Washington, D.C - Today, Congressman David Wu sent a letter to the director of the Office of Management and Budget questioning why the $22 million www.grants.gov web portal was developed with a seeming disregard for Mac-users.
"It is good governance to provide equal access to federal grant funding based on need and worth, not on operating systems" stated Congressman Wu. "I am deeply concerned that worthy projects and undertakings will be negatively affected by a technically prejudiced bureaucracy."
Currently, the software used by the Grants.gov web portal is not fully accessible by Mac-users. In order to use the on-line grant application system, Mac-users must download a "work-around" application made available by the University of Wisconsin. However, there have been many reports of problems using this current "work-around" application and the Grants.gov software is not expected to be fully Mac-compatible for at least a year. Congressman Wu looks forward to a positive response from the Office of Management and Budget that outlines the steps being taken to address this issue.
Below is the full text of Congressman Wu's letter.
February 22, 2006
Joshua B. Bolten, Director
Office of Management and Budget
725 17th St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20503
Dear Mr. Bolten:
Constituents have brought to my attention that the federal online grant application process has been discriminating against Mac users. According to an article by Rick Weiss in The Washington Post dated February 13, 2006 (see attached), "although many U.S. scientists and others depend on graphics-friendly Macintosh computers, the software selected by the government is not Mac-compatible. And it is expected to remain so for at least a year." This is in reference to the services provided by www.grants.gov, which is part of the Administration's E-Government Initiative under the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
I strongly believe that federal dollars should be spent fairly to benefit all, and not just some. I am disappointed to learn that a $22 million contract with Northrop Grumman and a timeline for phase-in, that began, in 2003 has still not provided a platform by which all users can access online grants. Furthermore, the application that is currently provided as a work-around for non-Windows users is not an official product of the federal government or grants.gov. It is a free service provided by the University of Wisconsin to answer demand by the Mac-user community. Why is it that an independent party can provide a service that a $22 million federal contract can not?
I am personally troubled by the overarching discrimination against Mac-users simply because they are considered the minority. This is an issue of simple fairness. Also, worthy projects and undertakings will be affected adversely. A sizeable portion of the research community is Mac-based or the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would not have delayed its roll-out. It is good governance to provide equal access to federal grant funding based on fairness and worth, not on operating systems.
I am concerned that federal funds were spent to develop a system that does not meet the needs of the user community. I would like your comments on the issues raised in The Washington Post article above, and on the decision process that led to the development of a system which does not support Mac-users. I would also appreciate hearing about the steps being taken to address this problem, and the associated costs.
Yours truly,
David Wu
Member of Congress
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