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EPIN Summary
``` I've enclosed a sample copy of the EPIN Summary. I won't be forwarding this to RRE regularly, since those who are interested can subscribe directly.
Date: Mon, 16 May 1994 16:11:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: James McDonough
** SUMMARY OF ELECTRONIC PUBLIC INFORMATION NEWSLETTER VOL. 4, NO. 9; May 6, 1994 **
INDEX:
1. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SLOW TO PROMOTE THE GRASSROOTS 2. COMMERCE TO PUT THE NATIONAL TRADE DATA BASE ON THE INTERNET 3. SENATE COMMITTEE TO HOLD HEARINGS ON PRA LEGISLATION 4. GAO REPORT FINDS DOD IN VIOLATION OF CONGRESSIONAL MANDATES
1. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SLOW TO PROMOTE THE GRASSROOTS: In its report last year, "Making Government Work: Electronic Delivery of Government Services," the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) recommended the federal government stimulate grassroots citizen involvement in all stages of electronic delivery from planning and pilot-testing to implementation and evaluation. The report recommended a "mandatory set-aside" from project or agency budgets to assure a proper amount of funding for such citizen participation. The report also suggested the establishment at the Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration of "service to the citizen" or "grassroots community involvement offices." These offices would help coordinate electronic delivery initiatives with other federal programs that include grassroots involvement in some form. Six months later, little has been done to implement this suggestion, and no legislation has been proposed to establish a mandatory set-aside. Fred Wood, OTA Project Director of the study, said in an interview last week, "One thing that I feel has not received the attention that I think is appropriate is this grass roots empowerment idea. There is some activity in this direction, but nothing systematic."
2. COMMERCE TO PUT THE NATIONAL TRADE DATA BASE ON THE INTERNET: A year after putting its Economic Bulletin Board (EBB) on the Internet, the Office of Business Analysis (OBA) of the Department of Commerce is moving to make its granddaddy of databases--the National Trade Data Base (NTDB)--also available over the Internet in June. Up to now, the NTDB has been available from the government on CD-ROM. The jump to put the NTDB on the Internet from the operating EBB is somewhat analogous between Class A baseball and the Major Leagues. According to Ken Rogers, Director of Information Product Development, the EBB has some 3000 files, as opposed to 160,000 files in the NTDB. He said just keeping the NTDB current is a formidable task. To start, only a part of the NTDB will be accessible over the Internet in a gopher architecture. Rogers cautioned searching a database the size of NTDB by gopher "will not be pleasant." The agency plans later in the year to install "Inquery", a search and retrieve software program developed and licensed by the University of Massachusetts. Inquery is like a WAIS, but according to Rogers, far superior. "We think the UofMass product is better it has been developed for more commercial applications and in computing tests between this and other tools the Inquery system always wins," Rogers said.
3. SENATE COMMITTEE TO HOLD HEARINGS ON PRA LEGISLATION: The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. John Glenn, D-OH, is scheduled to hold hearings on the reauthorization of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) on May 19. After almost five years in limbo, a Committee source said chances are excellent Congress will report a reauthorization bill this year. The staffer said that talks are now taking place with the staff of Sen. Sam Nunn, D-GE, and representatives of the Office of Management and Budget for the purpose of reaching an agreement.
4. GAO REPORT FINDS DOD IN VIOLATION OF CONGRESSIONAL MANDATES: The Government Printing Office (GPO) won an important battle last month in its on going war with the Department of Defense's (DOD) Defense Printing Service (DPS). These two titans of the printing world have been battling over the falling, but still hefty, amounts DOD budgets for printing. The GPO and its ally, the Joint Committee on Printing (JCP), are squeezing DPS to limit its role, but the DOD agency has to date successfully fended off all attacks. The current GPO victory comes with the publication of a General Accounting Office (GAO) report finding DPS practices "inconsistent with the requirements of applicable laws, JCP regulations, and related congressional guidance." The list of DPS transgressions include: 1) direct procurement of a relatively small amount of printing work that should have gone to GPO, 2) printing orders for non-DOD-related agencies, and 3) acquisition of duplicating equipment without certification from JCP or the Public Printer of the United States as required by the Congress. This bill of particulars is found in "Government Printing: Legal and Regulatory Framework Is Outdated for New Technological Environment" [GAO/NSIAD-94-157].
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EPIN: For more information on the complete ELECTRONIC PUBLIC INFORMATION NEWSLETTER and subscription rates contact:
James McDonough Electronic Public Information Newsletter epin@access.digex.net Tel:/Fax: (301) 365-3621 ```
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