Creating the front door to government: a case study of the Firstgov portal

Library Trends, Fall, 2003 by Patricia Diamond Fletcher

ABSTRACT

FIRSTGOV IS THE U.S. FEDERAL PORTAL to government information and services. It was conceived by the Clinton administration in June of 2000 and launched in September 2000. A case study of the development of Firstgov indicated that top-level leadership, a small and committed project team, and the very condensed timeframe of the project were factors that contributed to the success of the portal. Another reason cited for the success of the Firstgov development was the U.S. federal information policy environment, a robust and evolving framework creating the climate for electronic government. An unusual feature of the project development was the donation of the Inktomi search engine for three years, an event that further enabled Firstgov to open its door on time and on budget. The portal continues today with funding and resources designed to ensure its future.

INTRODUCTION

The creation of the FirstGov federal Web portal represents a dramatic new way of doing business for government. The portal itself represents a major change in how the government will interact with its customers--citizens, businesses, and other governments. The longstanding oxymoron, "technical innovation in government," has been challenged with the development of FirstGov. This application, created during the Clinton administration, has paved the way for the e-government strategy of the Bush administration. The goal is for FirstGov to serve as the gateway to all U.S. government information. It provides the most comprehensive search of government documents and services anywhere on the Internet. The creation of this portal was informed by policy designed to create an electronic government. It was forged by a unique partnership between the public and private sectors, which enabled it to be up and running in ninety days--a major feat for government. The story of this development was captured in a case study funded by the National Science Foundation under the Digital Government program.

THE U.S. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT

Policy is a critical tool for framing the operational environment for government (Dawes et al., 1999; Fletcher & Westerback, 1999). Policy related to information and the management of information resources has had a defining influence on the evolution from a paper-based, to a computer-based, to an electronic government in the United States. When viewed from the perspective that the U.S. federal government is the world's largest creator, disseminator, and user of information, the criticality of having a strong policy framework is obvious. Harlan Cleveland (1986) asserted that "government is information." The importance and value of information to government mandates a high level of attention to ensure that it will be utilized for the public good. This policy framework serves to highlight and unify information issues such as management, planning, privacy, security, access, property rights, and electronic commerce.

POLICY CREATING AN ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT

The Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA) (P.L. 105-277), signed into law October 21, 1998, represented the Clinton administration's intent to move quickly to a federal government that offered comprehensive electronic access and services. GPEA was a major legislative endorsement of electronic government. It required the federal executive agencies, no later than October 21, 2003, to allow individuals and businesses that interact with federal agencies the opportunity to do so electronically. GPEA more importantly mandated that electronic records and their electronic signatures were to have the full force of legal effect and validity. It encouraged federal agencies to promote an electronic information-management environment more akin to electronic commerce models, including electronic transactions, recordkeeping, filing, maintenance, submission, and archiving. This opened up a wide array of possible types of electronic information interactions between government and the public. The submission of bids and proposals for government contracts; applications for licenses, loans, and benefits; requests for government records; receipt of benefits such as social security; online procurement; and citizen interaction in legislation are but a few examples of the new applications for which GPEA created the policy environment.

The high-level management policy environment for electronic government is set forth in S.803, the E-Government Act of 2001, introduced by Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT). While it was not successful in 2001, an amended version of the act was reintroduced and reported out of committee on March 21, 2002. With strong congressional support, this bill was passed by the Senate on November 15, 2002, mere hours after the House had approved the measure. The amended version of the E-Government Act (P.L. 107-30) sets up a broad policy framework for an electronic government strategy that will enable citizens to access their government information and services electronically, over the Internet. The act recognizes the effect the Internet has already had on U.S. society and seeks to avail both government and citizens of the benefits already being realized by businesses and individual Internet users. The act further includes the creation of a federal chief information officer (CIO) housed in the Executive Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the establishment of an Office of Electronic Government housed in OMB. The federal chief information officer is to be appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. The creation of an Office of Electronic Government is to ensure that electronic initiatives are sound investments and, more importantly, that these new e-government initiatives are cross-agency in nature. This is a serious effort to dismantle the unwieldy "stovepipe" structure that is predominant today across government. Cross-agency initiatives are seen as reducing the information burden on the public, while making access simplified, universal, and not time limited.