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Nov. 4, 2002
Department of Labor Recognized with Two Technology Awards GovBenefits.gov Recipient of Gracie Award; Labor Dept Receives Performance Institute's Top e-Government Honor
WASHINGTON - GovBenefits.gov, a website designed to facilitate the interaction between
individuals and government, has been honored with Government Executive magazine's 2002
Grace Hopper Government Technology Leadership Award. Also recently, but in a separate
competition, the Department of Labor won the Performance Institute's "Overall
Performance in e-Government" Award.
"We are proud that GovBenefits.gov has been recognized for its citizen-centric
approach and for its advanced technology," said Assistant Secretary for
Administration and Management, Patrick Pizzella. "Mostly, we are pleased that the
Labor Department's e-Government efforts in support of the President's Management Agenda
are being recognized."
The site, part of the Bush Administration's e-Government initiative, consolidates
information formerly found on thousands of web pages. GovBenefits.gov is designed as a
one-stop resource for citizens to learn if they may be eligible to receive government
benefits. The website allows users to answer a short series of simple, yes-no questions,
then returns a list of Federal benefit programs for which they may be eligible.
GovBenefits.gov is one of 24 key initiatives that comprise the President's e-Government
Strategy, an integral part of the President's Management Agenda. The Department of Labor
serves as the managing partner of the project, which is the collaborative effort of 10
Federal agencies.
A panel of government experts in Federal technology advancement selected GovBenefits.gov,
with 9 other projects in different categories, among 140 nominees for the 2002 Grace
Hopper Award. GovBenefits.gov was honored for providing individuals and enterprises with
access to useful government information. The site will be recognized at the 11th annual
presentation of these awards on December 3, 2002.
On October 30, 2002, the U.S. Department of Labor was presented with the Performance
Institute's Overall Performance Award for its management of Gov.Benefits.gov. The
Department's approach to GovBenefits.gov and the Department's Public Key Infrastructure
project were highlighted as e-Government "Best Practices" in the Performance
Institute's report entitled "Creating a Performance-Based Electronic
Government" which was released in unison with the awards ceremony at the National
Press Club in Washington, DC. A panel of representatives from various "good
government" groups - led by the Performance Institute and including Reason Public
Policy Institute as well as Fujitsu Consulting and the Gartner Group - compiled the report
by reviewing e-Government approaches across the Federal government. In doing so, the
representatives selected the Labor Department as the Federal agency with the best
performance on e-Government issues.
------ U.S. Labor Department news releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The
information in this release will be made available in alternate format upon request (large
print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the COAST office. Please specify which news
release when placing your request. Call 202-693-7773 or TTY 202-693-7755.
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