IT budget request focuses on savings

The Army Corps of Engineers expects to save $500 million over five years by consolidating information technology services, a strategy that enabled the corps to lower its fiscal 2009 IT budget request by $221 million compared with this year’s enacted funding.

President Bush’s proposed budget for the corps reflects a 36 percent decrease, the largest percentage among all agencies. Congress gave the corps $613 million in its 2008 omnibus spending bill, but the corps requested only $392 million for next year, budget documents show.

Much of the decrease can be attributed to the corps’ plans to shut down incompatible data warehouses and consolidate help-desk operations so that 56 installations can operate as a single enterprise. The streamlining “really forced us to sharpen our pencils,” said Wil Berrios, the agency’s chief information officer.

The corps’ approach is one example of a larger theme throughout the IT budget.

Read the story: FCW.com News - IT budget request focuses on savings

Security could consume 10 percent of IT budget

The Bush administration’s fiscal 2009 budget proposal asks Congress to increase spending on information technology security by $646.8 million over 2008 levels.

The administration proposed $7.2 billion in IT security funding for fiscal 2009, while $6.6 billion was allocated in fiscal 2008. In other words, agencies as a whole would spend 10.3 percent of the $70.9 billion requested for IT on security. But the percentage for particular agencies would vary based on the nature of their projects.

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Budget request: GSA seeks single fund for citizen services

As part of its fiscal 2009 budget request, the Bush administration has proposed a more consolidated approach for getting information to the public.

Under the new plan, funding for USA.gov and other public information programs would fall under a new Federal Citizen Services Fund, officials said.

Kathleen Turco, chief financial officer at the General Services Administration, said in a conference with reporters today that GSA wants to consolidate spending for the Federal Citizen Information Center, USA.gov and GSA’s Intergovernmental Solutions program under one fund. They are currently managed through three funds.

Read the story: FCW.com News - Budget request: GSA seeks single fund for citizen services