Manual Exhibit 8-4-A

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECT PROPOSAL FORM

1. Proposed Project Name:

2. Project Description:

3. Points of Contact:

3a. Primary Point of Contact
       (Name/Organization)_____________________________________________
       Telephone:_____________________________________________________
       E-mail:________________________________________________________

3b. Secondary Point of Contact
       (Name/Organization)_____________________________________________
       Telephone:_____________________________________________________
       E-mail:________________________________________________________

4. Expected Benefits/Beneficiaries:

5. Expected Financial Returns or Savings:

6. Total Expected Life-cycle Costs:

7. Expected Implementation Risks:

8. Concept of Operations/Project Scope:

9. Core Indian Health Service (IHS) Mission/Business Area Impacted
(See IHS Strategic Plan):

10. Business Process Re-engineering (BPR), Requirements/Status of BPR (if underway):

11. Suggested Performance Measures:

12. High-level Information Technology Architecture Impact:

13. Preliminary Assessment of Identified Alternative Systems:

Information Technology Project Proposal Form Instructions

The following numbered directions correspond to the numbered blocks found on the

“Information Technology Project Proposal” form. Since you can enlarge the blocks in the form with your computer, please do not limit the amount of information you provide. Completing this form supports the Indian Health Service (IHS) Information Technology Investment Review Board (ITIRB) Process, Phase I-Proposal Submission. The information contained in this form will be used during Phase 11-Proposal Screening. During Proposal Screening, an initial assessment is made as to whether the proposal is major or minor and if it is appropriate, based on Federal guidelines, for the IHS to fund. Determining if a proposal is a major or minor project will be based primarily on the expected benefits (Block 4), expected costs (Block 6), impact on furthering the IHS mission (Block 9), and impact on the IHS IT Architecture (Block 12). A major proposal will pass through the entire IHS ITIRB project selection process, and this form will provide a basis for the more detailed analyses that are required for Phase 111-Proposal Scoring. Selection decisions for minor proposals will be based on the information contained in this form. In the case of major proposals, the information can be preliminary since the project sponsor is not expected to expend a great deal of resources in filling out this form.

1.	Proposed Project Name. Provide a short, descriptive name for the proposed project.
2.	Project Description. Provide a brief statement of work to be accomplished by the proposed project.
3.	Points of Contact. Provide name, telephone number, and e-mail address for both the primary (sponsor) and the secondary point of contact (back-up).
4.	Expected Benefits Beneficiaries. Explain the expected benefits of the proposed project and what groups are expected to receive the benefits (i.e., will the benefits be realized by IHS care providers or care recipients or by IHS staff?). Will the project lead to improved service delivery to customers?
5.	Benefits Can Be Both Tangible and Intangible. Tangible benefits are quantifiable and can be expressed in dollars or units. If they can be expressed in dollars, they should also be entered under Expected Returns. Intangible benefits can be quantifiable, but usually cannot be expressed in dollar values. Typically, they can be expressed in terms of improved mission performance, improved decisionmaking, or contribution to more reliable or useful information.
6.	Expected Financial Returns or Savings. Indicate any associated financial returns or savings expected to he realized by implementing the proposed project. Financial returns should be quantifiable and expressed in dollars. For example, if a benefit of implementing the proposed project is "staff time savings," the financial return could be determined by estimating the hours per year saved and multiplying that number by the relevant staffs cost per hour.
7.	Total Expected Life-cycle Costs. Estimate the acquisition cost of procuring and implementing the proposed project as well as the continuing costs of operation and maintenance over 5 budget years. In providing this information, it is important to distinguish between the two types of costs and to specify the 5 budget years for which the costs are calculated. The acquisition cost should include all costs and resources for the total acquisition of the asset and its deployment. Continuing costs or recurring costs include the costs for maintenance and operations over 5 years of the life of the asset.
8.	Expected Implementation Risks. Provide a brief analysis of the risks associated with acquiring and implementing the proposed project. Keep in mind that the risk is influenced by the maturity of the technology being applied, the complexity of the project, the frequency with which the technology has been used elsewhere, and the amount of customization required. Systems relying heavily on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components instead of custom-designed components usually reduce the risk potential. Risk is also reduced by taking advantage of fully tested prototypes, pilot demonstrations, or simulations.
9.	Concept of Operations/Project Scope. Provide information that will clearly show what the completed project will accomplish from a user's perspective and help define the boundaries and content of the project. This information explains the project sponsor's objectives and expectations, and provides information that could he used to determine the project's success. It will also help the CIO's office to develop an understanding of the content and complexity of the project. Information in this section should include answers to questions such as the following:

A.	What is the problem or opportunity that the project presents?
B.	What are the quantifiable characteristics or results to be achieved?
C.	What products or services will be delivered by the project?
D.	What impact will the completed project have on the IHS and elsewhere?
E.	What offices or Areas within the IHS will be affected by the project?

10.	Core IHS Mission/Business Area Impacted (See IHS Strategic Plan). This section should provide information that explicitly shows how the proposed IT project will further the IHS mission. Project sponsors should refer to the most recent IHS Performance Plan and Performance Report. These documents contain the IHS mission, strategic objectives, and performance indicators. This information should be used to show briefly how the proposed IT project supports any of the IHS strategic objectives or the functional categories for the performance indicators.
11.	Business Process Re-engineering Requirements/Status of Business Process Re-engineering (if underwav). Provide any information on a BPR or similar activity that is planned or underway for the processes affected by the proposed IT project in this section. The BPR is an approach for redesigning the way work is done to better support an organization's mission and reduce costs. Re-engineering identifies, analyzes, and redesigns an organization's business processes in order to achieve improvements in critical performance measures such as cost, quality, service, and speed. Federal guidance the CCA, OMB guidelines] requires that investments in major information systems proposed in the President's budget should, among other things, support work processes that have been simplified or otherwise redesigned to reduce costs and improve performance.
12.	Suggested Performance Measures. In this section, the project sponsor should suggest performance measures that show how the proposed IT project furthers the IHS mission and strategic objectives. The IHS FY 2001 Performance Plan and FY 1999 Performance Report (February 18,2000) contain lists of IHS performance indicators that link to the IHS mission. These lists should be the starting point for IT performance measures to be used in filling out this section. If need be, other performance measures can be developed. Federal law requires the IHS to measure the contribution of IT investments to mission results. To accomplish this, IT performance measures should reflect the performance of IT projects to help determine if they are effectively supporting the IHS mission and objectives.
13.	High-level ITA Impact. Provide a high-level view of the underlying hardware, systems software, and other equipment required to host and provide access to the applications and information that will be needed to support and complete the proposed project. The technologies can be categorized as platforms (hardware and software for all computer/processing stations, including client, servers, and other devices), network (hardware and software for inter- and intra-site communications), and system services (supplemental support such as middleware). State what existing technologies in the IHS ITA would need to be changed. This information is needed to enable the CIO’s office to assess the impact on the IHS ITA plan.
14.	Preliminary Assessment of Identified Alternative Systems. Briefly describe the best alternatives to the proposed project along with the rationale for not choosing them. Include an explanation of why the proposed project is the best option for meeting the IHS’s needs. Describe the alternative systems as well as their benefits and drawbacks. In order to satisfy Federal guidelines, the information included here should show that other Government-developed IT systems and private-sector alternatives have been considered but cannot provide the service or function better than the proposed project.