U.S. Information Technology Sector Gets $3.4 Billion Infusion from Stimulus Plan
The Obama administration’s economic stimulus package enables substantial investment for Information Technology (IT) projects in the U.S. to the tune of $3.4 billion. Most of it will be spent re-engineering technology in electronic health records and infrastructure improvements for the departments of Homeland Security, State, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services.
The stimulus plan also includes $50 million for the Department of Energy for upgrading its systems to support research into energy efficiency and renewable energy. The money for the Office of Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is part of $16.8 billion fund for the Department of Energy under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The EERE funding means direct assistance for the technology sector with $500 million for a new data center for the Social Security Administration. The stimulus plan goes even further with an additional $2.8 billion for investments in IT equipment, infrastructure and security.
The new infusion of capital is welcomed news for universities and research institutes that are analyzing data center power usage and looking for applications of renewable energy in the industry. In the Information Technology and Telecommunications industries, the huge amount of power usage makes these facilities a prime focus of the EERE research. A leader in data center energy efficiency research, The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) led the 2007 study on the industry’s power consumption. The newly appointed Secretary of Energy, Professor Steven Chu is the former director of the LBNL and is a Nobel Prize winning physicist.
A large chunk of the IT funding is intended for the upgrading to electronic health records, doctors’ offices and hospitals. Some of the projects, all of them large undertakings, include:
- $1.5 billion: to upgrade existing systems and to find suitable health information technology systems;
- $300 million: to establish health information exchange through technology;
- $50 million: for technology security at the Department of Health and Human Services;
- $20 million: for the Department of Commerce to develop technical standards for electronic health records.
Improvements in infrastructure and enhanced security of some departments in both state and federal government facilities and projects will also be funded by stimulus money. The following is a list of the main highlights of the spending package:
- $500 million: new data center for the Social Security Administration to replace its 30 year old National Computer Center in Maryland;
- $290 million: a “Capital Investment Fund” for the Department of State to improve its IT security with $38 million going to the Agency for International Development;
- $250 million: new IT environments for unemployment insurance programs to better serve the needs of claimants, reduce long delays and fix the communications systems for filing claims;
- $200 million: for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to consolidate IT infrastructure for the Office of the Under Secretary for Management of DHS;
- $85 million: for telecom health programs and to develop remote medical services through the Indian Health Service;
- $50 million: for upgrading and maintenance IT systems for the Farm Service Agency;
- $50 million: for upgrades for IT services for the Veterans Benefits Administration;
- $40 million: for the Commissioner of Social Security to convert to electronic medical records for disability claims;
- $20 million: so that Small Business Administration lending programs will be automated.
In terms of job creation, the stimulus contains many measures that will boost new jobs in the IT sector and once again technology development will become a major driver of the American economy.
