Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra has unveiled the beta release of the Office of Management and Budget's IT Dashboard, a new Web site that tracks federal information technology investments.
"The Obama administration is laying a new foundation when it comes to transparency, accountability and responsibility, especially when we look at how we manage IT investments," said Kundra at the Personal Democracy Forum 09 conference Tuesday in New York. "On a real-time basis we are going to be providing the American people visibility into their taxpayer dollars."
The dashboard gives people the chance to see what IT projects are working and on-schedule (and which are not), offer alternative approaches and provide feedback to the chief information officers at federal agencies – which, Kundra says, provides accountability never seen before.
Agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Veterans Affairs and Small Business Administration, among others, are displayed on the dashboard.
"We are fundamentally changing the management of technology in the federal government," said Kundra. "The federal government spends today over $70 billion dollars when it comes to information technology projects."
Kundra said a list was released last year that indicated more than $30 billion in IT projects were in trouble. "And all we got was a list," he said. "That is unacceptable."
"This platform will allow the government to tap into the best ideas and the best thinking," he said.
Officials say there are plans to adapt the dashboard to other aspects of federal spending.
