Information technology in the federal government

Abstract

Despite the increase in information technology (IT) investments in Brazil not much is known about how resources are allocated by the federal government and what public policy is oriented in this direction. Because public administration studies do not discuss information technology in depth, this article tries to bring the discussion of information technology in government as a relevant topic and a central issue of public policy and administration.
Studies have shown that even in the developed world information technology in government is also ignored. Therefore, due to the lack of studies in this area, it becomes difficult even to know how much the government is investing in information technology and what are the most significant projects. This article presents preliminary data from a research under way on information technology in government, revealing the volume of investments
in IT made by all federal agencies. As result, it was possible to identify the major IT projects in the country, which will be evaluated later in the research through qualitative methodologies to be developed, in order to determine their cost-benefit relationship.