GAO Reports Progress in E-Government Initiatives, But Partnerships Lagging

The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report today examining the progress of four e-government initiatives. The report indicates that all of the initiatives have made progress, however none have fully integrated key agencies into their projects.

The four initiatives reviewed by the GAO were e-Payroll, Geospatial One-Stop, Integrated Acquisition Environment and Business Gateway. The report cited progress by all these projects, including building Web sites for the Geospatial One-Stop and Business Gateway projects.

Conversely, the report said, "all four initiatives have taken steps to promote collaboration with their partner agencies, but none has been fully effective in involving all important stakeholders."

This lack of communication with stakeholders jeopardizes each of the initiatives. "Without effective collaboration on the tasks that remain to be completed, these initiatives may be at risk of not fully achieving their objectives or the broader goals of the president's management agenda," said the report.

State governments have been closely watching how the federal e-government initiatives have fared for direction on their own initiatives. This report furthers the climate of e-government initiatives and gives suggestions for ensuring success of e-government projects at any government level.