1.4 THE COMMITTEE ON HOUSE OVERSIGHT INFORMATION SYSTEMS At its November 15, 1995 meeting, the Committee on House Oversight adopted the House Information Systems Program Plan presented by its Computer and Information Services Working Group. The Plan and an accompanying resolution provides H.I.R. the direction and a detailed blueprint for translating the Speaker's CyberCongress vision into a reality. The H.I.R. plan and this budget request are in specific response to the Committee's plan. The plan mandates: A new Information Research facility for the House based on the World Wide Web Replacement of the MicroMin, MIN and ISIS systems. H.I.R. to migrate its existing mainframe-based systems to systems that support the The adoption of a House-wide Messaging infrastructure establishing an Internet-like Close cooperation with and the elimination of unnecessary duplication of effort among the computer support organizations of the House, the Senate and the Library. That the House adopt a modern Data and Document Preparation and Management System for the creation, storage, retrieval and printing of House documents. The retirement of small office servers and the use of shared high-performance servers. 1.5 COMPLYING WITH AUDIT RECOMMENDATIONS The 1995 Price Waterhouse Audit made important recommendations regarding the strategy, development, management and security of House information and communications systems. The inception of H.I.R. in July and subsequent restructuring plans and actions address audit issues dealing with strategy, development and management. They are being handled by the management and personnel of H.I.R. in cooperation with the CAO organization and other entities within the House. The three major security recommendation areas are: 1. Member Computer Security Systems weaknesses - 8 recommendations 2. Internet Security Weaknesses - 10 recommendations 3. House Computer Systems Vulnerability to Unauthorized Access, Modification and Destruction a) Establish a comprehensive data security program - 8 recommendations b) Disaster Recovery Improvements including all offices, facilities, and c) Security Controls over User Access to System Resources - 7 recommendations The implementation of these 37 recommendations is critical to the success of the CyberCongress plan. Nothing is more important to the users of House systems than the integrity, confidentiality and availability of the information, particularly with a strategy that will see usage and dependence on the systems increase dramatically in the foreseeable future. The credibility of the strategy rests with the confidence that the users will develop regarding the privacy of their systems, information and communications. Although delayed initially, H.I.R.'s new Manager of Security assumed his new position in mid February. He will lead the development of the new policies and provide the direction on the response to the recommendations. The H.LR. Director's Office has four full-time authorized personnel plus each H.I.R. Group has staff assigned part-time to security. There will be a continuing need for contract help to assist H.LR. in the implementation of the new security policies and the required and continuing audits. The contract service request in this appropriation is $100,000. An equally important area is back-up and recovery which has been expanded beyond the H.I.R. mainframe system to include communications as well as distributed systems in Member, committee and other House offices. H.I.R. management and professionals are currently developing the new plan with a recommendation expected by March 31, 1996. This appropriation request includes an additional $120,000 for current Enterprise Computing and new distributed systems needs and $700,000 for the new communications systems plan. Over the years, H.I.R. has implemented and is now supporting hundreds of systems, databases, and services that are essential to the operation of House offices today. These range from legislative process systems to nationwide communication networks to accounting systems to label printing and Electronic Mail. While H.I.R. is moving forward to meet the Speaker's vision, the mandates of the Committee on House Oversight and the recommendations from the House audit, it must, at the same time, provide reliable and timely support for its existing commitments. At times, the question is asked, "What does the House receive in return for the funds that are appropriated to H.I.R. and 270 FTES?" In addition to the new services previously addressed, the answer to that question is: Congressional Record (104th Congressional Record (103rd Congressional Record (102nd Congressional Record (101st Congressional Record (100th Congressional Record (99th Congress) Congressional Record Index (103rd Congressional Record Index (102nd Congressional Record Index (101st Congressional Record Index (100th Congressional Record Index (99th Committee Meeting Announcements U.S. Code Text of Legislation (104th Congress) Text of Legislation (103rd Congress) Text of Legislation (102nd Congress) Text of Legislation (101st Congress) Text of Legislation (100th Congress) Text of Legislation (99th Congress) Text of Legislation (98th Congress) Laws Floor Amendments (104th Congress) Floor Amendments (103rd Congress) Floor Amendments (102nd Congress) Bills and Amendments (104th Congress) Bills and Amendments (103rd Congress) Bills and Amendments (102nd Congress) Compilation of Acts Rules, Procedure, and Precedents Biographical Directory Electronic Mail FAX Distribution Service (Outbound Only) MIN Bulletin Board Categories: Army Corps Case Worker Census Credit Union CRS Products C-SPAN Disaster Relief DOD Press GAO Reports H.I.R. News and Training House E-Mail List Members Congressional Quarterly Weekly State Department White House Press Releases Federal Employment Republican Leadership Bulletin Board Republican Legislative Digest GAO Bulletin Board Florida Bulletin Board GAO Mail Member Scheduling Committee Scheduling Committee Meeting Annoucements Casework Tracking Teledex Tracking Systems Used Equipment System Budget Committee Information Russian Constitution Census Reports Integrated Systems & Interfax PR News Service US Newswire Periodicals APN Hotline APN Education Daily Report APN Healthline CQ Weekly Report CA Outlook USA Today Decision Line DRI Economic Notes gone Greenwire Federal Funding (Awarded Grants) Congressional Activity House Votes Legislative Process Text of Legislation Administrative Services Mail Labels Electronic Mail (office) Witness Tracking File Cabinet House Electronic Mail Other House Office Mailboxes House Internet Services: Congressional Information House/Senate Actions House/Senate Committee Actions Joint Committee Actions Educational Information House Committee Information Committee on Education & Labor Committee on Energy & Commerce Committee on Natural Resources Committee on Science, Space & Technology House Member Information House Directories (Member & Visitor Information Wide Area Info Servers (WAIS) Full Text of Bills Web Site Facilities Creation of Home Pages on WWW Publishing Capabilities Internet Grants Library Tour of Capitol & House Office Bldgs (VRML) Information Retrieval Services: MIN Information Searches Mail User Reports Monitor Federal Register/Federal Funding Member Systems/Services: Member Office Profile System MicroMIN Accounting (FoxPro, Adv. Rev.) Casework Clerk HIRE Dear Colleague Official Expenses Personnel Phone Book Postal Patron Scheduling Legislative Status, Autotracking. Interoffice Communications Legal Retrieval Systems: House and Senate Miscellaneous Autotracking Services Rules, Procedure, and Precedents Text of Legislation Documents Rules of the House (Parliamentarian) Financial Management System: Payroll Personnel Vouchers Budget Disbursements Record Keeping Change Control Member Payroll Office Systems Management: Equipment Inventory Parts Repair History Payment Vouchers Call Volume Tracking POS and Vouchers (Districts) Billing Archive (CD-ROM) Track Work Orders Parking Permits Enforcement (Ticketing) Postmaster Systems: Mail Accounting System Automated Address Correction & Postal Form 3602 Management Historian: Public and Retrieval System Biographical Directory of the American Congress Publication System (Historian) House Clerk: Publication System Text Processing U.S. Code Legislative Counsel Publications Sys. Official Reporters System Official Reporters System Student Information Class Information House Committees List Law Revision Counsel Support Calendars Labels System Tracking Systems (generic) Accounting Systems (AREV, FoxPro) Assignment Master Application Personnel Tracking Sys. (PC & MAC) Publications Inventory Control System Classified Document Tracking System Hollinger Box System Archived Documents/Document Sys. Collagen Tracking System Chemical Emission Tracking System Voting System Drug Theft Tracking System Report Tracking System Mail Tracking System Room Reservations System Franking Statistics House Restaurant: Accounting Member Dining Room Menu System Catering System Office of Photography System Personnel Tracking System - Office of Fair Employment Complaint Tracking/Grievance System Administration: HCFA Medicaid Mortality Reports Franking Commission: (Majority/Minority) Bulk Mail Tracking System Franking Advisory Opinion System |