Mark Forman, associate director for IT and E-government at the White House Office of Management and Budget, is leading the charge for effective E-government initiatives--and there's plenty of room for improvement. About 60% of E-government initiatives fail, according to Gartner analysts.

That's the general failure rate for all large government projects, regardless of whether they're E-government initiatives, says Judith Carr, Gartner's executive programs VP and senior program director for government. But recent Gartner research does point to some specific E-government pitfalls, such as project governance. "It's hard enough to manage large projects and make well-informed IT investment decisions for a single agency," Carr says. "Big E-government initiatives cross so many boundaries with so many constituents that have to agree on processes, and it gets quite complicated."

The need for strong IT project sponsorship is a familiar theme for businesses, and it's a critical one for government as well. To make E-government initiatives work across agencies, it's essential to get commitment from a high-level official, Carr says. "If it's orchestrated too low, you end up with different units of different groups vying for who will run the project."

Funding is another major problem, since dollars are usually channeled into specific agencies. Those funding silos make it difficult to free up money for a common cross-government initiative. But help may be on the way. The E-Government Act, a bill before the Senate, would provide $345 million during the next four years for E-government funding.

Carr says she's encouraged by the changes she's already seen. Just last week, the Labor Department launched GovBenefits.gov to provide easier access to information about benefit programs. "I see an educational process taking place," she says. "The big challenge is getting legislators to understand what it means to bring up these systems in terms of resources and skill sets."