US Performance-Based Laws: Information Technology and E-Government Reporting Requirements

Electronic government (e-government) is the use of information technology (IT) and the Internet to transform federal agency effectiveness—including efficiency and service quality. Several US laws, including the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Computer Security Act, the Clinger-Cohen Act, the Government Information Security Reform Act (GISRA), and the E-Government Act, contain IT and e-government performance-reporting requirements. For each, the author reviews the legislative history and then focuses on the specific requirements for reporting to Congress, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and agency heads. The author concludes that OMB’s new Office of Electronic Government needs to evaluate whether performance requirements could be improved through (1) consolidation, thereby providing a more comprehensive discussion of agency IT and e-government issues, and (2) addressing broader issues, such as an across-government focus on both national and international IT issues. P.R.M. is a senior analyst with the U.S. Government Accountability Office in Washington, DC, and a doctoral candidate (ABD) in the public administration and policy program at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The opinions in this article are solely the author’s and do not represent those of the US General Accounting Office.