Report: Homeland Security To Get Big IT Spending Boost

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is expected to get the lion's share of new IT technology spending, according to an analysis of an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) study that was released Thursday.

The DHS increase of some $772 million represents 44 percent of new federal IT outlays, reported government market research firm Input. "The DHS IT budget increase is the most significant with an increase of 21 percent to over $4.4 billion," the Input report stated.

In all, federal agencies are planning to spend a total of $64. 3 billion on IT in fiscal year 2007, with federal IP spending expected to hit $92 billion in 2010.

"The message delivered by OMB is that performance and measurement will play critical roles in the review and approval of budgeted spending, especially the close review of agency-by-agency progress reports on meeting administration goals for managing IT projects and developing effective business cases," said James Krouse, Input's acting director of public sector market analysis, in a statement.

In all, 21 of 27 civilian agencies were approved for IT budget increases. The Department of Housing and Urban Development received approval for an increase of more than 15 percent, and the Labor Department was approved for a 13 percent-plus increase.However, there was a downside as the Office of Personnel Management was hit with a decrease of five percent and the General Services Administration with a decrease of two percent.

In another example of increases for heightened IT security measures, Input observed that an overall budget of $5.2 billion was approved for cybersecurity. Input pointed to the Federal Information Security Management act and systems training as areas earmarked for increased financing.