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Part 1: Overview of DOL's Implementation of the
E-Government Act of 2002: Disability info.gov
The Department of Labor (DOL) has chosen to highlight
Disabilityinfo.gov, managed by its Office of Disability and Employment Policy
(ODEP), for the FY 2006 E-Government Act of 2002 Report. Disabilityinfo.gov is
a citizen-centric comprehensive Web resource designed to provide Americans with
disabilities and those that support, serve, and employ them with information on
and access to Federally-sponsored employment, housing, transportation, income
support, health care, technology, and other programs relevant to their
day-to-day lives.
How We Are Transforming Our Operations
DisabilityInfo.gov is a unique tool that serves the disability community
by aggregating all Federal direct and indirect disability program and service
information into a single format delivered through a Web portal. It is
recognized that citizens do not differentiate among levels of government when
seeking government sources. Thus by providing a citizen-focused view of a
"government without boundaries," DisabilityInfo.gov allows citizens to focus on
their needs rather than on the source. Furthermore, DisabilityInfo.gov allows
the Administration and DOL to ensure a common approach to e-Government support
for people with disabilities nationwide; establish a baseline of e-Government
activities to support people with disabilities; identify future e-Government
activities that support the ability of people with disabilities to join the
work force; and improve citizens' ability to assess program effectiveness for
enhanced policymaking. DisabilityInfo.gov also benefits Federal programs and
agencies, and State and local organizations by making it easier for them to
outreach to people with disabilities, and will assist them in supporting the
goals of President Bush's New Freedom Initiative.
How We Are Maintaining Ongoing Dialogues with Interested Parties to
Ensure Innovation
DOL through ODEP has a strong commitment to maintaining a collaborative
relationship with stakeholders and partners to ensure the success of
DisabilityInfo.gov. Continued dialogue is consistently maintained between ODEP
and its current stakeholders at the Federal, State and local levels through
outreach efforts. The DisabilityInfo.gov Governance Board convenes to evaluate
and discuss innovative ways to use IT to improve the delivery of government
disability information and services to the public, and ODEP continues to engage
Federal, State and local governments through a Strategic Outreach and
Partnership Development Campaign. This effort has increased the number of
stakeholders as well as access to subject matter experts to support the mission
of DisabilityInfo.gov. Finally, ODEP conducts surveys and focus groups to
measure the effectiveness of its government and public outreach campaigns and
to gauge overall customer satisfaction with DisabilityInfo.gov. ODEP then
actively shares this information with the DisabilityInfo.gov stakeholders to
see where improvements can be made.
Our External Partners
DisabilityInfo.gov is maintained by ODEP, the managing partner, with
additional support, subject matter expertise, and content provided by 20 other
Federal agencies. ODEP is also collaborating with State and local agencies to
expand the information and services available to the public and to ensure
localized service delivery. The goal is to provide a comprehensive, one-stop
Web resource which meets the varied needs of the disability community. This
collaborative business concept leverages the infrastructure benefits and
programmatic expertise from several government agencies, including the
Department of Labor, Department of Education, Department of Transportation,
Department of Defense, Social Security Administration, Veteran's
Administration, and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Our Performance and Outcome Measures
Qualitative benefits include improved mission performance, improved
decision-making, or more reliable or usable information. Specific qualitative
benefits are:
- Increased Citizen Satisfaction: 1) More timely response in
obtaining information about disability programs, resources, and policies; 2)
Improved, personalized delivery and service; 3) Enhanced public confidence in
government based the facilitation of interactions between the public and
governmental agencies (viewed as “one-Government”); 4) One-stop Web
resource for programs and services, thus allowing the public to easily obtain
disability and employment information from multiple agencies in a single visit
to DisabilityInfo.gov, and highlighting areas in which these same citizens
previously had to canvass multiple Web sites in search similar or identical
information; and 5) Contribution toward making citizens with disabilities more
self-sufficient and independent.
- Government-Wide Streamlining of Benefit Programs (i.e.,
identifying duplicative efforts or processes in government disability programs
and services): 1) Necessary coordination among benefit programs. This assists
in pin-pointing duplicative or redundant services, allowing redeployment of
personnel and resources to mission-critical activities; 2) Consistent and
real-time view of contact information for benefits.
The Cost Savings Achieved with this Initiative
The move to a citizen-centric, one stop portal for disability related
information is realizing leveraged cost savings by avoiding the additional
costs associated with other alternative information dissemination mechanisms.
In FY 2006, the initiative demonstrated savings of over $22 million compared to
methods of disability information dissemination prior to the site’s
inception. These figures reflect the consolidation of each partner
agencies’ activities for s ite branding and outreach into one branded
portal that transparently redirects citizens to the agency sites of interest.
The estimated cost to support those activities in each agency for FY 2006 is
$1.14 million multiplied times the number of partner agencies (currently 21).
With this initiative, those activities are paid for only once and the benefits
are multiplied across all partners. In addition, the cost savings are projected
to remain consistent at $20 million annually through FY 2012.
How We Are Ensuring Accessibility
ODEP ensures that all information posted on DisabilityInfo.gov is
formatted to allow people with disabilities to read and access data with the
aid of assistive technology, thereby removing barriers and making programs and
services more accessible to the disability community. Moreover, current
contracts include language requiring compliance with Section 508 of the
Rehabilitation Act. Additionally, ODEP maintains an uptime goal of 99.9% for
the DisabilityInfo.gov Web portal, thereby facilitating constant availability
of this valuable resource.
Part 2: Compliance with Section 207(f)(2)of the
E-Government Act of 2002
The Office of Public Affairs (OPA), Division of Enterprise
Communications leads the DOL effort to comply with Section 207 (f)(2) of the
E-Government Act of 2002, which requires Agencies to establish a process for
the publication of Government information to the public. OPA leads this process
for DOL by collecting information and publishing a Web Publication Schedule. To
collect this information, OPA contacts all DOL Agencies, Offices and Bureaus
annually to request a list of publications such as statistical databases, fact
sheets, brochures, news releases and other document types that Agencies planned
to publish, along with an estimated date of publication. In addition, OPA
consults with the DOL National Contact Center to determine which topics the
public most frequently requests to assist agencies in identifying potential
content deficiencies.
For FY 2006, twenty-four items were identified and scheduled for
publication. These items are in the DOL Web Publication Schedule table below
and are also published on the DOL website at:
http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/content.htm. The Web Publication Schedule
identifies the agency, the type of publication, the planned action, and the
estimated date of publication for each item. Public comments on the final
determinations, priorities, and schedule are solicited on the same page as the
published schedule, where users are invited to send their questions, comments
or other feedback about the information to our primary public e-mail address,
webmaster@dol.gov.
File Searching on the DOL.gov Website
The DOL.gov website utilizes the Fast DataSearch Search Engine so that
users can find information quickly and easily. Information such as HTML pages,
PDF documents, Word documents, video and audio files are some examples of what
is gathered and categorized by this search engine. The newly installed search
engine provides extremely accurate search results by means of its internal
relevancy, ranking and tuning algorithms. Other measures involve relevancy
testing and optimization to ensure that top keyword searches match up-to-date
content spread across the DOL enterprise. Internal testing of our search engine
response times indicate that searches are completed in approximately 0.405
seconds.
Part 3: FOIA and DOL Information Dissemination
Activities
Describe how your agency's information dissemination activities are
coordinated with its FOIA operations in order to improve both access to and
dissemination of government information to the public.
One of the Department of Labor's primary means of information
dissemination is its public website. Within the DOL.gov domain, DOL Agencies
have extensive websites in which they post materials of interest to their
constituencies and the public. One example of how a DOL Agency used the Web to
quickly and effectively disseminate information to the public occurred in
connection with the Sago mine accident. MSHA, recognizing that there was a
great deal of public interest in the accident, quickly created a reading room
for Sago related material and has regularly updated it:
http://www.msha.gov/sagomine/sagomine.asp.
DOL.gov provides information on FOIA to assist potential FOIA
requesters. See
http://www.dol.gov/dol/foia/main.htm. The website includes a "Guide for
Requesting FOIA Records," a list of the Department's FOIA disclosure officers,
links to the FOIA Requester Service Centers established pursuant to the
Executive Order, links to the FOIA Web sites of individual agencies, and links
to the Department of Labor's annual FOIA reports dating back to 1996.
In accordance with Executive Order 13392, the Department has issued a
report on its FOIA activities and an improvement plan, which can be found at:
http://www.dol.gov/dol/foia/eo13392/index.htm. Section II of the Plan
discusses increasing the Department's FOIA web presence and proactive
disclosure. The plan recognizes that the Department's Web site can be used both
to provide information on how to file a FOIA request, and to provide access to
information that members of the public may want, thus avoiding the need for
individual FOIA requests. In addition to complying with the law, it is
anticipated that once the goals of the plan are achieved, requesters will
obtain information more quickly and be spared the effort of using FOIA to
obtain the documents directly, which also has the benefit of allowing the
Agency to avoid the effort, expense, and delays of processing unnecessary FOIA
requests. The plan sets out goals and timetables for:
- Improving DOL website Information on FOIA;
- Improving Agencies' Procedures for Identifying and Posting Required
Affirmative Disclosures; and
- Identifying Opportunities for Proactive Disclosure.
In addition the Department completed and published its updated IT
Strategic Plan for FY 2005-2009. See:
http://www.dol.gov/cio/programs/ITStrategicPlan2006/IT-Strategic-Plan.htm.
The plan confirms the critical role of Information Technology as an enabler of
success in achieving the four strategic mission goals of the Department, and
lays out the five IT strategic goals which provide a practical guide and a
scope within which the Department will focus its IT planning, development and
management.
Section 207 (d) Categorizing of Information
Section 207 (d) of the Act requires the adoption of standards to enable
the organization and categorization of Government information so that it is
searchable electronically and interoperable across agencies. The Department of
Labor’s Enterprise Architecture Program Office is using the Data Reference
Model (DRM) to demonstrate the connection and alignment between horizontal
layers of the Departmental Enterprise Architecture (performance, processes,
data, services, and technology). By applying the Federal Enterprise
Architecture DRM taxonomy, DOL uses standards to enable the organization and
categorization of Government information, interoperability and reuse across
agencies, and electronic access to information. For example, data
standardization is enabling DOL to develop reusable Web Services and modular
development components through the Electronic Communications Initiative (ECI).
The Department is also in the process of implementing the Departmental
Enterprise Architecture Management System (DEAMS), which will act as a
centralized data repository that will facilitate department-wide solutions by
centralizing DRM-based data collection and storage. To enhance the use of the
DRM to enable seamless exchanges of data within DOL and with external
stakeholders, the Department launched the DOL Data Working Group in September
2006. This Working Group will actively work to validate and update the
Department’s Data Inventory and to define and adopt comprehensive
Department-Wide Data Standards.
Section 207 (e) Public Access to Electronic Information
Section 207 (e) of the Act requires the identification and scheduling of
all electronic records in existing and new electronic information systems. The
Department of Labor is in the process of updating all records disposition
schedules to include the scheduling of program related or program specific
electronic records including database and small database applications that are
not covered by the General Records Schedule. To ensure that all records are
scheduled, the Departmental Records Officer meets on a monthly basis with
Agency Records Officers, disseminates records information and policy changes,
and reviews all records submissions to ensure that Agency Records Officers are
fulfilling their responsibility to schedule all unscheduled records. The
Departmental Records Officer is also monitoring the creation of single item
schedules and will implement a plan to compile single item agency schedules
into one consolidated schedule every five years. A migration plan will be
developed and implemented to migrate to new technology all electronic permanent
records housed on tapes and discs, and stored on site or off site at a Federal
Records Center pending transfer to the National Archives. This ensures that the
information and data contained on the electronic medium remains available to
the public, and that the medium upon which they are stored remains updated and
readable.
The Department of Labor is in the conceptual phase of outlining business
requirements for an enterprise-wide Document Management and Records Management
(DM/RM) system. The DM/RM system will address NARA and OMB A-130 requirements
by serving as the Departmental electronic record keeping system, thus enabling
an electronic records management program at DOL. Information systems currently
in use at the Department that generates electronic records as output will be
able to connect to the DM/RM record keeping system. Record keeping requirements
for all existing electronic information systems are updated annually in the
Departmental Target Enterprise Architecture.
DOL also utilizes a robust governance process which vets and approves
any Requests for Information Technology Systems (RITS) through a series of
governing bodies including the Enterprise Architecture Subcommittee, the
Capital Planning subcommittee and the Technical Review Board. These governing
bodies utilize a rigorous evaluation to ensure that no redundancy across the
Department will be created by the RITS. The governing bodies also examine
whether existing service components currently in use at DOL could be used to
fulfill the RITS. It is during this approval process that information systems
are scheduled with NARA, if they are not already covered by an existing NARA
General Records Schedule.
Section 207 (g) Access to Federally Funded Research and
Development
Section 207 (g) of the Act requires that any Agency that funds Federal
research and development to provide that information to the public. Every year,
DOL provides information on its research and development grants to RaDiUS
https://radius.rand.org/radius/index.html,
the federal database for R&D, for publication on their website. In FY 2006,
two Agencies at the Department of Labor, Employment Training Administration
(ETA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) funded
approximately $158 Million dollars in Research & Development grants which
were published on RaDiUS. The information provided to RaDiUS includes the
Federal organization name, estimated start and end dates, the Agency contact
name and phone number, the average funding amount, the award/task abstract,
place of performance, performer, performer type and type of funding mechanism.
In previous years, other DOL Agencies have published R&D information on
RaDiUS including the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Pension Benefit
Guarantee Corporation.
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