Dugan Petty was there when "sustainability" was institutionalized in Oregon back in 2000. That year, the governor signed an executive order setting a goal for the state to be sustainable by 2025, and state agencies began developing action plans to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Sustainability was defined as "...using, developing, and protecting resources at a rate and in a manner that enables people to meet their current needs and also provides that future generations can meet their own needs. Sustainability requires simultaneously meeting environmental, economic and community needs."

Like 17 other states, Oregon has set greenhouse gas emissions targets and state agencies have begun developing action plans to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Sustainability in the information technology world requires governments to not only look at the environmental impact of computing operations, but also consider the impact on the local community, and economy - and try to find a balance among the three.

Dugan Petty, who was the deputy administrator of the Transportation Purchasing and Print Services Division in 2001, led the way to sustainability by creating a Sustainable Supplier Council. A team composed of industry representatives, environmental experts, and state purchasing officials, it examined ways to change the state's purchasing process to yield "a more sustainable footprint." The recommendations of the council helped change the contract specifications for various products Oregon buys.

Petty's substantial experience in contracting and procurement made him the ideal candidate to head this effort. At a newly organized State Services Division, he had responsibilities for risk management, procurement, surplus services and the state fleet. Before coming to Oregon, he was Deputy Director and Chief Procurement Officer of Alaska's Department of General Services. He was involved with enterprise-wide purchasing and contracting activities, and building efficient systems that could help state agencies accomplish their individual missions.

He collaborated with the National Association of State Chief Information Officers to improve contracting practices for IT services and products, publishing Buying Smart - State Procurement Reform Saves Millions. He has also served as the president of the National Association of State Procurement Officials.

Petty brought his procurement expertise to bear in 2003 and 2004 as he led the Oregon Strategic Sourcing Initiative called Smart Buy. On his watch, the state government developed a strategic sourcing initiative for purchasing products, such as personal computers, from local suppliers with sustainable business models. The contracts not only had to drive good pricing: they also had to be consistent with sustainability policies.

The state secured a contract for personal computers furnished by a Portland company that also removes the discarded older models, and the packaging they came in, and disposes of them in an environmentally friendly manner - creating a smaller environmental footprint while supporting the local economy.

"Everyday in government we make decisions that have an impact and consequences for the citizens we serve. We should always be asking the question, 'What's the energy consumption and can we reduce it?'"

The state is reducing its data center's energy consumption, a policy that has reduced costs as well as CO2 emissions. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and taking actions that are beneficial to the environment aren't always as easily linked to cost savings as this is, he says. "But sustainability means not necessarily only looking at the initial acquisition cost, but the environmental impacts and life-cycle analysis."

Oregon adopted an Enterprise Information Resources Management Strategy in June. Key goals and objectives "all sync up to sustainability," Petty says. "It's become ingrained in all the decision-making we do."

This year, Oregon joined eight other states in passing an Electronic Recycling Law that holds manufacturers responsible for recycling computers and other products at no cost to consumers. By 2010 disposal of covered electronic devices, such as televisions, desktop and portable computers, and computer monitors, will be prohibited.

Green IT is also coming to the federal government. Last January, an executive order directed federal agencies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions through reducing energy use by 3% annually for the next eight years, or by 30% by the end of fiscal 2015.

In August, the Environmental Protection Agency reported that servers and data centers consumed 1.5%, or 61 billion kilowatt-hours, of the nation's total electricity consumption in 2006, at a cost of about $4.5 billion. At this rate, annual IT-related energy consumption is expected to double to more than 100 billion kilowatt-hours by 2011, costing $7.4 billion a year.

The Green IT movement in the next three years will be centered on the acquisition of energy efficient products and the disposal of electronic waste, making the state's procurement policies as important as its IT policies, and calling for the skills and experience of more people like Dugan Petty. "It will be imperative to make good buying decisions about purchasing equipment that is less toxic and more environmentally friendly." He expects to see greater use of tools such as the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, a system in which manufacturers voluntarily conform to a comprehensive set of environmental criteria in eight environmental performance categories.

The need to conserve energy will make E-government and the delivery of services online even more important, Petty says. "We can no longer deliver government services the way we have in the past." Future citizens are going to expect to interact with government the same as they interact with IT in other facets of their lives. "We've got a lot to do."

No federal agency met the October 27 deadline to complete background checks and issue identification cards for all contractors and employees who have worked for the federal government for less than 15 years.

This deadline is one of the milestones set by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12), Policy for a Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors, that requires all agencies to issue interoperable biometric ID cards to all employees and contractors by October 27, 2008.

According to Karen Evans, OMB Administrator for E-Government and IT, background checks on 97% of federal employees and 79% of contractors had been completed and agencies had issued 1% of the new cards as of October 26.

OMB has modified the implementation status report template to include additional information on the status of background investigations and major milestones for each agency. Agencies are required to post their status reports within 30 days as of the 1st day of the 3rd month in each fiscal quarter.

President Bush signed the Internet Tax Freedom Act Amendments Act of 2007 into law on October 31. The law extends the moratorium on state and local government Internet-access taxes and multiple taxes on electronic commerce until November 1, 2014. The tax ban has been in place since 1998 and was set to expire this month.

The first National Strategy for Information Sharing was issued on October 31 to prioritize and unify the sharing of terrorism-related information among all levels of government, the private sector, and foreign partners.

The strategy seeks to establish an integrated national information-sharing capability and build on the progress made since September 11, 2001. It was developed collaboratively by members of the Federal Information Sharing Council, state, local, tribal, and private sector officials nationwide.

The strategy will help ensure those responsible for combating terrorism and protecting local communities have access to timely and accurate information by:

• Providing a framework for enhanced information sharing across government, the private sector and to aid security missions of foreign partners.
• Describing the federal government's approach to support state and major urban area fusion centers, and national efforts to fight crime and make local communities safer.
• Recognizing the imperative to protect the privacy rights and civil liberties of citizens as information sharing capabilities are enhanced.

On November 14, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs approved by voice vote a bill reauthorizing the E-Government Act of 2002 through 2012.

The E-Government Re-Authorization Act would reauthorize for five years critical provisions including:

• The E-Government Fund, Information Technology Exchange Program, and the Computer Standards Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
• $15 million for GSA to run USA.gov.
• Requiring OMB to develop best practices for agencies to follow in conducting privacy impact assessments.
• Ensuring federal information is more accessible through commercial search engines.

The E-Government Act of 2002 was slated to expire this month.

CIOs from five prominent English-speaking countries say they are all still in the experimental stage of adopting second-generation Internet technologies—or social media—in government.

The 5-Nations CIO Council, the national CIOs from Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and the United States compared notes on government use of Web 2.0 in its regular quarterly videoconference November 1. The U.S. CIO, Karen Evans, Administrator of the OMB Office of E-government and IT, was represented by Assistant Administrator Tim Young.

The discussion revealed that the CIOs confront a very similar range of issues in their use of Web 2.0 technologies for outreach and collaboration, and are beginning to study them extensively. While they agreed with the statement of Australia's Ann Steward that "Web 2.0 provides government with new opportunities for communication, collaboration and building trust among the public," they were concerned that the full costs of using Web 2.0 to deliver government services have not yet been identified. These are some of the issues they discussed:

Public interest in social media: Citizens in all five countries are increasingly interested in use of social media, which is widespread and growing. According to Forrester, 60% of Europeans have participated in blogs or other social media sites. In Australia, Forrester reported that online auctions have become a way of life for 48% of the population, versus 30% in the U.S.; that 11% of Australian baby boomers visit social networking sites, compared to 9% in the U.S.; and that bloggers (those who publish and maintain a blog), at 6%, represent twice the penetration as in the U.S. A recent Canadian government survey shows that 30% of Canadians are on social networking sites, including 50% of those age 12-17. Australia is canvassing citizens' views of the desirability of using a single blog for citizen consultation with all government agencies.

Social media use in government: All five governments are engaged in what New Zealand CIO Laurence Millar terms "launching and learning." The Canadian government is experimenting with internal Blogs, Wikis, Webcasts, and RSS feeds. "The 90-9-1 rule applies in these pilots," according to Deputy CIO Jim Alexander. That is, "90% look into the new social media, 9% participate in them, and 1% drive them." A number of government blogs in the U.S., Australia, and the U.K. provide vehicles for government outreach and citizen commentary. U.K. examples include blogs, political discussion groups and the e-Petitions site run by the Prime Minister's office, where citizens can petition the government. The U.S. was the only government to report having a national blog (GovGab), actively using virtual worlds like Second Life and advertising videos posted on YouTube.

Strategies for improving government with Web 2.0: Canada is exploring the use of Web 2.0 technologies to achieve three objectives: (1) to enhance consultation within Government of Canada functional communities, (2) to establish terms of use for Government of Canada policies, and (3) to create a modern government workplace to attract young talent to public service. The U.K. recently completed a Social Media Review, which recommends a strategy in which government: (1) engages with user-generated sites in pursuit of common objectives; (2) supplies government information to entrepreneurs who are re-using that information to create public knowledge; and (3) protects the public interest by addressing the use of official information.

Issues to be addressed: All five governments named a number of issues that will need to be fully addressed before they can take full advantage of Web 2.0 technologies. These include:

• Controlling content—(1) Establishing standards for use of Web 2.0 technologies; (2) Finding a balance between the need to block malicious content and avoiding undue censorship; (3) Security issues surrounding the potential for mistaking comments on blogs as official statements; (4) Legal and legislative information dissemination; (5) Establishing a "code of conduct" for bloggers.
• Technology—Meeting the need for greater technical infrastructure.
• Resources required—Understanding resource needs—economic and personnel
• Cross-government issues—How to manage and direct collaborative work.
• Outsourcing of social media for government/public services.

The 5-Nations CIO Council meets quarterly by teleconference, videoconference, or in person. Its next face-to-face meeting is scheduled to coincide with the IRMCO conference April 13-16 in Cambridge, MD. The Council is supported by the GSA Intergovernmental Solutions division.

Accenture released the results of its Leadership in Customer Service: Delivering on the Promise survey for 2007, ranking government customer service in 22 countries. For the first time since the survey began in 2000, citizen interviews, not just interviews with public service executives, were included as a component of the overall rankings. The countries were evaluated based on three factors: service maturity, customer service maturity, and citizen voice.

The 10 top-ranked countries were:

• Singapore
• Canada
• United States
• Denmark
• Sweden
• Norway
• Finland
• Australia
• United Kingdom
• Japan

OECD Broadband Statistics. The United States has 30% of all broadband connections in the 30 Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) member countries. It also represents the largest broadband market in the OECD, according to its June broadband statistics issued October 12 by the Paris-based multinational organization.

Between June 2006 and June 2007, the number of broadband subscribers in the OECD member countries increased to 221 million, a 24% increase.

Other statistical highlights were:

• Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland, Korea, Norway, and Iceland had the highest broadband penetration rates in the OECD.
• Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Norway, Denmark, and Luxembourg each added more than five subscribers per 100 inhabitants, signifying the strongest per-capita subscriber growth during the past year.

The number of adults who use the Internet at home, work, or other locations increased this year to 178 million, or 79% of the adult population in the United States. This percentage has been increasing since spring 2000, when 57% of adults were online, according to a Harris Interactive telephone survey.

American adults spend an average 11 hours online each week, up from 9 hours last year, the results show. The poll surveyed 2,062 adults between July and October.

The survey also found:

• 72% of adults are online at home
• 37% of adults are online at work
• 22% of adults are online at a location other than their home or work
• 9% of online adults are aged 65 and older
• 39% of online adults have no college education
• 13% of online adults have household incomes less than $25,000

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) says cross-government collaboration is key to finding technology solutions for managing the proliferation of electronic records. Its latest brief on electronic records management and digital preservation, Management Leads and Technology Follows - but Collaboration is King! emphasizes the need for collaboration among the state CIO, enterprise architect, archivist, electronic records manager, and state librarian.

It also contends that attention to electronic records management and digital preservation must be part of every IT investment decision. Technology issues, the promise of XML, the necessary link to enterprise architecture, managing digital assets, and a summary of CIO electronic records management guidance are topics explored in the brief.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has issued draft guidelines for managing the risk to organizational operations and assets, individuals, and other organizations resulting from the operation and use of information systems.

Managing Risk from Information Systems: An Organizational Perspective (SP 800-39), provides a structured approach for managing risk that results from the incorporation of information systems into the mission and business processes of the organization. It was issued in accordance with the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA).

Comments on the draft will be accepted through December 14.

Twenty-one agencies' progress scores in the E-Government portion of the President's Management Agenda scorecard dropped in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2007.

The agencies were downgraded because they did not develop and implement IT breach notification policies within 120 days of a May directive that instructed them to, according to OMB.

Only the Department of Labor received green current status scores in all five categories.

In the current status section:

• Scores for the Department of Labor and the Smithsonian improved to green.
• Scores for the Departments of Commerce, Homeland Security, the Peace Corps, and the Small Business Administration improved to yellow.
• The Department of Justice was downgraded from green to yellow.

Janice K. Mendenhall Spirit of Leadership Award. The American Council for Technology and the Industry Advisory Council (ACT/IAC) presented Ellen Glover, executive vice president with ICF International, with the Janice K. Mendenhall Spirit of Leadership Award at the Executive Leadership Conference October 22. The award is given to an individual whose career demonstrates leadership, character, and dedication in building relationships that shape careers of future IT professionals and strengthens relationships between government and industry.

2007 Top Digital Cities. The Center for Digital Government released its 7th annual list of the top "digital cities" in the U.S. that use technology to create a seamless environment between local governments and constituents. The winners in the four categories were:

• Aurora, CO - cities with population greater than 250,000
• Lincoln, NE - cities with populations of 125,000 to 249,999
• Santa Monica, CA - cities with populations of 75,000 to 124,999
• Jupiter, FL and Lynchburg, VA (tie) - cities with populations of 30,000 to 74,999

Public Officials of the Year. Missouri Deputy CIO Bill Bott was named one of Governing Magazine's nine "Public Officials of the Year."

Also available in pdf 76 kb

HSPD-12 - Getting a Return Beyond Security
Washington, DC
November 28

AFFIRM's monthly lunch panel: Data Sharing in a Net-Centric DoD & Beyond
Washington, DC
November 29

National Electronic Commerce Coordinating Council Annual Conference
Austin, TX
December 3-5

Green Computing Summit
Washington, DC
December 5

The 2nd Annual Rising Star Awards Luncheon
Washington, DC
December 5

USA Services Seminar: Government Customer Service
Washington, DC
December 6

Scientific Knowledge Diffusion and Emergence: When the Best Wisdom of the Past Informs our Shared Future
Arlington, VA
December 11

ACT/IAC 2008 Technology Leadership Conference (formerly Western Conference)
San Diego, CA
March 25-27

FOSE 2008
Washington, DC
April 1-3

IRMCO 2008
Cambridge, MD
April 13-16

GSA Expo
Anaheim, CA
April 22-24

ACT/IAC Management of Change Conference
Norfolk, VA
June 8-10

Comments: We welcome your feedback.

Please send your comments, concerns, complaints and questions to dotgovbuzz@gsa.gov.

Check out our previous editions at www.usa.gov/dotgovbuzz.

The DotGov Buzz is produced by the following individuals in the GSA Office of Citizen Services and Communications:

Darlene Meskell
Andrea Noce
Anne Hartzell
Bryant Jones