U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

2007 Presidential Award for Management Excellence

U.S. General Services Administration

Electronic Government
Governmentwide Management Initiative

The General Services Administration (GSA) is the Federal Government's premier acquisition agency.  GSA helps other agencies better serve the public by meeting - at best value - their needs for products and services, and by simplifying citizen access to government information and services.  GSA's USA Services program supports this mission.  USA Services' mission is to help make the Government more citizen-centric by providing citizens with easy access to accurate, consistent, and timely Government information.  To achieve this mission, it provides citizens direct information about and from all levels of the Government through an array of integrated information channels including USA.gov and other websites, Governmentwide web-based search engines, telephone and email inquiry response from the National Contact Center, and print materials.  

The USA Services e-Government Initiative: USA.gov, the Federal Government's official web portal, and 1 (800) FED INFO, the telephone number for official Government information, are the first place citizens, businesses, visitors to the U.S. and other Government agencies turn to for official Government information every day, and especially during national emergencies - beginning with 9/11, and more recently with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the State Department's evacuation of American citizens from Lebanon.  There is also a Spanish-language portal, GobiernoUSA.gov.  

USA Services embodies the President's goal of utilizing technology to improve how the Federal Government serves citizens, businesses and agencies.  USA Services' use of a single gateway to Government information channels has reduced program costs and made citizen service delivery more efficient.  In addition to $31 million in savings for Government agencies in FY 2006, the enhanced search engine will save the Government $1.4 million per year, while doubling the number of searches performed.  Other savings achieved by USA Services include a projected decrease in the average cost per “citizen touchpoint” from $0.315 actual cost in FY 2006 to a targeted $0.260 in FY 2007.  The continuous maintenance of updated answers to Frequently Asked Questions reduces phone call and email volume, saving the Government as much as $5 million per year.  Other agencies save as much as $200,000 by using the First Contact contract instead of conducting their own competitive procurements.  Lastly, citizens now have access to over 50 million documents from Federal, state, local, territorial and tribal governments via USA Search - up from 8 million prior to January 2006, when the Government Internet search site was upgraded. 

USA Services will continue to assure Federal Government transparency, accountability and citizen service.