide consolidation of 

common electronic functions, and (3) estimating and measuring 

cost savings. 

Managing Accelerated Acquisitions 

Program managers for many of the 25 OMB-sponsored 

e-government initiatives have been under pressure, both from OMB 

and within managing partner agencies, to achieve results quickly. 

One of the criteria for OMB’s selection of its e-government 

initiatives was the potential for the project to be completed “within 

18–24 months.” In order to meet the demand for quick results, 

significant alterations have been made to the acquisition plans for 

several initiatives. 

For example, in the case of the e-Authentication initiative, which is 

focused on developing a centralized gateway for electronic 

authentication in support of the other OMB-sponsored initiatives, a

decision was made to compress to approximately 3 months the 

competitive contracting process, which had originally been planned 

to take place over a full year. The major factor in this decision was 

the perceived need to make the planned gateway fully operational as 

soon as possible. However, this accelerated schedule may be 

difficult to achieve because it is based on an extremely short time 

 

8

 U.S. General Accounting Office, Electronic Government: Challenges Must Be Addressed With 

Effective Leadership and Management, GAO-01-959T (Washington, D.C.: July 11, 2001).
Page 15 GAO-03-1169T 

frame, in which the selected contractor must develop, test, and 

deploy a fully operational gateway. 

In the case of the Geospatial One-Stop initiative, which aims to 

establish a Web portal for locating and disseminating geospatial 

information, the initiative’s board of directors decided in early 2003 

to make an award based on an unsolicited proposal rather than 

continue a competitive procurement, largely because of a perceived 

need to implement the Web portal as quickly as possible. The 

change in acquisition plans has caused concern among many in the 

geospatial information systems community that the contractor’s 

proprietary approach to developing the Web portal could make it 

difficult for many potential contributors to share data with the 

portal—which would prevent the initiative from meeting its goal of 

providing one-stop access to geospatial data. 

OPM has likewise taken a controversial step with its recent 

Recruitment One-Stop acquisition. In its decision to continue with 

its awarded contract for Recruitment One-Stop, despite a successful 

bid protest by Symplicity Corporation, OPM officials perceived the 

need to implement an e-government initiative as quickly as possible 

to be one factor outweighing the importance of issues that we raised 

concerning the conduct of the procurement. In its letter to us 

explaining why it intended to proceed without implementing our 

recommendation, OPM made clear that it was concerned about 

implementing Recruitment One-Stop quickly: “The [Recruitment 

One Stop] program is ready to become operational. National 

security demands and critical domestic needs underlie the 

Government’s vital need for efficient recruitment and hiring 

methods. No other contractor can complete the system within the 

Government’s required timeframe.” However, in our report to 

Congress, we noted that OPM did not provide any details to support 

this claim. While it is important to adhere to agreed-upon schedules 

and milestones, it is also important to follow established contracting 

procedures, which are intended to ensure fair competition. A rapidly 

chosen vendor may not represent the best value for the 

government’s investment. 

By leaving questions about the fairness of the Recruitment One-Stop 

competition unresolved, OPM risks alienating potential supporters 

of its e-government initiative. In order to ensure the ultimate 

success of its initiatives, it is important that OPM—as well as the 

other managing partners of OMB-sponsored initiatives—carefully 

weigh the risks and benefits of making significant changes to its 
Page 16 GAO-03-1169T 

planned acquisitions solely based on the need to produce results 

quickly. 

Achieving Governmentwide Consolidation of Common Electronic Functions 

Each of OPM’s five initiatives aims to ultimately create a single 

system or Web-based service to support a specific human capital 

function across the federal government. In each case, agency-unique 

systems and processes must be either replaced or integrated into 

the planned single system. Clearly, one of OPM’s biggest challenges 

is managing the process of migrating agency-unique systems into 

consolidated systems and services that are flexible enough to 

effectively support the needs of virtually all federal agencies. 

Many current federal human capital systems are based on 

proprietary systems that were originally developed for the narrowly 

defined needs of a single agency or bureau. These systems were not 

designed to be interoperable9

 with external systems, and generally 

were not built to government standards (which have not yet been 

defined for many human capital functions). The development of 

systems based on narrowly defined needs, combined with 

traditional barriers to interorganizational cooperation, have led to 

the current environment of duplicative, inefficient, nonintegrated 

(“siloed”) operations. 

One way to encourage interagency cooperation on multiple systems 

migrations is to develop a concerted strategy for managing change 

and communicating effectively with all affected parties. In June 

2002, OPM submitted to OMB its change management and 

communication plan, which specified steps that OPM planned to 

take in managing change and communications. In implementing its 

plan, OPM established change management councils and delivered 

presentations on its plans for specific initiatives, as well as for 

governmentwide integration of human capital functions, to a range 

of audiences, including high-level officials (such as the 

e-Government committee of the President’s Management Council 

and the Chief Human Capital Officers Council) and line managers 

(such as human resource managers). 

Effective change management and communication will be critical, 

as agencies may be required to take positive action to both to shut 

 

9

 Interoperability is the ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and to 

use the information exchanged. 
Page 17 GAO-03-1169T 

down existing redundant systems and invest in new technology to 

connect with OPM’s standardized systems. OPM is planning for 

agencies to shut down a number of agency-unique systems and 

applications. For example, the e-Payroll initiative is set to reduce 

federal payroll providers from the current 22 to just two 

partnerships of two providers each. Nonselected payroll providers 

will be required to shut down operations. Another example is the 

Recruitment One-Stop initiative, which envisions that agency on-line 

resume building and job search engine capabilities will be shut 

down in favor of OPM’s centralized system. The e-Training initiative 

also plans for agencies to shut down their unique systems in favor of 

OPM’s offering. 

Consolidation may also mean that agencies must make new 

investments in order to connect with a new, integrated system. The 

e-Clearance initiative, for example, requires all agencies with 

archives of clearance investigations to make those materials 

available electronically, thus necessitating agency expenses for new 

imaging equipment. Likewise, EHRI will require agencies to make 

modifications to their systems allowing electronic personnel records 

to be transmitted to OPM’s central repository. Getting cooperation 

from all affected agencies in making these investments will be 

challenging. 

OMB’s support is a critical factor in facilitating these consolidations. 

For several e-government initiatives, OMB has used its statutory 

authority under the Clinger-Cohen Act of 199610 to direct agencies to 

identify and halt funding of potentially redundant IT investments. 

For example, OMB issued on January 10, 2003, a letter to federal 

agencies directing them to halt spending on agency-specific payroll 

modernization efforts not associated with migrating to the e-Payroll 

initiative. A similar letter had been issued in April 2002 directing 

agencies to load their security clearance information into 

e-Clearance’s Clearance Verification System. 

Beyond issues of organizational cooperation, technical integration 

can also be very challenging. Developing a common set of standards 

that are agreed to and used by all project partners is a key factor for 

integrating disparate, noninteroperable systems and services. 

Ensuring that processes are in place by which partners can select 

and agree upon standards and that all partners are adopting them 

are key factors in successfully establishing standards. Finally, 

standardization within the framework of the emerging Federal 

 

10 P.L. No. 104-106. 
Page 18 GAO-03-1169T 

Enterprise Architecture is key to promoting compliant development 

and implementation across the government. OPM officials said they 

plan to use the Federal Enterprise Architecture to document 

specific data requirements for the human capital functions 

supported by their e-government initiatives. 

OPM has taken steps to involve its partners and other federal 

agencies in the process of identifying opportunities for 

standardization on the e-Payroll initiative. However, it still faces the 

challenging task of getting federal agencies to reach agreement on a 

single payroll standard that they all can use. As agencies migrate 

ultimately to this single standard, changes may need to be made 

either to provider payroll processes and standards—so that the 

various payroll mandates can be accommodated—or to the 

mandated requirements themselves, so that agencies can conform to 

the single-payroll standard. For example, the Department of 

Veterans Affairs’ Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Finance 

expressed concern that administering payroll systems under Title 38 

of the United States Code11—the legislation that governs the 

agency’s payroll processes—was very complex, and that significant 

changes in payroll processing could be necessary as the agency 

migrates to its new payroll provider. According to an OPM study, in 

addition to Title 38, there are at least 13 other sets of legislated 

federal payroll provisions that will need to be reviewed and 

addressed before a single federal payroll system can be 

implemented.12 Without agreement on standards, changes mandated 

by OPM may not fully address agencies’ individual payroll 

processing requirements, increasing the risk that agencies will not 

be able to migrate as planned to the chosen governmentwide 

standard. 

OPM may face similar challenges in establishing standards for 

official electronic personnel records, as part of EHRI. OPM officials 

conducted an exercise to identify all the various types of data 

captured by federal personnel forms. OPM officials identified 89 

major data categories, with over 500 data elements. OPM officials 

recognize the challenge they face in seeking agreement across 

federal agencies on standardizing these data elements, a process 

which is still in its early stages. 

 

11 38 U.S.C, Part V, Chapter 74—Veterans Health Administration—Personnel. 

12 Office of Personnel Management, e-Payroll Initiative: Plan for Standardization of Federal Payroll 

Policy, Revision 1 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 13, 2003). 
Page 19 GAO-03-1169T 

While it is relatively easy to develop and implement Web sites that 

facilitate exchange of information—as some of OPM’s initiatives 

do—the agency can expect greater challenges in getting cooperation 

across the government to consolidate functions by shutting down 

redundant systems, investing in new technologies, and committing 

to new governmentwide standards. For several of OPM’s 

initiatives—including e-Payroll and EHRI—much of this process still 

remains to be completed. 

Estimating and Measuring Cost Savings 

One of the goals of OMB’s e-government strategy includes achieving 

cost savings as an outcome of implementing the 25 e-government 

initiatives. For example, in its 2002 strategy OMB estimated that 

these initiatives could generate several billion dollars in savings by 

reducing operating inefficiencies, redundant spending, and 

excessive paperwork, and it also estimated that the initiatives would 

make available over $1 billion in savings from realigning redundant 

investments. In addition, OMB has stated that the initiatives were 

selected for inclusion in the e-government strategy because they 

provided the most value to citizens while generating cost savings or 

improving the effectiveness of the government. 

OPM has estimated substantial cost savings that officials believe can 

be attributed to the e-government initiatives. Specifically, the agency 

estimates that the total savings expected from all five of its 

e-government initiatives will be more than $2.6 billion through fiscal 

year 2012. Such savings would be realized through performance 

enhancements that could reduce expenses such as costs per 

application for security clearances, costs per transaction for payroll 

processing, and costs associated with hiring new federal employees. 

Table 3 provides an overview of the cost savings estimated by OPM 

for its initiatives. 

Table 3: Estimated Cost Savings from Performance Enhancements 

Initiative 

Estimated 

savings 

Projected 

return on 

investment 

Planned fiscal year 2005 financial 

performance enhancements 

Recruitment 

One-Stop 

$365 

million 710 percent Reduce cost per hire 

e-Clearance 

$258 

million 440 percent 

Reduce cost per security clearance 

application 
Page 20 GAO-03-1169T 

Initiative 

Estimated 

savings 

Projected 

return on 

investment 

Planned fiscal year 2005 financial 

performance enhancements 

Enterprise 

Human 

Resources 

Integration 

$235 

million 51 percent 

Reduce cost per transaction due to 

reduction in manual paper processing 

e-Training 

$784 

million 262 percent 

Reduce tuition and travel-related costs 

for participating agencies 

e-Payroll $1.1 billion 155 percent 

Reduce cost per payroll transaction per 

employee 

Source: GAO analysis of OPM documents.

OPM faces a significant challenge in realistically estimating the 

financial savings to be derived from its e-government initiatives. In 

many cases, estimated cost savings associated with process 

improvements are only loosely based on measures that are 

inherently abstract, such as the average cost of performing a certain 

function across the government. For example, e-Training project 

officials estimate that federal agencies can reduce training costs 

substantially by substituting electronic courses taken through 

e-Training—which cost approximately $10 to $15 per training 

instance—for traditional courses, which cost on average $150 per 

training instance, including travel. However, it is unclear the extent 

to which this kind of substitution will actually take place, or how it 

could lead to savings of $784 million through 2012, as forecast by 

OPM. The e-Training project manager told us that the estimate was 

based on cost avoidance for training tuition, travel, and economies 

of scale in acquiring training software licenses. 

Similarly, for the Recruitment One-Stop initiative, project officials 

predict that implementation will lead to a reduction in the average 

cost of hiring a new federal employee of $112 in fiscal year 2005—

from $2,790 to $2,678, or about 4 percent. With about 150,000 new 

federal hires each year, the total savings through 2012 would 

amount to about $168 million—significantly less than the total cost 

savings of $365 million over that period that OPM estimates. 

According to OPM officials, the additional savings would be gained 

through other factors contributing to future efficiencies, although 

specific performance measures had not yet been established. 

OPM’s method for projecting cost savings due to process 

improvements may overstate the savings that can be reasonably 

attributed to those improvements. Specifically, officials stated that 

for at least one initiative, Recruitment One-Stop, estimated savings 

included continuing annual efficiency gains due to such things as 
Page 21 GAO-03-1169T 

expected “policy improvements” that would not be a direct result of 

implementing the Recruitment One-Stop initiative. 

Further, OPM has not developed mechanisms to track actual 

training expenditures at agencies to determine whether its 

estimated governmentwide savings are being realized. With 

estimated savings based on abstract, average governmentwide costs, 

it will likely be very difficult to develop methods for documenting 

the savings associated with process streamlining at each agency 

across the federal government. In another example, e-Payroll is 

planned to reduce the number of federal payroll service providers 

from 22 to 4, and then consolidate those 4 to 2. Clearly, cost savings 

can be found by reducing the number of payroll systems operated 

and maintained by the federal government and avoiding the costs of 

updating or modernizing those systems. However, OPM has not 

clearly identified all the factors that would contribute to such 

savings, or what measures will be used to measure them. Cost 

savings from eliminating redundant systems is also a factor—though 

a smaller one—in savings projected for Recruitment One-Stop and 

e-Training. 

Effectively measuring e-government cost savings is a challenge for 

all agencies engaged in efforts to streamline or transform 

government processes through e-government. To be truly effective 

in meeting the goals set out in OMB’s e-government strategy, 

agencies need to establish complete, meaningful, and quantitative 

measures of cost savings. Until such measures can be implemented, 

predicted cost savings will be difficult to confirm. 

 In summary, OPM has made progress in moving forward with its five 

e-government initiatives, which, if fully implemented, could have 

significant benefits by providing more streamlined and seamless 

federal personnel processes, and by saving the taxpayers millions 

through eliminating redundant payroll and other systems. However, 

OPM continues to face several challenges in implementing and 

carrying out its e-government initiatives, including managing 

acquisitions while working to meet accelerated e-government 

project schedules; consolidating common, governmentwide human 

resource-related functions; and realistically estimating and 

measuring the cost savings that can be expected from these 

initiatives. 
Page 22 GAO-03-1169T 

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement. I would be pleased to 

answer any questions that you or other members of the 

subcommittee may have at this time. 

Contact and Acknowledgements

If you should have any questions about this testimony, please 

contact me at (202) 512-6240 or via E-mail at koontzl@gao.gov. Other 

major contributors to this testimony included Barbara Collier, 

Felipe Colón, Jr., Larry Crosland, John de Ferrari, and Elizabeth 

Roach. 
Page 23 GAO-03-1169T 

Attachment I: Selected GAO Products Related to Electronic Commerce 

and Electronic Government

Electronic Commerce 

Internet Cigarette Sales: Limited Compliance and Enforcement of 

the Jenkins Act Result in Loss of State Tax Revenue. GAO-03-714T. 

Washington, D.C.: May 1, 2003. 

Electronic Procurement: Business Strategy Needed for GSA’s 

Advantage System. GAO-03-328. Washington, D.C.: February 19, 

2002.

Internet Gambling: An Overview of the Issues. GAO-03-89. 

Washington, D.C.: December 2, 2002. 

International Electronic Commerce: Definitions and Policy 

Implications. GAO-02-404. Washington, D.C.: March 1, 2002. 

Electronic Commerce: Small Business Participation in Selected 

On-line Procurement Programs. GAO-02-1. Washington, D.C.: 

October 29, 2001. 

On-Line Trading: Investor Protections Have Improved but 

Continued Attention Is Needed. GAO-01-858. Washington, D.C.: July 

20, 2001. 

Internet Pharmacies: Adding Disclosure Requirements Would Aid 

State and Federal Oversight. GAO-01-69. Washington, D.C.: October 

19, 2000. 

Sales Taxes: Electronic Commerce Growth Presents Challenges; 

Revenue Losses Are Uncertain. GGD/OCE-00-165. Washington, D.C.: 

June 30, 2000. 

Commodity Exchange Act: Issues Related to the Regulation of 

Electronic Trading Systems. GGD-00-99. Washington, D.C.: May 5, 

2000. 

Trade with the European Union: Recent Trends and Electronic 

Commerce Issues. GAO/T-NSIAD-00-46. Washington, D.C.: October 

13, 1999. 
Page 24 GAO-03-1169T 

Electronic Banking: Enhancing Federal Oversight of Internet 

Banking Activities. GAO/T-GGD-99-152. Washington, D.C.: August 

3, 1999. 

Electronic Banking: Enhancing Federal Oversight of Internet 

Banking Activities. GAO/GGD-99-91. Washington, D.C.: July 6, 1999. 

Securities Fraud: The Internet Poses Challenges to Regulators and 

Investors. GAO/T-GGD-99-34. Washington, D.C.: March 22, 1999. 

Retail Payments Issues: Experience with Electronic Check 

Presentment. GAO/GGD-98-145. Washington, D.C.: July 14, 1998. 

Identity Fraud: Information on Prevalence, Cost, and Internet 

Impact is Limited. GAO/GGD-98-100BR. Washington, D.C.: May 1, 

1998. 

Electronic Banking: Experiences Reported by Banks in 

Implementing On-line Banking. GAO/GGD-98-34. Washington, 

D.C.: January 15, 1998. 

Electronic Government—Agency-Specific Initiatives 

IRS’s 2002 Tax Filing Season: Returns and Refunds Processed 

Smoothly; Quality of Assistance Improved. GAO-03-314. 

Washington, D.C.: December 20, 2002. 

Tax Administration: Electronic Filing’s Past and Future Impact 

on Processing Costs Dependent on Several Factors. GAO-02-205. 

Washington, D.C.: January 10, 2002. 

GSA On-Line Procurement Programs Lack Documentation and 

Reliability Testing. GAO-02-229R. Washington, D.C.: December 21, 

2001. 

U.S. Postal Service: Update on E-Commerce Activities and Privacy 

Protections. GAO-02-79. Washington, D.C.: December 21, 2001. 

Computer-Based Patient Records: Better Planning and Oversight 

By VA, DOD, and IHS Would Enhance Health Data Sharing. GAO01-459. Washington, D.C.: April 30, 2001. 

USDA Electronic Filing: Progress Made, But Central Leadership 

and Comprehensive Implementation Plan Needed. GAO-01-324. 

Washington, D.C.: February 28, 2001. 
Page 25 GAO-03-1169T 

U.S. Postal Service: Postal Activities and Laws Related to 

Electronic Commerce. GAO/GGD-00-188. Washington, D.C.: 

September 7, 2000. 

U.S. Postal Service: Electronic Commerce Activities and Legal 

Matters. GAO/T-GGD-00-195. Washington, D.C.: September 7, 2000. 

Defense Management: Electronic Commerce Implementation 

Strategy Can Be Improved. GAO/NSIAD-00-108. Washington, D.C.: 

July 18, 2000. 

Food Stamp Program: Better Use of Electronic Data Could Result 

in Disqualifying More Recipients Who Traffic Benefits.

GAO/RCED-00-61. Washington, D.C.: March 7, 2000. 

National Archives: The Challenge of Electronic Records 

Management. GAO/T-GGD-00-24. Washington, D.C.: October 20, 

1999. 

National Archives: Preserving Electronic Records in an Era of 

Rapidly Changing Technology. GAO/GGD-99-94. Washington, D.C.: 

July 19, 1999. 

Electronic Government—General 

Geographic Information Systems: Challenges to Effective Data 

Sharing. GAO-03-874T. Washington, D.C.: June 10, 2003. 

Electronic Government: Success of the Office of Management and 

Budget’s 25 Initiatives Depends on Effective Management and 

Oversight. GAO-03-495T. Washington, D.C.: March 13, 2003.

Electronic Government: Selection and Implementation of the 

Office of Management and Budget’s 24 Initiatives. GAO-03-229. 

Washington, D.C.: November 22, 2002. 

Electronic Government: Proposal Addresses Critical Challenges.

GAO-02-1083T. Washington, D.C.: September 18, 2002. 

Information Management: Update on Implementation of the 1996 

Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments. GAO-02-493. 

Washington, D.C.: August 30, 2002. 
Page 26 GAO-03-1169T 

Information Technology: OMB Leadership Critical to Making 

Needed Enterprise Architecture and E-government Progress. GAO02-389T. Washington, D.C.: March 21, 2002. 

Electronic Government: Challenges to Effective Adoption of the 

Extensible Markup Language. GAO-02-327. Washington, D.C.: April 

5, 2002. 

Information Resources Management: Comprehensive Strategic 

Plan Needed to Address Mounting Challenges. GAO-02-292. 

Washington, D.C.: February 22, 2002.

Elections: Perspectives on Activities and Challenges Across the 

Nation. GAO-02-3. Washington, D.C.: October 15, 2001. 

Electronic Government: Better Information Needed on Agencies’ 

Implementation of the Government Paperwork Elimination Act.

GAO-01-1100. Washington, D.C.: September 28, 2001. 

Electronic Government: Challenges Must Be Addressed With 

Effective Leadership and Management. GAO-01-959T. Washington, 

D.C.: July 11, 2001. 

Electronic Government: Selected Agency Plans for Implementing 

the Government Paperwork Elimination Act. GAO-01-861T. 

Washington, D.C.: June 21, 2001. 

Information Management: Electronic Dissemination of 

Government Publications. GAO-01-428. Washington, D.C.: March 30, 

2001. 

Information Management: Progress in Implementing the 1996 

Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments. GAO-01-378. 

Washington, D.C.: March 16, 2001. 

Regulatory Management: Communication About TechnologyBased Innovations Can Be Improved. GAO-01-232. Washington, 

D.C.: February 12, 2001. 

Electronic Government: Opportunities and Challenges Facing the 

FirstGov Web Gateway. GAO-01-87T. Washington, D.C.: October 2, 

2000. 
Page 27 GAO-03-1169T 

Electronic Government: Government Paperwork Elimination Act 

Presents Challenges for Agencies. GAO/AIMD-00-282. Washington, 

D.C.: September 15, 2000. 

Internet: Federal Web-based Complaint Handling. GAO/AIMD-00-

238R. Washington, D.C.: July 7, 2000. 

Federal Rulemaking: Agencies’ Use of Information Technology to 

Facilitate Public Participation. GAO/GGD-00-135R. Washington, 

D.C.: June 30, 2000. 

Electronic Government: Federal Initiatives Are Evolving Rapidly 

But They Face Significant Challenges. GAO/T-AIMD/GGD-00-179. 

Washington, D.C.: May 22, 2000. 

Information Technology: Comments on Proposed OMB Guidance 

for Implementing the Government Paperwork Elimination Act.

GAO/AIMD-99-228R. Washington, D.C.: July 2, 1999. 

Electronic Signatures 

Bank Regulators’ Evaluation of Electronic Signature Systems.

GAO-01-129R. Washington, D.C.: November 8, 2000.

Electronic Signature: Sanction of the Department of State’s 

System. GAO/AIMD-00-227R. Washington, D.C.: July 10, 2000. 

Internet 

Internet Management: Limited Progress on Privatization Project 

Makes Outcome Uncertain. GAO-02-805T. Washington, D.C.: June 

12, 2002. 

Telecommunications: Characteristics and Competitiveness of the 

Internet Backbone Market. GAO-02-16. Washington, D.C.: October 

16, 2001. 

Telecommunications: Characteristics and Choices of Internet 

Users. GAO-01-345. Washington, D.C.: February 16, 2001. 

Telecommunications: Technological and Regulatory Factors 

Affecting Consumer Choice of Internet Providers. GAO-01-93. 

Washington, D.C.: October 12, 2000. 
Page 28 GAO-03-1169T 

Department of Commerce: Relationship with the Internet 

Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. GAO/OGC-00-33R. 

Washington, D.C.: July 7, 2000. 

Privacy 

Internet Privacy: Implementation of Federal Guidance for Agency 

Use of “Cookies.” GAO-01-424. Washington, D.C.: April 27, 2001. 

Record Linkage and Privacy: Issues in Creating New Federal 

Research and Statistical Information. GAO-01-126SP. Washington, 

D.C.: April 2001. 

Internet Privacy: Federal Agency Use of Cookies. GAO-01-147R. 

Washington, D.C.: October 20, 2000. 

Internet Privacy: Comparison of Federal Agency Practices with 

FTC’s Fair Information Principles. GAO-01-113T, Washington, 

D.C.: October 11, 2000. 

Internet Privacy: Comparison of Federal Agency Practices with 

FTC’s Fair Information Principles. GAO/AIMD-00-296R. 

Washington, D.C.: September 11, 2000. 

Internet Privacy: Agencies’ Efforts to Implement OMB’s Privacy 

Policy. GAO/GGD-00-191. Washington, D.C.: September 5, 2000. 

Social Security Numbers: Subcommittee Questions Concerning the 

Use of the Number for Purposes Not Related to Social Security.

GAO/HEHS/AIMD-00-253R. Washington, D.C.: July 7, 2000. 

Security 

Electronic Government: Challenges to the Adoption of Smart Card 

Technology. GAO-03-1108T. Washington, D.C.: September 9, 2003. 

Electronic Government: Progress in Promoting Adoption of Smart 

Card Technology. GAO-03-144. Washington, D.C.: January 3, 2003. 

Computer Security: Weaknesses Continue to Place Critical Federal 

Operations and Assets at Risk. GAO-01-600T. Washington, D.C.: 

April 5, 2001. 
Page 29 GAO-03-1169T 

Information Security: Advances and Remaining Challenges to 

Adoption of Public Key Infrastructure Technology. GAO-01-277. 

Washington, D.C.: February 26, 2001. 

Information Security: IRS Electronic Filing Systems. GAO-01-306. 

Washington, D.C.: February 16, 2001. 

(310389)
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