FirstGov.gov the U.S. Government's Official Web Portal Wins Prestigious Innovations in American Government Award

GSA # 10014

May 8, 2003
Contact: Eleni Martin (202) 501-1231
eleni.martin@gsa.gov

Washington, DC - The U.S. General Services Administration Office of Citizen Services and Communications (OCSC) is proud to announce that [www.FirstGov.gov], the U.S. Government's official web portal, is the winner of the prestigious Innovations in American Government Award. FirstGov was one of nearly 1,000 applicants for the 16th annual Innovations in American Government Awards and the only federal applicant in the final running.

"This award is recognition that President Bush is making government more responsive and accountable to the citizen," said M. J. Jameson, Associate Administrator for the Office of Citizen Services and Communications, where the portal is housed within the U.S. General Services Administration. "By offering citizens easy access to federal and state government information and resources, FirstGov.gov is narrowing the distance between citizens and their government."

According to a recent Hart-Teeter poll, 86 percent of E-Government users want one Web site or easy links to other Web sites with answers to their questions about government services. The poll found clear support for a portal that puts information about services in one place.

FirstGov.gov is the "Front Door" to official government information and the Bush Administration's E-Government initiatives, which connect citizens with government. FirstGov.gov helps citizens find and do business with government online, on the phone, by mail, or in person. The site connects visitors to a wealth of information, services and transactions from over 180 million pages of on-line government resources from federal, state, and local governments. In addition, FirstGov.gov also provides links to other customer channels the public can choose from, including phone, fax, e-mail and snail mail.

The Innovations in American Government Award is funded by the Ford Foundation and administered by the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in partnership with the Council for Excellence in Government.

The FirstGov.gov Web site is managed by GSA OCSC. OCSC provides citizens with access to information in a variety of ways--the Web, e-mail, telephone, fax, or print. FirstGov.gov is the official Web portal to the U.S. government. OCSC also leads USA Services, an E-Government initiative that seeks to make the Government more citizen-centric.

GSA is a centralized federal procurement and property management agency created by Congress to improve government efficiency and help federal agencies better serve the public. It acquires, on behalf of federal agencies, office space, equipment, telecommunications, information technology, supplies, and services. GSA, comprised of 14,000 associates, provides services and solutions for the office operations of over 1 million federal workers located in 8,300 government-owned and leased buildings in 1,600 U.S. communities.