Release Date: May 2003

FEDERAL E-GOVERNMENT PROGRAM WINS GOVERNMENT OSCAR

One-stop web portal to government services and information awarded $100,000 prize

(CAMBRIDGE, MA) - The Institute for Government Innovation at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government today announced that the federal government's FirstGov (www.firstgov.gov) web portal has won the "Oscar" of Government awards.

FirstGov-administered by the U.S. General Services Administration-is one of five winners in the prestigious Innovations in American Government Award and will receive a $100,000 grant to support replication of its creative efforts.

Citizens, businesses and government employees can visit FirstGov to get a copy of a birth certificate, choose retirement benefits, download a passport application, apply for a federal student loan, file income taxes, report a company's quarterly wage earnings, file a patent, buy stamps and much more, all online. FirstGov's links to more than 180 million pages of information from federal, state and local governments provide citizens instant, easy, secure and constant access to the government. More than 1.4 million visitors per week testify to FirstGov's usefulness.

Calling the site a "front door to government," President George W. Bush authorized a major redesign as part of his goal to make government more accessible, and Vice President Dick Cheney launched the improved portal in 2002, saying FirstGov had been transformed from a "site that provides information on government to a site that provides solutions for people."

FirstGov continually researches and analyzes calls, e-mail queries and online statistics on hot topics to provide the services and information Americans want most. During the recent Iraq War, for example, FirstGov helped citizens navigate a variety of information quickly and easily, including directing them to posting messages of encouragement to those fighting abroad.

"Citizens want and deserve reliably accurate, timely information from their government, and to be able get it quickly and easily," said Stephen Goldsmith, Faculty Chair of the Institute for Government Innovation at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. "What is unique about Firstgov is that it continually reinvents itself to remain relevant, responsive, and on the cutting edge."

FirstGov not only serves as a model for state and municipal web portals, but links to them so all can share information and services.

"E-government means more than just electronic government. It most also mean effective government, efficient government, and ultimately excellent government," said Patricia McGinnis, President and CEO of the Council for Excellence in Government. "There is no better example of that than Firstgov."

FirstGov was selected from among fifteen finalists and nearly 1,000 applicants. For 16 years, the Innovations in American Government Award has recognized quality and responsiveness at all levels of government and has fostered the replication of innovative approaches to the challenges facing government.

The award - a program of the Institute for Government Innovation at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government - is administered in partnership with the Council for Excellence in Government. The program was founded by the Ford Foundation to identify and promote excellence and creativity in the public sector.

The Institute for Government Innovation at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, established through an endowment from the Ford Foundation, fosters excellence in governments throughout the world. It serves as a global hub for public-sector innovators through networks, conferences and research.

The Council for Excellence in Government is a national, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to improve government performance by strengthening results-oriented management and creative leadership in the public sector, and to build understanding by focusing public discussion on government's role and responsibilities.

For more information on the Innovations in American Government program and this year's finalists, please visit www.innovations.harvard.edu or www.excelgov.org.

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Contact:
Sarah Howe (202) 530-3270
showe@excelgov.org
Innovations in America Government
79 John F. Kennedy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: (617) 495-0557
Fax: (617) 496-4602
E-Mail: innovations@harvard.edu
Web: www.innovations.harvard.edu

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