Column: Too Much Of A Good Thing?

Was it terribly disappointing? Not really. Incredibly encouraging? Hardly.

President George Bush's proposed IT budget for 2007 was, on the whole, a yawner for the systems-integrator community. But there's always something worth dissecting--particularly when you look beyond the numbers.

With the new budget, the president proposed roughly $64 billion for IT, compared with $62.5 billion approved in 2006. Within that, $30.5 billion was allocated to the Department of Defense, compared with $30.4 billion in 2006, and $33.7 billion was earmarked for civilian agencies, compared with $32 billion the year prior. Funding for most agencies remained relatively flat, with only the Department of Homeland Security seeing any significant increase ($772 million).

So, aside from a couple billion dollars, not much will change if the budget passes. But if you look at where those dollars would actually be spent, things do get more interesting--especially for government contractors.

Specifically, Bush's IT budget is strewn with projects that continue agencies' efforts to meet standards set by the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Lines of Business (LOB) consolidation initiatives. That's no accident. Those initiatives encourage common processes across agencies, which, in turn, result in tangible cost savings that make them far more appealing to Congress.

Given that, dollars spent on the existing LOB for the management of budgets and spending, grants, human resources, federal-health architecture and IT security will continue in full force. The Department of Agriculture, for example, was allotted $52.7 million for the continued development of a financial-management modernization system that complies with federal-accounting standards. The Department of Health and Human Services received $38.5 million for its Unified Financial Management System, which replaces five legacy financial systems.

In addition, the proposed budget noted three new LOB: IT integration, geospatial investments and budgeting. Those may be the most valuable nuggets of information for government integrators trying to figure out which baskets to place their eggs. Some specific projects noted in the IT budget do provide a glimpse of what (perhaps) the new LOB will drive forward. The Department of Labor, for example, will spend $3.8 million on a collaborative e-budgeting system that automates the budget formulation and publication process, while the Department of the Interior will spend $1 million on an automated tool for programming and budgeting. Whether those sorts of projects fall within the new budgeting LOB remains to be seen, but one would figure they will.

That said, while more LOB means increased opportunity for VARs helping agencies meet requirements, how the initiatives will be put into practice is still unclear. The first--IT integration--goes without saying. Most agencies have already started down that path by consolidating systems, networks and processes; having OMB dictate the actual direction could make those initiatives go more smoothly. But the two other LOB are a little vague.

With geospatial investments, the government seeks to analyze cost benefits, alternatives and risks, and define roles, responsibilities, performance metrics and milestones. What does that mean? No one has detailed what that will entail for agencies or how the private sector can lend a hand.

Similarly, the budgeting LOB will apply standards and technologies for information exchange to link budget, execution, performance and financial information throughout all phases of the budget cycle. Considering that the LOB already are in place for financial management, grants management and human-resources management, one has to wonder how the OMB will distinguish and/or incorporate the new set of standards into the existing ones.

Frankly, at this point, it's all a little confusing--with lots of room for overlap. Time will tell whether too much standardization will hamper progress, but government integrators may want to brace themselves. Chances are they will be left on their own to make it all work.