WASHINGTON— The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is saving millions of federal dollars by moving to Google applications. The Internal Revenue Service has saved hundreds of millions of dollars through online filing. Such technology advances are key to saving government funds in tight budget times, a top White House budget official said Wednesday.
The federal government has lagged significantly behind the private sector in productivity and must catch up, and information technology programs are the key, Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director for Management Jeffrey Zients said at a White House forum. The forum was held on a backdrop of cost-cutting, as Congress and President Barack Obama debate ways to cut trillions of dollars from the national debt.
“The ‘late-mover’ advantage gives me real optimism that we can save money and improve productivity,” Zients said. “The plan is just beginning.”
Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra introduced a 25-point implementation plan for IT reforms in government agencies in December 2010 that relies heavily on cloud computing, which allows users to share information under a common infrastructure.
“This is a product of government officials on the front lines…this is a product of the hard work that is happening from government officials on the board,” Kundra said.
Almost half of the plan will be implemented by June 9, he said.
Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman said the IT improvement plan, especially cloud computing, has given DOE more flexibility, more mobility and more resources to meet increased demands and reduce cost while improving functional capability.
“The powerful tool of cloud computing is one that I really think will help us get to where we need to be,” Poneman said.
For example, the Energy Deparment has 17 major national laboratories it must coordinate, Poneman said. Increased IT capabilities take down the barriers of communications between the labs and the department while saving money, he said.
“The scalability of the thing is one of its most impressive attributes,” Poneman said.
Under the White House plan, the Department of Agriculture is putting all 120,000 of its employees’ email accounts into a single cloud system, Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan said