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The Department of Education has a central Information Technology Services (ITS) group which supports the CIO's efforts in all activities related to enterprise-wide initiatives that will reside on EDNET. The ITS responsibilities include network security, network and telecommunications design and operations, end user services, production server hosting services, and ED's intranet and Internet services. The group also maintains and operates ED's disaster recovery facility. Also, ITS’s role is to provide professional IT based project management services to requesting program offices for a broad set of business solutions that may or may not reside on EDNET. As assigned, ITS develops and maintains common business solutions that are required by multiple Education Department program offices.
The Office is headed by a Director who reports to the Chief Information Officer.
Note: Links shown in red need more information. If you are familiar with one of these subject areas, please feel free to follow the link in order to add more information to the Government IT Wiki.
Background
Unlike the systems of many other countries, education in the United States is highly decentralized, and the federal government and Department of Education are not heavily involved in determining curricula or educational standards (with the large exception of the No Child Left Behind Act). This has been left to state and local school districts. The quality of educational institutions and their degrees is maintained through an informal private process known as accreditation, over which the Department of Education has no direct public jurisdictional control.
The primary function of the Department of Education is to formulate federal funding programs involving education and to enforce federal educational laws regarding privacy and civil rights.
Current Climate
Leading IT Projects at Education - 2007
ADvance - Aid Delivery
Virtual Data Center
Combined Office Automation/Infrastructure/Telecommunications
Common Services for Borrowers
National Student Loan Data System
Top Spending Departments - 2007
Federal Student Aid
Other Bureaus
Institute of Education Sciences
Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
Leading Contract Winners at Education
Pearson PLC - Services
Accenture - Services
Computer Sciences Corp. - Services
IBM Corp. - Products
Perot Systems (Government) - Services
Major Efforts Within the Department that could impart IT spending
- IT investment management control process, with improved oversight
- Improve the effectiveness of he federal student aid process and systems
- Confirm the security of data through certification and accreditation of IT systems
- Improve eGovernment systems, in particular IT investment management, data integrity and privacy -- especcially gfor grant applications and student loans.
- Work toward a June 2008 deadline for Dept. of Ed network backbones to become IP Version 6 (IPv6) compatible.
IT Budget History
The table below shows the trend for total Information Technology spending (2003 to 2007) within the Department of Education.
| 2003
| 2004
| 2005
| 2006
| 2007
| 2008
| 2009
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| $400
| $407
| $450
| $408
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$403 (Proposed)
$555 (Final)
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$431 (Proposed )
$587 (Enacted)
| $593 (Proposed)
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Numbers = $millions. (Data from the Office of Management and Budget)
Note on 2007 & 2008: Most civilian agencies other that the Homeland Security Department have not had a full budget approved since FY2006. A continuing resolution has keep agency spending near 2006 levels.
Grants to States
The table below shows the how Information technology grant money has flowed to states between 2001 and 2008 (projected). the trend clearly shows that federal funding for educational technology projects is slowly drying up. If the current trend and proposed budget continue, states will need to find alternative funding sources starting in 2008.
| 2001
| 2002
| 2003
| 2004
| 2005
| 2006
| 2007
| 2008
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| $450.0
| $700.5
| $695.9
| $691.8
| $496.0
| $272.2
| $273.1
| $0.0
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Numbers = $millions. (Data from the Department of Education)
Most Common Procurement Methods
Future
- $77M proposed for a Virtual Data Center -- to include hosting the Federal Student Aid Title IV application systems.
- $13.8M to create an integrated system for the Direct Loan Servicing System, Debt Management and Collection System, and other systems
Ed News
Other Department of Education News
Related Links
Federal Register - Education
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