IP: the Vice Presidents introduction to Access America

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

INTRODUCTION BY=20
VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE






When the President asked me in 1993 to lead the reinvention of government,
the first thing I did was start talking with front-line federal employees
about what was broken and how to fix it. In agency offices and at the
National Performance Review (NPR), inspired teams worked day and night
through the summer of 1993 generating ideas. They got a lot of help from
the best in business, as well as state and local reinventors.


When the work was finished, we had 1,200 actions that I recommended to the
President. He reviewed them, gave them his endorsement, and made a personal
commitment. He said, "Wherever this report says, 'the President should,'
this President will."


Among the 1,200 recommended actions was a set of imaginative proposals to
make government work better and cost less by reengineering through
information technology.


The idea of reengineering through technology is critical. We didn't want to
automate the old, worn processes of government. Information technology (IT)
was and is the great enabler for reinvention. It allows us to rethink, in
fundamental ways, how people work and how we serve customers.


The old way of organizing work is patterned on a factory, a hierarchical
system. The system has top management, middle management, and workers, who
are seen as cogs in a machine, programmed by those at the top of the
pyramid to do simple tasks over and over. This approach forfeits the
greatest asset of the organization -- the unused brain power, energy, and
creativity of the men and women in the organization.


The factory model has outlived its usefulness. Today's computers and
communications let us organize to work in a new way. Based on the
"distributed intelligence" concept in computing, this new model distributes
information and the tools to use that information throughout an
organization. Decision-making authority can be placed with employees on the
front lines, where change is encountered first.


The 1993 NPR report applied the distributed intelligence model. The
recommendations ranged from electronic services for customers to better
communications links for employees trying to collect information and work
together.


A little over three years later, it is clear that these ideas are living up
to their promise. Processes are being reengineered, and they do work better
and cost less. But three years later it is just as clear that we can now
make even bolder plans.


There are two reasons. First, programs spawned by the original report have
been tremendously successful. They warrant an added push to put them over
the top. Even the boldest ideas, like a national Electronic Benefits
Transfer (EBT) system, dramatically simplified tax reporting for business,
and one trade data system rather than 40, are within reach.


Second, technology continues to change dramatically. Computing power in a
standard PC is 50 times what it was then, and storage capacity is 10 times
greater -- both occurred without an increase in cost. Telecommunications
costs are down, and the biggest change of all is the explosive use and
capacity of the Internet. The federal government is now delivering millions
of tax forms on-line, taking requests for retirement estimates, and
providing advice to business. But we have just begun to exploit this new=
 tool.


For these two reasons and more, and in a striking demonstration of the new
way to work, teams all over government joined to create the recommendations
in this report. Taken together, the recommendations here paint a picture of
the kind of government we should have as we begin the next century. It will
be a government where all Americans have the opportunity to get services
electronically and where, aided by technology, the productivity of
government operations will be soaring.


In this new government --


=95 Seniors will provide facts just once to cover Medicare and all pension
programs; payment will, of course, be direct to their account, accessed by
a single card that they carry in their wallet or purse.


=95 Police on the street will get electronic fingerprint checks and criminal
records while suspects are in their grasp, not weeks later.


=95 Parents will check environmental conditions around town before picking
out a new house.


=95 Students will make their application for loans, get their answers, and i=
f
approved, receive their funds, on-line.


=95 Communities will seek grants, apply for permits, and file reports
electronically.=20


=95 Companies seeking export markets for their products will go on-line to a
one-stop government shop for export assistance.


=95 And behind the scenes for all these transactions, the government will be
operating an electronic system that, compared to today's paper-based
services, improves privacy and security for individuals. =20


These images are not the half of it. This report is named "Access America"
because it calls for service improvements that will affect all Americans.
It doesn't just propose electronic services, it calls for new ways to bring
electronic options to all who want them, including those in underserved and
rural areas. For each of the actions proposed, we are also mindful of the
work that must be done to ensure that technology solutions are truly
accessible to individuals with disabilities.


The President and I are just as committed to carrying out the
recommendations in this report as we were to the original set. Our
commitment is supported not just by better technology, but also by better
management.


The Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996, signed by the
President, plus the President's order on Federal Information Technology,
and guidance from the Office of Management and Budget have everyone in
government thinking in new ways about how to manage IT. The Government
Information Technology Services (GITS) Board and its system of champions
will promote every idea. The Chief Information Officers (CIOs) at each
agency and their new council, established to improve delivery of IT, will
provide the leadership for the hard work of carrying out these
recommendations agency by agency. As a council, they will take the lead on
several governmentwide initiatives.


We are now working with a better procurement system as well. Many of the
new hardware and software components we want to use can be purchased off
the shelf, and we are using the past performance of vendors to make smarter
choices.


This report does not contemplate increases to the President's budget.
Indeed, done well, these projects will be a source of savings. The taxpayer
error rates for TeleFile tax returns by phone are a fraction of those for
paper returns -- less follow-up, less cost. Dozens of law enforcement and
public safety communications antennas now in rented space atop the World
Trade Center in New York could be replaced with two, and one will be
back-up. Reengineering means not just new technology and streamlined
processes, it means shifting existing money from old to new ways. The job
is to manage those resources and make investments so that these projects
can begin to pay off.


The underlying technologies in these recommendations are today's
technologies. Tomorrow is certain to bring new, more powerful tools. We can
plan on continuing improvement.


We can also expect this report to be a catalyst for more ideas that can
fill in and enrich the picture of access for all Americans. I'm asking the
GITS Board and the CIO Council to be active proponents for these new ideas
and proposals. Those groups should lead us to an ever improving government
that will serve America as never before.


Al Gore


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