FirstGov Named as Finalist in American Government Award

GSA #9867

August 30, 2001
Contact: Eleni Martin (202) 501-1231
eleni.martin@gsa.gov

WASHINGTON, DC - FirstGov (http://www.firstgov.gov) is one of 15 finalists positioned to win the highly acclaimed Innovations in American Government Award from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. FirstGov is the federal government's official web gateway, returning search results in a quarter of a second from more than 47 million federal and state government web pages from a single location. FirstGov has the capability to search information from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The user does not have to know the name of a specific program or agency to find information.

With more than three million hits per month, FirstGov is helping citizens do more online business than ever before, such as applying for student loans, finding jobs, renewing drivers' licenses, and comparing Medicare options. As a result of FirstGov's catalytic influence, government is also changing the way it thinks about its online services: Many agencies and programs have redesigned web sites to be more citizen-focused, added email feedback channels for the public, and worked across agency lines to create new portals organized by topic or customer group, such as nutrition.gov and kids.gov.

"The Office of FirstGov is very honored to be recognized as a finalist along with other highly progressive and influential public-sector innovators," said Deborah Diaz, Deputy Associate Administrator for the Office of FirstGov in the GSA Office of Governmentwide Policy, "Our work continues to create a citizen-centric electronic government that truly transcends the traditional boundaries of government. Our vision is global�connecting the world to all U.S. government information, transactions, and services."

Championed by the President's Management Council and the Federal Chief Information Officers Council, FirstGov is led by a cross-agency board and administered by GSA. The FirstGov search engine is provided by The Federal Search Foundation.

The National Selection Committee on Innovations in American Government, chaired by David R. Gergen, editor-at-large, U.S. News & World Report, will select five winning programs after a full day of presentations on October 17 in Washington, DC. Winners will be announced the following day. Each winner will receive a $100,000 award. The remaining 10 finalists will each receive $20,000. Innovations in American Government is an awards program of the Institute for Government Innovation (http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/innovations/) at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The program is administered in partnership with the Council for Excellence in Government in Washington, DC and is funded by The Ford Foundation.