FirstGov.gov, a new site launched by the U.S. General Services Administration, has put access to government information at Web user's fingertips by consolidating millions of U.S. government Web pages on one Web site using topic listings, key word searches, and links to executive, legislative, and judicial sites.

The site, www.FirstGov.gov, also contains links to state and local government Web pages and allows users to give feedback to agencies and to FirstGov.gov itself. In addition to the government developed and run portal, the system includes a search engine developed by the private Federal Search Foundation, and private sector partners who provide another way in, GSA said.

Direction for the FirstGov project is provided by a Board of Directors consisting of eight members of the President's Management Council and three members of the federal Chief Information Officers Council, GSA said.

"The Internet has changed our lives -- how we work personally and professionally," said David J. Barram, GSA Administrator. "In the past a project such as this may have taken years, but in today's world, we have to move fast. We were able to accomplish it in a mere 90 days."

Barram predicts a dramatic increase in government Web sites that allow individuals to conduct transactions as Americans want to do more and more on the Internet.

-- SmartPros News Staff

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