FirstGov to Add New Search and News Capabilities

Yesterday, the U.S. General Services Administration announced new Web Search and News capabilities will be added to FirstGov.gov, the U.S. Government's official Web portal. The new capabilities will help the portal function as a swift and efficient source for Americans to locate, identify and utilize information and government services at all levels from local to federal.

These new services will be made available through a contract with Vivisimo of Pittsburgh, Pa., in partnership with Microsoft. FirstGov will leverage Vivisimo's Clusty.com search service, incorporating results and features from Microsoft's MSN Search. For example, a search on "nursing jobs" will return results from government Web sites and job listings from USAJOBS, the federal government's official job database. Clusty makes it possible to search government databases simultaneously with MSN Search.

This new search strategy provides more services for less than the cost of previous FirstGov search services. The value of the contract is $1.8 million annually, which is nearly half the cost of the current search service on FirstGov.gov. The contract is part of a new Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) FirstGov has set up to acquire future Web search services. The BPA has a total value of $18 million over the length of the agreement.

"The enhancements we're unveiling today improve Firstgov.gov's ability to guide citizens through the sometimes-confusing federal bureaucracy, and translate to simple yet advanced searches of government information and images," said M.J. Pizzella, Associate Administrator of GSA's Office of Citizen Services and Communications. "When President Bush came to Washington, he issued clear instructions for all agencies to use technology to improve citizen access to federal information and services. The improved search engine -- as well as the unique content developed and added to Firstgov.gov after Hurricane Katrina -- move us a step closer to his vision of results-oriented, performance-based government that harnesses technology on behalf of the American public."

Teri Takai, Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the State of Michigan, added, "We recognize FirstGov.gov as the official Web portal and front door to the U.S. government. Here in Michigan, we have worked hard to make it easier for our citizens to access government services and information, and this latest enhancement to FirstGov.gov will go a long way to aid citizens in their search for federal and state government information."

From a local government perspective, David Molchany, CIO of Fairfax County, Va., said, "The ability of Firstgov.gov to search from the U.S. Federal Government through State to Local Governments will be invaluable. This is an excellent example of joined up government and one that will benefit the customers of government."

FirstGov.gov Search will significantly expand the scope of its government service capability. Currently, FirstGov.gov Search includes an index of approximately 8 million federal government web pages. Vivisimo, in partnership with MSN, will provide an index that's more than three times larger than the current service, and includes federal, state, local, tribal and territorial government web sites.

In addition, FirstGov.gov will launch government-wide News and Image search services so citizens will not have to go to individual agencies to find these resources. For example, federal and state agencies both have image libraries covering Hurricane Katrina. To find Katrina images, citizens have to go to each agency to find ones they want to see. The new image search capability will allow citizens to search across all agency image libraries, so the citizen will have to go only to FirstGov.gov to find all Katrina images from official government agencies.

The new search service includes packages geared toward specific audiences (i.e., kids and Spanish speakers). These two audiences are very important, but existing services for these groups are not enough to meet their needs. FirstGov for Kids on