Date / Time: Conference Call Tues 2004-11-10 2:30 pm ~ 3:30 EDT (4QF)
- Invited: (4QI)
- ... (If you cannot attend, please have a colleague or member of your staff attend on your behalf) ... (4QJ)
Call Details: (4QN)
- Dial 1-888-469-0488 (4QO)
- PASSCODE: 21710 (4QP)
- Call Leader: James Mackison (4QQ)
Acknowledgements (4QR)
- Thanks to SusanTurnbull for her notes from the meeeting, which were used in the development of the minutes below.{nid 4SH} (80N)
Agenda & Proceedings (4QT)
- 1. Introduction and Opening Remarks - Martha Dorris (2:30 - 2:35 EST) (4QU)
- Martha began the meeting by welcoming our newest member, Kim Nelson CIO of EPA, to the group. In other membership news, Russ Doupnik, former Deputy CIO of the State of Maryland, has left state government. We are currently looking for a new state member. Suggestions should be sent to James Mackison at james.mackison@gsa.gov. (6LZ)
- Two important documents have been published in the past few months. The newest Intergovernmental Solutions Newsletter on Innovative Funding has been published. It is available online at http://www.gsa.gov/gsa/cm_attachments/GSA_DOCUMENT/OCSC%20Newsletter%20Oct%202004_R2-oK1L_0Z5RDZ-i34K-pR.pdf. Hard copies are also available and can be requested by contacting James at the address above. We have also published the IAB report on Business Continuity online at http://www.gsa.gov/gsa/cm_attachments/GSA_DOCUMENT/citizens1_R2-fG1-e_0Z5RDZ-i34K-pR.pdf. (6M0)
- Martha wrapped up by introducing Denis Gusty, former GovBenefits Project Manager and new Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Solutions and chair of the IAB. Martha thanked the group. She will still be involved in IAB, but has officially turned over the Chair to Denis. (6M1)
- 2. Intergovernmental Priorities - New OIS Director and IAB Chair Denis Gusty (2:35 - 2:45 EST) (4QX)
- Denis talked about the direction of OIS and his plans for the IAB. Denis started by thanking Martha and the group. Denis comes to GSA as the Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Solutions (OIS) after 17 years with the federal government at the Department of Labor. He worked for the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 14 years. Then he successfully managed the GovBenefits Presidential E-Gov Initiative. Denis noted he is more than familiar with the importance of intergovernmental management through his work at Gov Benefits. He has worked closely with OIS prior to becoming the Director. (6M2)
- Denis views IAB as a vital resource in intergovernmental management. IAB members are well positioned to leverage the opportunities and make progress in intergovernmental collaboration. OIS recently held an off-site to determine priorities for the upcoming year. The office welcomes continued work with the IAB and we will rely on each other to make intergovernmental collaboration happen. (6M3)
- Denis will work gradually into his role as chair of the IAB. He noted that he would play the role of observer in this call to learn more about the group. Denis wrapped up by thanking the group, which he looks forward to working with this year. (6M4)
- 3. Highlights from Last Meeting and Next IAB Product - James Mackison (2:45 - 2:55 EST) (4R0)
- James covered the highlights from the last IAB meeting on Thursday, July 22nd, 2004. At the meeting, Barry West spoke to the group about the intergovernmental priorities of FEMA, and Dianah Neff spoke about the priorities of Philadelphia. For more details on each, please refer to the minutes from July 22nd 2004. (6M5)
- A summary was provided of the now published IAB report on Business Continuity. The report found that: (6M7)
- Government and business are beginning to take an enterprise approach to business continuity planning. (6M8)
- Involving intergovernmental and private sector partners in business continuity, beginning at the planning stage, allows governments to maintain critical interdependencies and share resources and facilities. (6M9)
- In addition to disaster response and emergency services, resuming day-to-day operations and continuity of government, especially for the most critical services, should be a major component of any business continuity plan. (6MA)
- Finally, the group discussed potential future projects and publications. Among the suggested topics: (6MB)
- Incentives for Intergovernmental Management (6MC)
- Archival of online information (6MD)
- COOP and Disaster Recovery (6ME)
- Intergovernmental Collaboration tools and technologies (6MF)
- Intergovernmental Procurement Strategies (6MG)
- Customer Service Level Agreements between levels of government (6MH)
- Identity Management (6MI)
- 311 systems (6MJ)
- Authentication of Electronic Transactions (6MK)
- 4. Discussion of 311 Systems - Carole Dobbs, USA Services (2:55-3:05 EST) (4R3)
- As one of the suggested topics for upcoming work, the board discussed 311 and N11 systems. Mary Kiffmeyer and Evie Barry spoke about the recently published report by NECCC on N-1-1 systems. The paper, completed by the N-1-1 work group, is a handbook for government leaders who are searching for ideas on how N-1-1 solutions can strengthen constituent relationships. This document is on the NECCC Web site (www.ec3.org) and was sent to the group in advance of this meeting. The report found that each N-1-1 system (311, 211, 411, 511) has its own customer base. (6MM)
- Carole Dobbs of USA Services talked about some of the research she has done on behalf USA Services. USA Services is one of the President’s 24 E-Gov initiatives. Its goal is to provide a single-front door to government through multiple delivery channels (e.g. phone, web, e-mail). The program works with partners and includes the Federal Citizen Information Center (1-800-FED-INFO) and Firstgov.gov. Part of the program handles misdirected calls from agencies that receive requests for services and information provided by other agencies. USAServices studied whether there were similar misdirects in state and local offices. As of a few months ago, there were 19 311 systems in operation, 11 in progress, and 8 under construction based on USAServices’ research. Teresa Nasif, Director of USA Services, FCIC and FirstGov visited the New York 311 site. The USA Services team also visited Baltimore’s CIO and toured their 311 call-center, where they are integrating municipal activities. They handle requests via phone or email and initiate and track workflows across agencies. Baltimore suggested that there were few misdirects that could be considered federal inquiries, and state governments may have more of a need for such a service. (6MN)
- Carole offered to assist state and local governments with misdirected federal government inquiries. The question was posed regarding whether states have similar government-wide call centers like 1-800-FED-INFO and local 311 systems. Texas was the only example known to the group, where they have a call center run by the United Way for state and community services. It was also noted that in addition to the services provided by N-1-1 systems, they also have a benefit in alleviating misdirected non-emergency calls to 911. For more information about USAServices and its connection to 311 systems, contact James Vaughn at james.Vaughn@gsa.gov. (6MO)
- Paul Grandio of Miami-Dade spoke about their efforts to launch a 311 system. They are currently conducting a “soft implementation” and will add departments gradually at one per week until ready for a full launch. They are using Wintel servers, an Oracle database, and Motorola to support the system. They have not studied the issue of redirects at this time but they anticipate it might be an issue. (6MP)
- Mary Kiffmeyer raised the idea of creating workshops for states on N-1-1 systems. NECCC is planning for a larger conference and white paper but perhaps some hands-on regional workshops leading up to the full event would be useful. (6MQ)
- The group discussed the intergovernmental implications of N-1-1 in light of the fact that there seemed to be little demand among some locals for routing or receiving misdirects. Greg Scott noted that exploring such intergovernmental call centers is a possibility that should be looked at. (6MR)
- Otto Doll noted that without an intergovernmental approach for these systems, there is the danger of governments falling back into the old silos. (6MS)
- The group agreed to look for vertical intergovernmental approaches to call-centers and N11 systems and discussions will continue to understand the intergovernmental potential. (6MT)
- 5. Discussion of the Impact of the 2004 Election of Intergovernmental Management and E-Government - All (3:05-3:15 EST) (4R6)
- It was generally thought that the 2004 election would have limited impact on E-Gov direction and leadership. In state government, Otto noted there were few governor races and turnover will be less then during the last election year. Mary noted that even in times of electoral change, the shift is far less drastic because any administration or party faces the same challenges in E-Gov. She also noted some positives to changing leadership such as, not being wedded to old ways of doing things, tighter budgets, more joint planning. (6MU)
- 6. Intergovernmental Priorities - EPA CIO Kim Nelson (3:15 - 3:25 EST) (4R9)
- Kim discussed the intergovernmental priorities at the Environmental Protection Agency. Kim worked 22 years in state government before moving to EPA. EPA has a very cooperative relationship with states. EPA receives approximately 95% of the information it uses from states. EPA provides grants of $65M to states for IT and sharing of environmental information. (6MV)
- Kim is very active in enterprise architecture (EA) and the group discussed potential projects to merge federal, state and local EA efforts. Within the Federal CIO Council’s Architecture and Infrastructure Committee, there has been limited emphasis on vertical integration, until recently. NASCIO has been working with state governments to standardize across states. Denis noted the challenge of working across federal and state governments. Kim said that while vertical integration has not been the priority so far, it is not due to a lack of desire. Rather, logistics and culture get in the way. It needs to become second nature to work with states in the federal government and vice versa. Mary McCaffrey highlighted the need to step back and understand the problems of interoperability, and learn of the emerging directions. The EA can be a framework to reduce the complexity. (6MW)
- Greg noted that there are often several initiatives on sharing of information, interoperability and architecture, and it is confusing for state and local governments to know with whom to work. Mary said there needs to be more direct connections to work in concert and synergize. Otto suggested NASCIO as the way to engage states in this discussion. There is a need to build on existing interoperability and information sharing efforts. EPA has great relationship with states in sharing environmental information. Other work could be modeled on NASCIO’s Global Justice work. (6MX)
- The group finished the discussion by agreeing to work together to improve coordination in EA efforts. Mary requested names of interested people. Denis asked for lessons learned from Kim’s EPA and EA work in vertical coordination. Such a document is being developed but is not ready fro distribution at this time. The group thought that compiling interoperability efforts across governments to facilitate collaboration could be useful. (6MY)
- 7. Wrap-up and Closing(3:25 - 3:30 EST) (4R9)
- Send out 311 research from USA Services to group (6MZ)
- IAB will continue to investigate synergies between N-1-1 systems and call centers across levels of government and contribute to regional workshops on N-1-1 systems in support of the NECCC N-1-1 working group. (6N0)
- IAB will begin to compile intergovernmental interoperability and enterprise architecture efforts across governments in order to coordinate across the initiatives and make it easier and less complicated for vertical coordination of efforts. (6N1)
