September 15, 2004
New Web Toolkit Unveiled Offers Recipe
for Success
WASHINGTON, D.C. - FirstGov.gov,
Uncle Sam's most successful federal Web site, provided a sneak
preview of an online toolkit that will enable all federal
agencies to replicate the success of this award- winning site.
This toolkit was demonstrated on the occasion
of FirstGov.gov's fourth anniversary and selection for a prestigious
Innovations in American Government Award. The kit will guide
federal Web managers as they design U.S. government Web sites
to be the most citizen-focused and visitor-friendly in the
world.
The Interagency Committee on Government
Information (ICGI), through a team of Web managers representing
all Cabinet agencies, developed the toolkit to provide easy
access to best practices and other practical tools that will
enable agencies to replicate the most successful and innovative
Web sites in government. This will help achieve an important
goal of President Bush's Management Agenda.
FirstGov.gov, managed by the U.S. General
Services Administration's Office of Citizen Services and Communications
(OCSC), was named an Innovations in American Government Award
winner in 2003 by the Ash Institute at Harvard University
and the Council for Excellence in Government. Attendees at
today's event learned that since FirstGov.gov was created
four years ago, visits to the site have climbed from 14 million
in 2001 to an expected 70 million visitors this year.
"With the close guidance, strong leadership
and constant support of President Bush, FirstGov.gov has come
a long way in four short years, and we can only imagine what
new levels of efficiency and effectiveness are on the horizon
to keep citizens plugged into their government," said
GSA Administrator Stephen A. Perry, addressing a crowd of
more than 200 attendees in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms
at the U.S. State Department.
The occasion also provided an opportunity
for attendees to get the first glimpse of GSA's latest television
public service advertisement for FirstGov.gov, which demonstrates
in a light-hearted way the lengths the government will go
to in order to serve the public.
"FirstGov.gov is the embodiment of
the President's E-Gov vision," said M.J. Jameson, Associate
Administrator of the Office of Citizen Services and Communications,
also noted that, "FirstGov's success to date shows President
Bush was right -- Americans want their government centered
around citizens, not bureaucracies."
During the event, guests also viewed the
premiere of a 9-minute segment featuring FirstGov.gov slated
to appear in "The Visionaries," a nationally broadcast
public television series hosted by acclaimed actor Sam Waterston.
The episode featuring FirstGov.gov will be broadcast to PBS
stations during the 2004-05 television season.
FirstGov.gov links to all state and tribal
government home pages, as well as many local government Web
sites, providing easy access to government resources through
a single Web site organized by audience and topic.
Since its launch in 2000 as the official
Web portal of the U.S. government, FirstGov.gov has demonstrated
increasing public usage and popularity and achieved recognizable
success among industry and federal IT circles.
OCSC expects a total of 230 million public
contacts during 2004, of which 200 million are expected to
be FirstGov.gov page views. FirstGov is a key component of
USA Services, an E-Government initiative managed by OCSC
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