US House of Representatives House Information Resources FY2001 Budget Request The transmission of world & local news and information regarding the distribution of federal funding is delivered electronically by HIR to 10,000 congressional customers. The data is transferred from various worldwide news and information organizations to a House based integrated client server system. The contracts for subscriptions to the full-release version of Associated Press News Service, Reuters, Dow Financial Reports, Wall Street Journal. Frontrunner News service and Federal Grants and Funding are funded here. HIR maintains the Hardware and software systems to provide this reporting service to the Members in a fully integrated Web based system. Specialized Congressional services, like an Internet-based White House and Capitol Tour Ticket exchange system, are maintained in this support area. The Newswires provide an important aspect of Legislative service to the Members by delivering all relevant news articles on any particular topic as reported by the Worlds' news organizations. Member Offices use Federal Funding Services as an important constituent service. By having a readily searchable Internet based information service, Members and their staff may easily identify the amount of funds received within the Congressional District or to other geographical entities within their State. Members use available grant information to assist constituents in finding sources of possible funding for various projects in their District. Committees sometimes use awarded Federal Funding data to research the patterns and trends of spending characteristic of various Federal agencies or of a particular program. A report wizard feature allows Member staff to do some of their own tailored reports. Member offices rely on this information for their newsletters, speeches, press releases, etc. Primary costs for this support area are in Equipment maintenance and RCU services. The following table shows the costs for FY00 and the projections for FY01 of various electronic information services. Parts of these costs are accounted for in other support areas but the full contract cost is listed below: Costs for this support area primarily come from the direct Member and Committee support provided by the HIR Client Services staff, and the Information Management staff efforts to maintain systems (mainframe and client-server) and applications that support existing or new services. Direct information technology support to Member Offices, Committees, House offices and their staffs is provided through projects within Client Services, including: Technical Support Representatives, who serve as the personal point of contact for HIR developed and supported information technology services, and provides HIR support interface. These TSRS assist with the delivery and coordination of all HIR services, and consult on information technology purchases, installation and sustainment throughout the House. They also serve a critical role as the Contractors Officer Representative (COR) to help coordinate technical activity with the Member's House Systems Integrator. Engineering Support Branch, which staffs a Call Center with highly qualified systems engineers, and provides Tier II support with a liaison to TSRS, and anti-virus deployment to the House. Coordination support is also provided to the System Integrators that support delivery of systems and applications to the House. A new initiative has been implemented to validate the functionality of Correspondence Management Systems (CMS) used in Member offices. The Learning Center, staffed with information technology and applications software knowledgeable professionals who deliver specialized training to Member Office and to District Office staff. Training is presented in standard classroom settings and via the Intranet to Member staffs in DC and district offices. Training includes sessions on office applications, operating systems, system administration, and CAO services available to House staff. Contractor augmentation is used to expand the number of available classes and increase the scope of technical instruction offered to the House community. The Graphics Branch is a team of visual communicators, graphic artists, and project managers who design and produce an assortment of visual communications. The products include brochures, charts, flyers, forms, manuals, posters, and signs. The Visual Communication Center provides graphic services to House Members, Committees, Officers, and Staff. Continuing support of mainframe services and House technology systems also contributes to this support area cost. HIR systems engineers provide maintenance and sustainment to the many systems supporting the House environment. This activity also requires vendor maintenance contracts, hardware and software upgrades, and periodic replacement of aging equipment. Equipment - House Systems and Technical Support This area includes equipment costs for continuing mainframe hardware and software support of existing services, and costs to bring newer client server technology to the House. Mainframe US House of Representatives House Information Resources FY2001 Budget Request costs also include support of the migration test platform, which is required for a smooth transition to client-server systems. Use of the mainframe requires lease payments for both the hardware and software supporting House applications. RCU - House Systems and Technical Support RCU costs are accounted for from technical support of the 107th transition for an estimated 50 new Members. Also included is funding to support the GDIS service (Ceridian) for the House Appropriations Committee. Other Services - House Systems and Technical Support The majority of the contractor cost in this area is for support to systems and Member training. Contractor support areas include instructor-led training, on-line training, Correspondence Management System (CMS) support, and operational support of the security intrusion detection system. Another significant cost element is renewal of the Microsoft operating systems and email client-access licenses. One of the key components of the CAO strategic plan for House support is the vision for continuous improvement of products and services. Process improvement summarizes the various efforts within projects to review and improve the business processes of the House on which the CAO support is built. This effort, commonly recognized as Business Process Reengineering/Improvement (BPR/BPI), is predominately a labor effort by either House staff or contractor support. Many initiatives are proposed in the FY01 budget to capture and improve the support process such as quality assurance, configuration management, strategic planning, SDLC working group efforts, and wireless BPR. Equipment - Process Improvement The Customer Tracking System (CTS) is intended to collect information and generate statistics on the support process to help identify ways of improving support to the House community. A portion of the maintenance costs ($36k) for the CTS software and equipment upgrades ($50k) comprise the non-personnel costs for this support area. HIR began planning for the replacement of House mission critical legacy systems in 1997 and designated a Mainframe Migration Task Force (MFMTF) and a Mainframe Migration Implementation Team (MFMIT) in April of 1998. HIR expects to analyze, re-implement, and US. House of Representatives House Information Resources FY2001 Budget Request transition to replacement systems through year 2004 (mainframe support will continue through the LIMS replacement effort). While replacing legacy systems is difficult, HIR's objective is to leverage client server technology in order to migrate the mission critical legacy systems in a useful, meaningful, and timely fashion by demonstrating proven options on a test platform. Replacement systems, to the extent possible, will be Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software and will incorporate best practice business standards modified to the House environment. These systems will use a client/server software model and run on small and midsize computing platforms. Modifications to COTS systems will be conducted with a combination of HIR staff and specialized contractor support for the House-enhanced versions of the various systems. The projected status of mainframe migration activity is shown in the following table: Migration of the mission critical legacy applications from the mainframe processor creates an environment of integrated information systems, internal and external interfaces, support services, new computing platforms, and telecommunications that are designed to support the House's core business processes. The purchase of replacement applications developed for microcomputer and mid-size hardware and software will cause core business processes to be distributed across multiple servers. To benefit from this distribution and gain information technology compatibility, as well as the ability to communicate and share information enterprise wide, the purchase of equipment such as test platform upgrades and communications devices are requested in this budget. Other Services - Mainframe Migration Contractor support for specialized technical skills is required to assist with the review and development of mainframe migration options. Each mainframe application is reviewed through a streamlined SDLC process to ensure critical requirements are captured in the migration process and "best value" solutions are identified. A test platform is maintained to test potential solutions and conduct trade-off analysis prior to procurement. US House of Representatives House Information Resources FY2001 Budget Request The New Technologies support area is dedicated to exploring relevant new technologies to help improve automation or technical support of House activities. The CAO has developed an Information Technology Strategic Research Plan to help guide efforts to investigate new technologies based on House business processes and House needs. There are rapid advancements in messaging, communications, and Internet solutions that will be evaluated for possible insertion into the House environment. There are several projects scheduled for fiscal year 2001 that involve personnel labor only, and will assess and recommend if further investment of effort and funding will be beneficial to the House. There are also initiatives to explore upgrades to communications switching technologies, wireless data networks, information security advances, and distance learning capabilities. Equipment - New Technologies Equipment costs associated with new technologies will include enhancements to diagnostic and maintenance monitoring software to improve reliability and performance of the House network. Network management software currently tracks the status of system faults to help improve response and repair times. Future expansion of this new technology will include management modules for performance, configuration, and security. Additionally, evaluations of future House supported software are included to ensure compatibility and trouble-free operation. The Customer Tracking System (CTS) is also being expanded with new technology to improve reliability. Other Services - New Technologies Contractor support is proposed to conduct testing and evaluation of new Correspondence Management Systems (CMS) software technologies in a controlled environment. This controlled review of new or updated software helps prevent problems from occurring in Member offices and potentially disrupting office workflow or losing critical data. HIR conducts core activities that support day-to-day operations and provides an infrastructure to support Members, Committees, and House offices. HIR maintains software services for the House such as Command Anti-virus for 10,000 users and Timbuktu trouble-shooting software for 5,000 users. HIR also maintains 30 servers making up the CAO server farm, which establishes the network infrastructure that the CAO uses to support Members and House staff. The CAO server farm team also provides support to the Anti-virus team, which proactively responds to potential virus threats and coordinates activity with security, messaging, and client services to remove any virus activity in the House environment. The HIR Immediate Office supports strategic planning efforts, implementation of SDLC (System Development Life Cycle), and systems engineering to help make House systems work together. Budgeting and reprogramming projects are also part of this support area, and are coordinated among the HIR Directors. In addition to funding for tasks associated with managing House |