From the outside, a great deal seems to be happening with the fiscal year (FY) 2012 budget process. The House debated a "clean" bill to raise the debt ceiling and is starting to vote on its yearly appropriations bills, and the Senate just voted on four budget proposals. But looks can be deceiving: despite these recent actions, the nation's budget process is teetering on the edge of irrelevance.

Federal information technology (IT) spending is approaching $80 billion per year, and debate is swirling about who will pay for new government technology projects and how they will do so. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently examined one of the ways new projects are paid for: the “pass-the-hat” model, in which federal agencies contribute some of their funds to help support projects.