COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION

HOUSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS

FISCAL YEAR 1992

H.I.S.'s budget proposed for Fiscal Year 1992 is $20,025,000. H.I.S. expects reimbursements in the total amount of $5,500,000 from the General Accounting Office, Congressional Budget Office, and the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission. Therefore, the FY 1992 appropriation estimate is $14,525,000.

Background on H.I.S.'s Mission and Organization

H.I.S.'s authorized staff level is 238 full time managerial, technical, and clerical personnel. The primary duties are to develop and support computer applications specially designed for Members, committees, and House offices (currently 106 custom applications), establish and maintain varied informational databases for online information access (currently over 60 informational databases, see Attachment A), install and support computer hardware and software (currently over 8,000 installations), and provide data communications facilities for retrieval and distribution of information (currently 1,383 installations). Miscellaneous support activities include training, consultation services, survey processing, graphics support, and information research inquiries.

H.I.S. is organized into six operational Divisions, and a Director's Office. Division charters are defined in terms of the customers they support and the technologies in which they specialize. The Director's Office provides oversight and

umbrella services that are required by all of H.I.S., such as strategic planning, security, budget and personnel

administration. The specific functions of each Division and the Director's Office are outlined below.

Administrative Systems (AS)

The AS budget allocation for Fiscal Year 1992 is $2,370,000, 11.8% of the H.I.S. total.

AS develops and supports custom applications for House Officers and for House support offices, with the Clerk of the House as its major customer. Other customers supported by AS include the Law Revision Counsel, Doorkeeper, Architect, Parliamentarian, Legislative Counsel, Committee on Appropriations, and the Sergeant at Arms.

AS staff have established a partnership with their users in identifying technologies and developing or enhancing applications that meet their individual requirements. Applications developed and supported by AS include:

Financial Management System (FMS), whose applications are used by the Finance Office to produce payroll for over 11,000 employees by generating approximately 4,000 monthly House checks and 9,000 monthly electronic fund transfers; the system processes an average of 17,000 vouchers each month, which generated 8,500 voucher checks;

Sergeant at Arms System, which provides automated
support for the Member payroll and the Member banking
systems; Legislative Information Management System
(LIMS), which is a comprehensive, integrated set of
applications used for the collection and distribution
of legislative information, including Bill Briefs,
Senate Actions, Committee Actions, House and Senate
Floor Actions, and Reports Due to Congress;

Office Equipment System (OES), whose applications are
used to maintain an equipment inventory of over 35,000
items, a parts inventory of approximately 20,000 items,
and repair history, lease payments, purchase orders,
and payment vouchers for each inventory item within all
House and district offices;

Legal Retrieval Systems (LRS), which offer an automated legislative law library that includes the complete text of all legislation, U.S. Code, Compilations of Acts, the_Congressional Record, and the House Rules, Procedures, and Precedents;

Systems for the Office of Records and Registration
(R&R), including the Lobby Act System, which provides
for the tracking and logging of lobbyists and the
quarterly reports they are required to file, the
Campaign Financing System which tracks individuals
running for seats in the House of Representatives and
those who contributed to their campaigns;

The House Recording Studio System, an order entry and billing system used to track radio, photographic, and video work provided to Members and to manage inventory and equipment depreciation;

The System 85 Cost Accounting System (MONIES), which assists the Office of Telephone Services in the collection and costing of detail call records from the AT&T switch, tracks inventory, automates service order processing, and produces network usage reports.

AS staff are thoroughly familiar with the information contained in its databases, and can assist customers with specific information retrieval inquiries.

AS is allocated a staff of 36. There are 7 support groups: Financial Management, Inventory Management, Information Systems, Legislative Information, Integrated Law Revision and Retrieval, Legislative Operations, and Client Support. The individuals assigned to each group are specialists in the information and technical requirements of their customers. The Division is headed by a Division Manager, who is assisted by a Deputy Manager and a Secretary.

Information Resource Systems (IRS)

The IRS budget allocation for Fiscal Year 1992 is $1,930,000, 9.6% of the H.I.S. total.

The IRS Division staff are H.I.S.'s information resource specialists. IRS provides a wide range of systems and services specifically designed and targeted to address the information processing needs of all House offices. A collection of 80 informational databases, known as the Member Information Network (MIN) is provided to meet these needs. Each month over 660 offices and 4,000 users access the services found in MIN. These offices include virtually every Member, committee, and subcommittee office, as well as the Congressional Budget Office, General Accounting Office, and Congressional Research Service.

MIN contains a wealth of information, providing users access to diverse sources, including:

Comprehensive Newswire Services, from the Associated
Press, Reuters, and USA Today;

Legislative Resources, including LEGIS, the full text of the Congressional Record, the U.S. Code, Floor, and the Weekly Congressional Quarterly Report;

Federal Financial Assistance, reporting the distribution of all federal grants and contracts on a program level, and identifying potential sources of funding from the Commerce Business Daily and the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance;

Demographic Information from the Bureau of Census and
Unemployment Statistics from the Bureau of Labor
Statistics;

Electronic mail and filing facilities, which permit
offices to track constituents, schedule meetings,
administer casework, and register phone calls;
House-wide Electronic Bulletin Board and Message
Distribution Facilities for House Leadership groups.

IRS staff are thoroughly familiar with MIN's information content and organization, and are frequently asked to provide custom information research services, training, and telephone support to MIN users. Several information products are produced by IRS staff from the data found in MIN, including a weekly summary of Federal Register Announcements affecting Federal Assistance programs, a Caseworker Newsletter for Member office caseworkers, and briefing packets on emerging issues.

IRS is responsible for enhancements to the information retrieval facilities provided by H.I.S.

IRS is allocated a staff of 26, grouped into 4 areas of technical specialization and user support, and headed by a Division Manager and a Deputy Manager.

Customer Applications Group (CAG)

The CAG budget allocation for Fiscal Year 1992 is $2,020,000, 10.1% of the H.I.S. total.

CAG is the provider of automated computer applications and support services to House committees, and the publication of committee documents, such as Text of Legislation, Committee Reports, and Hearings. CAG also supports Member offices by providing automated applications to assist in office administration and constituent correspondence.

CAG staff work closely with committees to meet their specialized needs, and develop applications including:

Committee Accounting, an application to assist committees in documenting and reporting the management of their expenses;

Budget Tracking, used by committees with oversight
functions for tracking relevant agency budgets;

Customized committee tracking systems to monitor Majority and Minority franking utilization, tobacco imports and exports, status of classified documents, and drug usage;