US Government officials are blaming lack of broadband as one of the main reasons only 14 percent of its workers can telework, even though the Congress has mandated that almost all federal workers should be able to telecommute.

Dan Matthews, Transportation Department CIO, said today that employees need high-speed Internet access to work on large files, take part in videoconferencing and online chats with one or more co-workers.“There is never enough bandwidth,” Matthews said at a conference in Washington on telework sponsored by the Potomac Forum Ltd. of Potomac, Md. “Agencies may not have to invest in a lot of software because it is free on the Internet, but you can’t work using dial-up Internet access.” Matthews said the technology challenges are easy to solve, but the managerial and employee resistance and the lack of funding play a large role in agencies’ slow progress in offering the option to telecommute.

I am not sure if this is true entirely because time and again I have read that the broadband is now more easily available either as DSL or cable broadband. In order to get the government agencies moving, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) has included a provision in the Commerce, Justice and State appropriations bill that would withhold $5 million from each agency covered by the legislation that has not met the 100 percent goal, according GCN.