The UN global e-government readiness report is the most widely accepted study of capabilities in this area. The UNPAN and UNDESA? study this area and UNESCO? and the World Bank have assisted in developing this capacity.

The developmentgateway.org/e-government project presents this work in a relatively accessible form.

According to one vendor of enterprise project management? products, Computer Associates?, "IT also continues to be one of the largest areas of agency spend and remains mission critical for virtually every program in every agency, whether civilian, defense, intelligence or homeland security." The US OMB?'s Agency IT Investment Portfolio reports (exhibit 53? and 300) set stringent requirements for all such spending, based on the Clinger-Cohen Act and e-government requirements set forth in the President’s Management Agenda, and implied by the US Federal Information Security Management Act? and US Government Performance and Results Act?.

Some state? and local government?s are starting to follow the OMB formats to build business case?s in grant request?s to federal agencies, especially the US Homeland Security? department - to deal with emergency preparedness? problems. They are also, according to the US Government Computer News, "far more likely to use business case tool?s to support their own, ongoing efforts to justify IT investments and better align them to their business needs." For instance Sarasota County? in Florida? has adopted the OMB approach for all its own cases.

The OMB requires federal IT organizations to "address the stringent requirements of these performance-based mandate?s:

• Provide assurances that technology expenditures are necessary, purposeful, and will result in demonstrated improvements in mission effectiveness and customer service
• Produce higher quality business cases for IT investments that include risk management, cost estimations, and performance measurement
• Provide visibility of and accountability for IT spending in a decentralized allocation environment
• Deliver timely management oversight, quality control?, and executive review?
• Continuous portfolio and project assessment? including measurements of actual vs projected performance, earned value report?ing, and comprehensive spending summary analysis?
• Communicate effectively with other government agencies to identify overall duplication and to explore ways to jointly invest in projects"

- according to one vendor

The FEA ontology establishes many terms for public IT Management and Governance including:

• Capital Planning and Investment Control
• "cost, benefit, schedules, and risks?"
• IT Portfolio Management
• Performance Reference Model?
• True Cost Project Accounting

These follow a very conventional accounting model and so may not reflect all cost of operations. They certainly do not include a cost of regret? approach as has become more common in Canada:

In Canada the Treasury Board Secretariat and Expenditure Review Committee of Cabinet? take on similar responsibilities, but have added some emphasis on greening of government operations and reduction of transport, shipping, commuting by additional use of telework and more standard signal infrastructure maintainable even in very remote places. They have adopted no single strong ontology comparable to the US effort but the Federation of Canadian Municipalities has made a significant effort to compile best practices in its InfraGuide.CA project.

CEG program

The Civic Efficiency Group proposed a City Signal Infrastructure Loan program of performance-based mandates - consisting of forgiveable loan?s that are repaid by reducing the cost of regret? on provincial and federal governments. The program was intended to support, in addition to routine needs, an enhanced municipal role in emergency response sufficient to deal with emergencies that will overwhelm centralized resources, i.e. as in a pandemic.

CEG also proposed a federal Civic Efficiency Collaborative to standardize RFP?s in a decentralized allocation environment, communicate effectively with other government agencies to limit duplication and tyranny of small differences, jointly invest in projects and create a single point of Auditor General review. Also to provide a single range of means of assessing whether technology expenditures are necessary, purposeful, justified by service, and coordinated with other levels of government. The CEC would focus on more fundamental energy, waste and regret? measures to build business cases rather than narrowly focusing on "cost" and "benefit" which do not consider a wide enough range of scenario?s and which do not deal effectively with extreme events.

Finally it proposed a continuous municipal performance audit scheme of management oversight, quality control?, executive review? and accounting reform. See Beyond GAAP and Toronto's real capital. This would consist of continuous portfolio and project assessment? including measurements of actual vs projected performance, earned value report?ing, and comprehensive spending summary analysis? stated in conventional cost terms but with some elements of throughput accounting. In effect, cities would apply a similar model to the US FEA but streamlined and with the cost of regret? already calculated.

In March 2006, the Department of Personnel and Training of Government of India? began developing 100 e-Government Champions? via the IN NISG? in Hyderabad?, India, a major software centre. This was part of the IN NeGP?. This was a training project involving the "conventional lecture method, case study analysis, problem solving, brain storming sessions, lab work, and role play and participant presentations." NISG report.

Howard Dickson?, CIO? of the Hong Kong Government? has commented that: "“IT policy makers suffer from a very large paradox. One side of our brain says that everything should have a first class business case before we venture into it, but on the other hand the interesting innovations do not have business cases worked out prior to adoption,” and so may be effectively precluded by such methods as Exhibit 11?.

UNESCO?, in collaboration with CARICAD?, and UNDESA?, sponsors some projects including the EgE IA TF?, an effort including: the Development Gateway Foundation?, the Inter-American Development Bank?, the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States? through its OAS Executive Secretariat for Integral Development?, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs? and the World Bank beginning in June 2005.