Digital Government:

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Digital Government From Information to
Integration
Robert Atkinson Vice President and
Director, Technology New Economy
Project Progressive Policy Institute www.ppionline
. Presentation to the 2001 E-Gov Conference,
Washington, DC
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The Progressive Policy Institute

• Founded in 1989 by the Democratic Leadership
  Council
• 501 (c) (3)
• Mission is to define and promote a Third Way
  progressive politics for the Information Age
• An alternative to the liberal impulse to defend
  the bureaucratic status quo and the conservative
  bid to dismantle government

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Related PPI Reports

• Breaking Down Bureaucratic Barriers The Next
  Phase of Digital Government
• Digital Government The Next Step to
  Reengineering the Federal Government
• The Best States For E-Commerce
• The Revenge of the Disintermediated How the
  Middleman is Fighting E-Commerce and
  Hurting American Consumers
• The Failure of Cyber-Libertarianism The Case
  for a National E-Commerce Strategy

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Benefits of Digital Government

• Reduces Costs to Government and Citizens
• Improves Quality and Accessibility (on-line, not
  in line)
• Helps Create A Digital Economy

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Reduces Cost
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Improves Quality - Online, Not In Line

• Consumers expect anytime, anywhere,
  on-my-schedule service.
• Citizens will expect the same performance from
  government.
• One study of on-line professional licenses found
  that the vast majority of participants preferred
  this channel.

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Spur Ubiquitous Adoption of Digital Technologies

• Unless telephone-like ubiquity can be reached,
  large scale societal transformation will prove
  impossible. (David Moschella, Waves of Power)
• Were not there yet.

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Three Phases of Digital Government

• Phase 1 Information 1993-1998 Passive sites
  providing brochure-ware (Whitehouse.gov goes
  live in 1993)
• Phase 2 Transactions 1998-200? Started as
  downloading forms moving to completing forms
  on-line.
• Phase 3 Integration 200? Web sites designed
  around citizen needs, not government agencies,
  programs and acronyms.

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E-gov is not about building web sites. Its about
using the web to transform government.
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Customer Focused, Integrated Government Were
not there yet

• Too often agencies provide what they are
  interested in, not what the user is interested
  in. Do people really want to see press releases?
  
• Too often agencies view their mission as
  promoting their services, rather than solving
  problems. People want to access all solutions.
• Too often web site portals are unfriendly.

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What about EDA, DOI, and other agency programs?
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Why is a new HHS grant program important to me?
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How about other business development programs?
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What Should Integrated Digital Government (IDG)
Look Like?

• Joined-up problems need joined-up solutions.
  
  Tony Blair
• We need to conceive of e-gov as pure-play
  e-gov.
• If we created government in the digital age, it
  wouldnt look like the government we have now.
  We have migrated old-economy government onto the
  Internet, instead of using the power of the Web
  to create a new kind of government.

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Principles For Creating IDG
Smart e-government should be focused on one goal
helping citizens solve problems, not merely
delivering same old services through a new
medium. Most people are not interested in which
government agency, or even which tier of
government, is responsible.

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Principles (cont.)
1. Design websites based on consumer needs
A) Topics (e.g., Australia is
designing site for parents whose
children are starting school, contains
information on term dates, immunization
requirements, after-school care and statistics to
help choose the right school, as well as to
enroll and pay school levies online.) B) User
Groups (e.g. workers.gov seniors.gov)
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Customer Focused, Integrated Government Were
Not There Yet We Remain in an Agency-Centric
World
To date, customer-focused has mostly meant
putting a myriad of links on one web page.
Its as if government is saying were customer
focused, weve published an easy- to-use
directory of all our individual agency-centric
programs. Web links dont constitute
integration.
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Principles (cont.)
2. Create inter-governmental-sites.
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Principles (cont.)
3. Dont think web directories constitute
joined-up government.
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Principles (cont.)
4) Allow users to personalize pages.
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12 Key Principles for Implementation of Digital
Government

• Think Customer, Not Government
• Reinvent Government, Dont Simply Automate It
• Set an Ambitious Goal
• Invest Now to Save Tomorrow

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12 Key Principles for Implementation of Digital
Government (cont.)

• 5) Focus on Digital Transactions Between Citizens
  and Government
• 6) Make Government Application Interoperable with
  Commercial Ones
• 7) Pass on a Portion of the Savings From
  Electronic Transactions Back to the Citizens
• 8) Promote Access to Information on the Internet,
  Do Not Restrict It

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12 Key Principles for Implementation of Digital
Government (cont.)

• 9) Respect the Rights of Americans for
  Information Privacy
• 10) Online Access to Government Should Not
  Eclipse Traditional Means
• 11) Federal Efforts Should Complement, Not
  Duplicate Private Sector Efforts
• 12) Take Action Now, and Learn From Mistakes

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What Are the Barriers?

• Technology is not the barrier. Nor are issues of
  authentication, privacy and security issues.
• Cultural, institutional, and political factors
  are the major barriers to faster progress toward
  digital government.

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Impediments to Faster Progress Toward Digital
Government

• Lack of Political Support No Top-Level Agency
  and Government-wide Leadership
• Lack of Funding and Flexibility
• Agency Centric vs. Customer Centric
• Lack of Competitive Pressures Forcing Change

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Barriers II

• 1) DG requires shift from bureaucratic
  government to customer-oriented government.
• 2) DG requires shift from stove-pipe organized
  government to cross-cutting government.
• 3) DG requires the leadership for it to shift
  from IT staff to elected officials and agency
  heads.

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Barriers III

• 4) DG requires that it not be viewed as a
  technical issue, but as a strategic, reinventing
  government issue. (English, not acronyms GITS
  FACNET EBT ACES EFT GWAC FARA)
• 5) DG requires investments now, in in order to
  save money in the future.
• 6) DG requires bipartisan support.

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Its Hard to Give Up Control

• Customer-centered e-government requires a
  fundamental change in outlook on the part of
  government, with the focus being placed on the
  needs of citizens/customers.
• Customer-centered e-government requires moving
  from separate departmental websites to a seamless
  Internet presence, organized around the
  citizens needs. To make this work,
  integration must occur not only between
  agencies at the same level of government, but
  also between different tiers of government,
  and with the private sector.

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• WWW.PPIONLINE.ORG
• Rob Atkinson
• Ratkinson_at_dlcppi.org
• [phone]