Lockheed Martin has been awarded a contract valued at $98 million in support of the President's Management Agenda to establish a common, automated and integrated approach to managing the federal government's rulemaking functions.

E-Rulemaking is one of the 24 E-Government initiatives under the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This initiative encompasses the complete rulemaking process from regulation development to public participation and access. The project consolidates rulemaking systems at the various departments and agencies and centrally manages them through a web-based environment, offering services from one-stop access, search capabilities, public comments through rulemaking development tools.

As the government's "Managing Partner" for this initiative, the U.S. EPA launched www.regulations.gov, the federal rule-making site in January 2003. Using the EPA system as a baseline, the project will expand on existing "E-DOCKET" systems and serve to eliminate duplicative and redundant systems.

Oscar Morales, director of the Online Rulemaking project, said, "The expansion of electronic government through online rulemaking is, clearly, a significant priority of the President's Management Agenda because it enables greater public involvement in the decisions that affect their lives. We look forward to working collaboratively, with all of our agency partners, to make it quicker and easier for the public to search and comment on hundreds of proposed rules and to be better able to participate in the federal rulemaking process."

Linda Gooden, president of Lockheed Martin Information Technology, said, "We have a very special opportunity today to enhance the Federal Government's services to the public by building a premier partnership to make e-Rulemaking an award-winning e-government program. We are proud to be part of this team dedicated to using the power of information technology to connect government and the American people."

Nine other agencies have participated in this e-government initiative, including the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Justice, Labor, Transportation, Health and Human Services and Housing and Urban Development; the Federal Communications Commission, General Services Administration, and National Archives and Records Administration, including the Office of Federal Register.

Lockheed Martin will help the EPA build the government-wide portal and develop automated tools for rulemaking writers and docket managers at more than 150 federal agencies. The project also includes application development and maintenance of current systems, systems integration, business system architecture, business process re-engineering, network, telecommunications and security.

Lockheed Martin's Information Technology business unit in Seabrook, Md., will lead the company's effort with teammates Bearing Point and four small businesses: Vistronix, Solutron, Apprimus and Xaware. The award was made as a task order under the Chief Information Officers Solutions and Partners II (CIOSP II) contracting vehicle managed by the National Institutes of Health. The contract amount is $18 million for the first year, followed by four option periods.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin employs about 125,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2002 sales of $26.6 billion.

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin