US House of Representatives House Information Resources FY2001 Budget Request The continued migration of the mainframe will eliminate collection of mainframe user reimbursements used to fund Member and Committee services. A reimbursement reduction from an originally budgeted $528k in FY00 to $100k in FY01 causes the FY01 non-personnel ceiling (appropriated plus reimbursements) to be 3.9% less than the previous year. This reduction results in a less effective operating budget to support Member services. It is projected that external mainframe users, who provide reimbursements to the CAO budget for House services, will be off the mainframe by the end of FY00. As a result, FY01 should be the last budget year with a reimbursement loss impact. Thereafter, reimbursements will mostly consist of graphics or other Member services. 1.3 HIR Organizational Structure The HIR organizational structure is based on core business areas outlined by the mission of HIR to support the House. An organizational structure based on core business areas provides a more flexible way to matrix staff and improves support to House projects. Skill-based groups within the core business areas also help to quickly implement changing technologies and improve services. Special support groups, such as the call center, also help to matrix specialized skills more effectively to provide solutions and solve problems. There has been a slight trend increase in the number of resignations over the past year related to opportunity and salary competition. The rate of resignation slowed following the implementation of the HIR reorganization in July of 1998 but seems to have increased with the additional shortfall of information technology people in industry. The current HIR organizational structure on which the fiscal year 2001 budget is based is shown as: There are four key areas within HIR to conduct systems development and provide technology services. Information Systems Security is contained in the immediate office to stress the importance of including security throughout all areas of project initiatives during the Systems Development Life-Cycle (SDLC) process. The internal structure of Information Management includes the Messaging and Web Systems branches along with flexible support groups for matrix team) operations. Each director group plays an important role in key functional areas for technology support. These functional roles are outlined as follows: • Communications continues to build and maintain the network and communications backbone for the House community. Continued investment in this activity is critical and provides the US House of Representatives House Information Resources FY2001 Budget Request basic foundation for connectivity of House computers, Inter/Intranet access, email, and phones to be able to talk to each other. The primary role of Information Management (IM) is to support existing systems while supporting new projects driven by evolving Member needs. The IM group focuses on making complex software easy to use and tailored to the specific automation needs of the House. This effort creates the network infrastructure providing Internet, group facsimile, email, legislative, administrative, and scheduling automation. • Client Services provides the technical advice and guidance to keep systems and software working for the House community. Training and graphics support are also key services provided by Client Services to House offices. Client Services also maintains a technically staffed Call Center specifically designed to improve Member service and enhance the Technical Support Representative (TSR) efforts to House offices. Information Systems Security takes a proactive role in ensuring that information security concerns are addressed during the activity of building automated systems. Systems security is also one of the priority goals to protect Member data. Information Systems Security also provides quality control and specialized tracking of the configuration of all systems to eliminate security risks. The HIR organizational structure is well suited to provide quality technical service to the House community with flexibility to identify and evaluate new technologies for improving House operations. US House of Representatives Section 2 House Information Resources FY2001 Budget Request BUDGET OVERVIEW The HIR budget is based on technology projects which apply information and communications technology to the House environment. HIR uses a CAO adopted Systems Development LifeCycle (SDLC) process (approved by CHA on June 22, 1999) to conduct projects for quality technical services. HIR projects have been summarized in Budget Object Class (BOC) tables for both the Net Telecommunications and HIR budget requests. House support areas have also been identified to report the cost of technical activity and explain why such technical activity improves House operations. Mainframe migration projects will continue in FY2001 with remaining activity focusing on the mission critical applications identified by the Office of the Inspector General "Mainframe Migration Options Study." A summary of the HIR fiscal year 2001 budget request is provided in the following table: The HIR fiscal year 2001 budget focuses on three primary objectives of 1) sustainment and maintenance of existing technical services to Members and staff, 2) migration of mainframebased systems to client-server and Web-based systems, and 3) upgrading and improving technology infrastructure to provide “easy to use” fluid information technology. The fiscal year 2001 House Information Resources budget request is $27,028,000 for salaries, expenses, and specialized contract support, of which $26,928,000 is requested for appropriation. Of the appropriated amount requested, $6,416,000 is for net expenses of telecommunications. The HIR FY01 budget request includes a number of items not included in the FY00 budget. The FY00 budget consisted mostly of sustainment and maintenance services for existing House systems and electronic services such as email, Internet phone lines, and Newswire access. Support for the transition of new and outgoing Members from elections occurs every two years and is based on a historical projection of 50 potential new Members. Another area of increase is technical support for email. Email has become such a critical part of daily House operations that a specific request was made to increase the level of technical support, improve recovery time, and improve reliability of the messaging system. An enterprise license was negotiated at the end of FY97 to provide Microsoft (MS) operating systems and email client software for a 33-month period. In FY01, an MS Enterprise Agreement for the CAO (700 desktops) and a Select Program for House Offices (10,000 desktops) will replace the FY97 MS enterprise license at a significant cost savings. The FY01 Select Program for House offices will provide access to the exchange and NT servers for e-mail, and House computer infrastructure. The following table summarizes budget items that are new or differ from the FY00 budget: The next part of this section covers the HIR and Net Telecommunications budget request summarized in two tables by BOC and includes a two-year funding history. Significant changes or activities are also discussed and explained. HIR Fiscal Year Budget Comparison (excluding Net Telecommunications) The HIR FY01 budget request includes costs for all HIR personnel (221) and non-personnel costs excluding the Net Telecommunication budget. The following table shows the HIR fiscal year 2001 budget request by BOC and the cost changes from FY00. US House of Representatives House Information Resources FY2001 Budget Request The HIR fiscal year 2001 appropriation request (excluding Net Telecommunications) of $20,512,000 has increased from year 2000 by $2,131,000. Specific changes in BOC totals from the previous fiscal year are summarized as follows: Personnel Benefits FY00 $0 FY01 $6,000 Transit benefits in the form of "Metrochek" was approved by CHA and implemented in January 1999. The FY01 budget is the first year to budget for this additional personnel benefit cost. Travel FY00 $10,000 FY01 $25,000 The past two years of HIR training, for technical skills and system sustainment, has required transfer of internal funds to support travel costs. The increase of $15k for estimated travel related to HIR training is based on actual expenditures in previous years. In FY98 and FY99 expenditures for training-related travel were $15k and $27k. Rent, Communications, Utilities FY00 $422,000 FY01 $1,751,000 The increase of $1,329k in the RCU BOC is due to several new programs and changes within existing sustaining projects. Specialized support for the email system was funded through FY99 reprogramming. This increased level of support, specifically requested by Members, increases the FY01 budget by $360k over the previously budgeted amount. Database access support for the Appropriations Committee (Ceridian/GDIS) is also a new FY01 budget item, which was not included in the FY00 budget. The Ceridian/GDIS service increases the RCU BOC by $300k. The expected reimbursements from FY00 to FY01 have declined from an originally budgeted $528k to $100k requiring an increase in requested appropriation of $428k in the RCU BOC. External customers remained on the mainframe longer than forecast, requiring ceiling adjustment outside of the FY00 budgeting process. The appropriated funds in lieu of reimbursements provide funding for over half of the Newswire costs. An additional Newswire service, requested by Members and staff, was added to the list of electronic information services through FY99 reprogramming. This National Journal service is now included in the FY01 budget at an increase of $131k. The new Correspondence Management System (CMS) validation and testing project includes a $20k increase in this BOC area for communications circuit expenses for district offices. Remaining funds in the RCU BOC cover the cost of Newswire services (total cost of $857k), telephone charges, and other computer services such as the IBM information network. Other Services FY00 $671,000 FY01 $1,424,000 An increase of $753,000 in this category is due to increased contractor support and services in a number of different areas. Information systems security has an increase of $225k ($335k total) for development of security architectures and intrusion/vulnerability protection to safeguard Member and House data. An initiative currently funded from FY99 reprogramming, to validate and test Correspondence Management Systems (CMS), is a new budget item at $260k. An increase of $75k ($110k total) is also proposed to support the increased demand for assistance to Member office and Committee Web page development. The demand for Web page development tends to be greater during transition years. |