EGov report for 2006

From GovITwiki

Commerce Department FY 2006 E-Government Act Report (The original of this report can be found here: http://www.osec.doc.gov/cio/oipr/egov_report_fy06.html.)

Overview of Commerce Implementation of the E-Government Act of 2002

Commerce has implemented all provisions of the E-Government Act of 2002, Federal Agency Responsibilities. Commerce has integrated performance management in its information technology (IT) capital investment planning and investment control process through top level performance measures that define progress toward Commerce objectives, strategic goals, and statutory mandates. All ongoing and proposed IT projects are reviewed in the context of these performance measures. These measures are key to the support of Commerce constituents, including citizens and businesses.

The use of information technology in general and E-Government in particular, receives a high priority in determining ways in which service to these constituents can be improved. The Department pays special attention to ensuring that those citizens and businesses and others who do not have access to the Internet or other electronic means to interact with the Department are provided access to Commerce information products and services and can conduct transactions with the Department in other ways. Special attention has also been given to implementing Commerce IT systems so they are in compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Commerce bureaus sponsor activities that use information technology to engage the public in the development and implementation of policies and programs, including the review of, and comment on, proposed rules. The Commerce Chief Information Officer serves on the Federal Chief Information Officers Council, and monitors the implementation of IT standards promulgated by the Secretary of Commerce within the Department.

Commerce E-Government Initiative:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - Online Positioning User Service (OPUS)

OPUS, the Online Positioning User Service, provides Global Positioning System (GPS) users, such as scientists, engineers, and professional surveyors, the ability to obtain highly accurate positioning coordinates for the purposes of transportation, construction, navigation, surveying, and other activities. OPUS allows GPS users to submit their GPS data files via the Internet to NOAA, where the data are processed to determine a position using NOAA’s computers, software and national coordinate system. OPUS has proven to be a boon to construction, transportation, and mapping industries by reducing surveying time and costs to a fraction of those previously reported. Usage of OPUS has grown from around 1,000 data submissions per month in 2002, to over 13,000 per month in 2006.

OPUS is managed and operated by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey (NGS), which defines and manages a national coordinate system. This network, the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS), provides the foundation for transportation and communication; mapping and charting; and a multitude of scientific and engineering applications.

The GPS is a "constellation" of 24 well-spaced satellites that orbit the Earth and make it possible for people with ground receivers to pinpoint their geographic location. The location accuracy is anywhere from 1 centimeter to 100 meters depending on the type of equipment used. The GPS is owned and operated by the U.S. Department of Defense, but is available for general use around the world.

How OPUS is transforming NOAA’s operations.

• Since 2002, NOAA’s Online Positioning Users Service (OPUS) has transformed the way that GPS users across the country and world can obtain highly accurate positional coordinates. OPUS allows users, such as professional surveyors, to submit their GPS observations via the Internet to NOAA, where the data are processed to determine corresponding three-dimensional positional coordinates. Each OPUS solution is estimated to save the user six hundred dollars over traditional positioning methods. There have been over 450,000 OPUS solutions processed since the service began operating just four years ago. OPUS is completely automatic and requires only a minimal amount of information from the user.
• This tool allows anyone with a single geodetic quality GPS receiver to position themselves in the National Spatial Reference System to an accuracy of two centimeters with just two hours of data. Further research is ongoing to reduce the amount of field time to just minutes. The number of solutions has grown from about 1,000 per month in FY 2002 to over 13,000 per month in FY 2006.

How NOAA maintains an ongoing dialogue with interested parties to find innovative ways to use information technology for OPUS.

• OPUS solutions are based on data gathered from GPS Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS). The CORS Web site is http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/CORS/. CORS comprises a nationwide network of permanently operating GPS receivers. NOAA provides access to GPS data from this network free of charge via the Internet. The primary objective of CORS and OPUS is to enable GPS users to determine precise positional coordinates relative to the National Spatial Reference System. These services allow OPUS users to achieve centimeter-level accuracy.
• CORS User Forums and Workshops are held across the country on a regular basis, at which extensive interaction between NOAA and CORS/OPUS users takes place. This interaction leads to improvements in CORS/OPUS and in their Web accessibility.
• NOAA is in the process of identifying and surveying representatives from individual counties across the country to determine if we are meeting their geodetic positioning needs. Local users have the opportunity, through an online survey, to provide comments and suggestions on how to improve CORS/OPUS and other positioning products and services.

External partners who collaborate on OPUS.

• The CORS network, which provides the data that OPUS solutions are based on, includes sites operated by more than 175 organizations, including other Federal agencies, state and local governments, universities, the private sector, foreign governments, and others who share the goal of making more accurate positioning available worldwide.

OPUS and positioning assistance to the reconstruction efforts in Iraq .

Recently, NOAA provided critical assistance to the U.S. Army in the design, development and implementation of the Iraqi Geospatial Reference System (IGRS). The IGRS was modeled after the National Spatial Reference System in the United States , which is managed by NOAA and provides a consistent national coordinate system to support mapping, charting, navigation, boundary determination, property delineation, infrastructure development, resource evaluation surveys, and scientific applications. The IGRS will serve as the basis for reconstruction projects in Iraq . Currently, six Iraqi CORS are fully operational. Army, Air Force, Marine, and civilian surveyors from many nations and disciplines are beginning to use the CORS stations and NOAA’s Online Positioning User Service for projects in Iraq .

Identify improved performance (e.g., outcome measures) resulting from the initiative that improve NOAA’s ability to meet its objectives and strategic goals.

• OPUS directly supports NOAA’s Commerce and Transportation Strategic Goal, namely, to “Support the Nation’s Commerce with Information for Safe, Efficient and Environmentally Sound Transportation.” Further, OPUS supports the NOAA objective to “realize national economic, safety, and environmental benefits of improved, accurate positioning capabilities.”
• NOAA has identified in its strategic plan’s performance baseline the percent of U.S. counties that are fully or substantially enabled with accurate positioning capacity that is directly related to OPUS use nationwide. U.S. county use of OPUS has increased from 25% at the end of fiscal year 2004 to over 40% at the end of fiscal year 2006, with the goal of reaching 75 % county usage by fiscal year 2013.

Cost savings and cost avoidance achieved through OPUS.

Cost and time savings benefits resulting from OPUS accrue primarily to the public.

• Using an estimated savings of $600 per OPUS solution, over $270 million in cost savings has been realized by public users of GPS through the use of OPUS to obtain accurate positions.
• Use of CORS/OPUS dramatically reduces survey project time and cost. Before the advent of GPS, it could take up to six months of field work to complete a project involving the setting of 30 survey marks. Today, the time has been reduced to less than one month. This has reduced the average estimated cost of setting a survey mark to approximately $800 today as opposed to almost $15,000 in 1984.

OPUS ensures its availability to individuals without Internet access and to those with disabilities.

• OPUS users without Internet access and those with disabilities can mail their GPS observations to NOAA on a CD and receive the OPUS results back via the same mechanism in prearranged situations.
• NOAA maintains an active Section 508 accessibility compliance program for all its electronic dissemination activities. It ensures that its information is available through a wide variety of format outputs to accommodate individuals with disabilities. In September 2006, NOAA certified to the Commerce CIO that all its Web sites were compliant with the Access Board’s IT Accessibility standards.

Commerce process for determining which information will be made available on the Internet (Section 207 of the Act); how and when Commerce decides to make its information available on the Internet and public Web sites; and how Commerce ensures that its information is accessible.

The Department of Commerce policy is to make all data of any potential use or interest to the public available on the Internet at http://www.doc.gov. Commerce has maintained a presence on the Internet since its inception. The Commerce Department disseminates a wide variety of economic, demographic, and scientific data; much of these data are released on prescribed public schedules or updated at stated intervals. Every effort is made to share as much information as possible, while maintaining statutorily required confidentiality and protecting privacy of persons and businesses. Commerce seeks to be at the forefront in using the latest technology to better inform and disseminate our data to the public. For example, many Commerce operating units including the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Census Bureau, and the National Weather Service use RSS technology to push tailored data feeds to interested users. RSS (Real Simple Syndication) is an XML-based system that allows users to subscribe to selected Web sites. Using RSS, Webmasters can put their content into a standardized format, which can be viewed and organized through RSS-aware software or automatically conveyed as new content on another Web site.

Public comment on Commerce’s programs is sought through such means as public meetings and conferences and notifications in the Federal Register. All Commerce Information Quality Guidelines were made available for public comment prior to their formal release on October 1, 2002; these data information priorities and schedules have been available to the public since that time and periodically updated. These guidelines allow for requests to correct any disseminated information. These guidelines explicitly address Commerce information dissemination standards. Commerce has fully implemented OMB’s Policy for Federal Agency Websites, M-05-04. For example, we have posted the agency’s strategic and annual performance plans, created an important links feature that includes the specific links mandated by M-05-04, and ensured that all Web privacy statements are P3P-compliant. Also, all Commerce highly influential scientific assessments and influential scientific assessments are publicly available on the agency Web site at Commerce Peer Review Agenda. Our commitment to making all our information accessible is best stated by our IT Accessibility Policy.

The public also has the ability, through e-mail to Commerce operating unit Webmasters, to make comments on the content and design of our Web pages. On an ongoing basis, these comments are then taken into consideration, and changes to the pages are made, based upon these requests and other requirements and management directives. Commerce operating units strive to disseminate information by targeting many types of users, from professional academics to elementary school children using as many Web-based delivery mechanisms as possible. Specific examples from our major disseminating operating units follow.

The Census Bureau makes all its information available and readily accessible through www.census.gov. Numerous reports are published on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. Schedules of upcoming and currently released data can be found by going into the Newsroom, clicking on Tip Sheets, and then selecting a specific digest. Additionally, Census makes available a calendar of the Economic Indicators located in the Economics Briefing Room from the Census homepage. This area lists the scheduled release date and time by indicator for the current year.

The International Trade Process Streamlining’s (ITPS) portal http://www.Export.gov developed by the International Trade Administration (ITA), consolidates content from other exporter-focused Government Web sites utilizing direct XML feeds and by enabling partner agencies to directly edit content via a cross-agency content management system. This system continues to improve the delivery of export-related content via the Export.gov portal and enables ITA to add new region and country-specific pages where U.S. firms can locate all information related to a specific region or country in one place.

The Congressionally mandated China and Middle East Business Information Centers were deployed and consolidated into Export.gov (http://www.export.gov/china and http://www.export.gov/middleeast). These sites provide U.S. companies information from across the U.S. Government on how to succeed in these markets. Export.gov has deployed a consolidated Free Trade Area channel where U.S. companies can learn how they can best benefit from recently negotiated Free Trade Agreements (http://www.export.gov/fta).

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) releases its statistical data following strict procedures to ensure that data are not disseminated before the official release. Procedures are available at http://www.bea.gov/bea/about/BEAdissemination.pdf. At the time designated for official release, BEA's data releases are made available simultaneously on the Internet. Specific release schedules are available for 2006 at http://www.bea.gov/bea/newsrel/2006rd.htm.

NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS) makes all of its products available on the Internet. Nearly all NWS meteorological and hydrologic data and forecasts are refreshed with completely new data within 48 hours. The primary NWS site where these data can be accessed is http://www.weather.gov. Forecast data are issued several times daily by NOAA's NWS forecast offices. Watches, warnings, advisories, and alerts are made available on a real time basis. This information is made available on NWS Internet sites in multiple formats (graphic, tabular, text, and XML) via automated processes. Internet dissemination of NWS products is a key piece of the Public/Private Weather Enterprise. Many private sector companies use NOAA/NWS data to develop products and services for public use.

NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite Data Information Service (NESDIS) provides timely access to global environmental data from satellites and other sources to promote, protect, and enhance the Nation's economy, security, environment, and quality of life. NESDIS also maintains an active outreach effort to keep an open dialog between its data centers and users. The principal portal for NESDIS information is http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/. Site content is updated regularly, with schedules ranging from many times per day for satellite imagery, to monthly for programmatic updates.

NOAA Magazine provides an in-depth look at the stories behind the NOAA news headlines. The online magazine gives insight into NOAA’s national and global level activities, contains up-to-date information about NOAA's many divisions, e.g., weather, oceans, satellites, climate, research, coasts, navigation, navigational charts and fisheries, and highlights crosscutting themes involving several NOAA line offices, e.g., NOAA emergency response, homeland security, and climate change issues. It showcases two to three NOAA feature articles and two NOAA products or services and is updated on a bimonthly basis. NOAA Magazine articles are available online and are distributed electronically to all the major national (broadcast and print) media outlets. The magazine is also popular within the NOAA community and has been used as briefing materials for NOAA staff and leadership. For the latest issue of NOAA Magazine, go to http://www.magazine.noaa.gov/.

NOAA Ocean Explorer is an educational Web site for all who wish to learn about, discover, and virtually explore the ocean realm. It provides public access to current information on a series of NOAA scientific and educational explorations and activities in the marine environment. The site provides a platform to follow explorations in near real-time, learn about exploration technologies, observe remote marine flora and fauna in the colorful multimedia gallery, read about NOAA’s 200-year history of ocean exploration, and learn while revealing an ocean image in the Ocean Challenge Puzzle. During active expeditions, the site updates daily. Other updates are conducted as needed. The Ocean Explorer Web site is http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/.

NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program is a major component of the Interagency Coral Reef Task Force, cochaired by NOAA and the Department of the Interior. News and major developments in the program are updated bi-weekly, and provide extensive offerings to a wide audience. The program’s Web site, http://www.coralreef.noaa.gov/, is closely tied to the larger Coral Reef Information System (CoRIS) site: http://coris.noaa.gov. CoRIS is designed to be a single point of access to NOAA coral reef information and data products, especially those derived from NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program. Combined, these sites provide access to all of NOAA's extensive coral reef data and information holdings.

Commerce priorities and schedules for making information available and accessible. Commerce priorities and scheduled release of information are available at COMMERCE WEB PUBLICATION SCHEDULE.

Commerce progress to date for permitting searching of all files intended for public use on Commerce Web sites, displaying search results in order of relevancy to search criteria, and providing response times appropriately equivalent to industry best practices.

Commerce has made excellent progress in permitting searching of all files intended for public use on its various Web sites, using the standards that are detailed on the DOC Policy on Searchable Web Pages. These include:

• Providing a search function: Major Web Sites must include a search function. This may be in the form of a search box or a link to a search page.
• Using HTML/XHTML or XML <title> tags to describe the content of Web pages: All Commerce Web pages must contain a unique page title in the head section that specifically relates to the contents of that page.
• Using Standard Metadata on Major Web Sites: Commerce uses metadata syntax consistent with the Dublin Core Metadata standards

All Department of Commerce operating units provide an industry-standard search capability on all major Web sites, enabling online visitors to search all publicly accessible documents and Web pages. Commerce utilizes a variety of search applications including Google, Autonomy, Inktomi, Lucene, FastSearch (Firstgov search engine), and HTDig, an open source search application.

The most utilized search applications are the FirstGov search and Google. Google is deployed in one of two different ways. The first is via Google’s low cost service whereby Web developers are able to insert the Google search bar directly into their own Web pages and restrict results to specific Web directories already being indexed by Google’s public search application. The second deployment is through the lease of Google’s proprietary turnkey search appliance, which enables the indexing of content behind registrations, firewalls, and intranets. Vivisimo

clustering software is used in conjunction with the Google appliance to further enhance search capabilities on Commerce Web sites. Commerce’s Patent and Trademark Office has developed a customized search engine for its users to search for published patents online; this feature is called the Patent Application Information Retrieval (Public-PAIR) system.

Additionally, Commerce’s Web Advisory Group (WAG) implemented a Web development standard requiring that all major Websites initiate a process requiring operating units to provide index updates to the FirstGov search on a quarterly basis to insure Commerce content is accessible to the public via this important government-wide portal.

Coordination of Commerce dissemination with Commerce Freedom of Information (FOIA) Operations

In conjunction with Commerce efforts to make all its information products widely available to the public, Commerce takes a proactive approach to meeting both the letter and spirit of the Freedom of Information Act. Commerce houses a FOIA reading room in the Herbert C. Hoover Building in Washington, DC, as well as an electronic reading room on the Internet. Each Commerce operating unit maintains its own conventional and electronic reading room as well.

As part of its annual E-Government Report, Commerce provides an updated description of its progress in improving both access to and dissemination of its information products. The DOC Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Improvement Plan (June 2006) describes Commerce procedures for responding to FOIA requests, including the requirement to send an acknowledgement letter to all FOIA requesters. The Plan also provides for a further reduction in the already low FOIA backlog; explains the multi-track processing method that was introduced to provide the flexibility to address relatively simple requests more quickly than through a single-track process; and describes the methodology used to identify and respond to requests with a compelling need by priority handling and expedited response.

The DOC Strategic Information Technology Plan, 2007-2011 (September 2006) contains additional information about Commerce’s use of information technology to enhance the value of its publicly available information products.

Categorizing of Information at Commerce

Commerce organizes its available information within two general categories:

• Information Disseminated to the Public-at-Large. This category of information is published directly to the Internet, making it immediately searchable by publicly available sophisticated search technologies. While the ease of indexing and searching the underlying data mitigates the need for formal data models, Commerce Web standards and information quality guidelines ensure consistency in the quality and structure of these information products. The majority of information produced by Commerce fits this category and formal modeling or explicit cataloging is not needed to make it readily accessible.
• Significant Information Products Exchanged Among Specific Identifiable Groups. The exchange or dissemination of this category of information is often not accommodated by freely available search functions. Since these search functions do not adequately organize and categorize these information products, formal data models are employed to ensure their effective dissemination. Because of the diverse nature of the information products produced by Commerce’s various operating units, no single data model is appropriate for their dissemination. The formal data models employed by operating units such as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Bureau of the Census, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) conform to industry standards, widely accepted practices, and international treaties.

Public Access to Commerce Electronic Records

The Department of Commerce is working closely with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to ensure that all electronic records will be covered by retention schedules by September 30, 2009, in accordance with NARA Bulletin 2006-02. Commerce is gathering the data necessary to develop a comprehensive listing of its electronic records systems to identify those that have not already been covered by existing schedules. Additionally, individual Commerce operating units have been working closely with NARA archivists, who are assisting them in developing schedules for permanent records.

Access to Commerce Federally Funded Research and Development

Two Commerce operating units, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), provide funding for research and development (R&D) activities. NOAA funds R&D through entities of the Federal Government, such as laboratories and centers, and by funding non-Federal institutions through grants, cooperative agreements, and other means. NOAA has a vigorous program to ensure that the results of its R&D activities are widely available to other researchers and the general public. NIST likewise provides funding for R&D, much of which is conducted in its laboratories and research centers. It also has an active grants program that supports R&D activities by non-Federal institutions.

In addition to posting R&D results on their Web sites, NOAA and NIST also use other portals and mechanisms to ensure wide dissemination of their R&D funded results, including the following Web sites and activities.

• Science.gov is a gateway to authoritative selected science information provided by Federal agencies, including R&D results. The science.gov Web site search includes over 50 million pages on more than 1,850 Web sites and databases. Each of the 12 participating agencies has selected resources, including research and development results, from within their agency for inclusion. New resources are added to the science.gov Web site search every six weeks, creating a large cross-section of Federal science resources. The Web site is operated by the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), an operating unit of the Department of Commerce. NOAA and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are participating agencies. Approximately 17 NOAA scientific program URLs are linked to Science.gov to provide the widest possible public audience with ready access to the many scientific research fields that NOAA and its laboratories are involved in.
• RaDiUS (Research and Development in the United States ) (https://radius.rand.org) is the most comprehensive database of R&D activities funded by the Federal Government. RaDiUS was developed by the RAND Corporation, in cooperation with the National Science Foundation (NSF), to support the work of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), Federal agencies, and all others interested in the Federal R&D portfolio. In March 2005, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) formally recognized RaDiUS as a central component of OMB’s implementation of Section 207(g), “Access to Federally Funded Research and Development,” of the E-Government Act. RaDiUS is available to Federal employees and contractors, but is not available to the general public. For FY 2005, there are 212 NOAA funded R&D products in the RaDiUS database. NOAA has been an active participant and contributor to RaDiUS since at least 1993.
• NOAA and NIST also make use of peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals as a way to disseminate R&D results to the scientific community. NOAA’s Office of Atmospheric Research (OAR) uses journal articles, along with R&D results posted on its Web site, as the basis for its contributions to scientific assessments, both national and international. NIST laboratories and centers also publish series of publications to disseminate their research and post the publications on their Web sites.
• The Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR) is the science arm of NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS). STAR acquires and manages the nation’s operational Earth-observing satellites. NESDIS conducts the R&D necessary to provide data from these satellites, and make it available to the public at http:www.orbit.nesdis.noaa.gov.
• NESDIS also manages the Cooperative Research Program (CoRP), a nationwide research coalition of the Federal Government and universities that work together on remote sensing of the environment. CoRP research results are also available at http:www.orbit.nesdis.noaa.gov.