FirstGov.gov Unveils Next Generation Search Engine

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Citizen access to official
government information, forms, frequently asked questions -- even
Podcasts -- took a historic leap forward today with the launch of new
search capabilities added to the U.S. government's official Web portal
-- FirstGov.gov.

FirstGov.gov, in concert with private sector partners Vivisimo, Inc.,
and the Microsoft Corp., has launched the government's most powerful
search engine, one that:

-- Vastly expands the search to include federal, state, local tribal and

territorial documents;

-- Increases the universe of government documents from 8 million to 40

million;

-- Searches more efficiently and effectively by leveraging the powerful

Microsoft MSN search index which returns relevant results through

sophisticated algorithms;

-- Leverages Vivisimo's metasearching technology which is unique in

government;

-- Uses clustering technology to organize thousands of search results into

categories to help citizens locate government information;

-- Gives citizens search results they can trust by providing only official

U.S. government information;

-- Costs taxpayers $1.8 million, about half of current search services,

generating savings that can be reinvested into further enhancements;

-- Allows user to determine the relevancy of an individual result before

leaving the search page through the preview function;

-- Provides enhanced search on kids.gov, espanol.gov and

consumeraction.gov;

-- Creates a more citizen-centric government, fulfilling President Bush's

pledge.

"The new FirstGov.gov search delivers a much richer, more productive
search experience for citizens and government employees," said M.J.
Pizzella, Associate Administrator of GSA's Office of Citizen Services
and Communications (OCSC). "The new search moves us closer to our
objective -- a customer service center for the government that
delivers official, quality information."

As one example, a person who typed "Social Security" in the old search
engine would get a link to the Social Security Administration and some
related websites. The new search delivers several ways to quickly zero
in on the information the user really wants, like:

* Most frequently asked Social Security questions by citizens who have

called 1-800-FED-INFO, the U.S. Government's telephone hotline. (1-800-

FED-INFO answered 8.5 million calls last year about federal programs and

services.)

* Recommended Web sites from the editors at MyMoney.gov;

* Social Security forms;

* Podcasts from official government sources discussing Social Security

issues; and

* A new "clustering" feature that takes thousands of search results and

categorizes them by topic.

Searches on the new FirstGov.gov pull results from the USAJOBS
database of federal job listings, Forms.gov's database of federal
forms, MyMoney.gov's database of recommended personal finance Web
sites, and automobile rankings from Fueleconomy.gov and the National
Highway Traffic Highway Administration (NHTSA.gov). Over time, other
data sources will be added to further improve citizen services.

"As the gateway to government and winner of the Innovations in
American Government Award, Firstgov must be anchored by a state of the
art search engine," said Patricia McGinnis, President and CEO of The
Council for Excellence in Government. "I applaud this significant leap
ahead, which will benefit all citizens, who are both the customers and
owners of government."

FirstGov.gov, the award-winning federal portal, provides government
information and services to citizens, businesses and other
governments, and is an integral part of USA Services, one of the
Presidential E-Gov initiatives created in 2003. USA Services delivers
information and services to citizens through multiple channels. This
includes the Internet, email, telephone, and publication distribution.
Last year, USA Services reported 230 million public contacts, of which
8.6 million were through 1-800 FED INFO (for telephone and email), 8.2
million publications were distributed through the Federal Citizen
Information Center (FCIC) in Pueblo, Colorado, and 179 million were
FirstGov.gov.

GSA is a centralized, federal procurement, property management, policy
development and information provision agency, created by Congress to
improve government efficiency and help federal agencies better serve
the public. In this role, GSA acquires products and services on behalf
of federal agencies; plays a key role in developing and implementing
government-wide policies; provides services and solutions for the
office operations of more than one million federal workers; and
encourages a citizen-centric relationship with government by providing
a single "point of entry" to the information and services citizens
need in a timeframe they can appreciate. This allows citizens to
receive accurate, timely and consistent answers and information, and
helps federal agencies better respond to citizen inquiries. SOURCE
U.S. General Services Administration