FirstGov Testimony

Best Feds on the Web 2000

9/28/00: Council for Excellence in Government: E-Gov Poll by Hart-Teeter

9/28/00: PlanetGov.com: Defense Buys Computers Through Online Auction

E-Government Success Stories

President's 1999 Memorandum on Electronic Government

Results

Electronic Government

The National Partnership for Reinventing urged agencies to use information technology and the Internet to transform how citizens interact with government. Reinvention evolved into e-gov and the goal was to provide better access to government services. Today e-gov is putting people “online, not in line.”

By the end of 2000, nearly 40 million Americans were doing business with the government electronically. On a regular basis, people are accessing information to solve problems themselves through the Internet, via telephones, and through neighborhood kiosks.

Background: Access America

Under the leadership of Vice President Al Gore, NPR published a blueprint in 1997 for developing our electronic government program called Access America.

This report called for the integration of services across different federal agencies so citizens can “custom-tailor” government to their specific needs. NPR pioneered this concept through the development of websites such as:

• the U.S. State and Local Gateway,
• Recreation,
• Access America for Students,
• Access America for Seniors,
• Access America for Business,
• Access America for Workers,
• Access America for People with Disabilities, and
• Access America E-Gov E-Zine
.

What's Next?

The next step is to give Americans the opportunity to conduct all government transactions online by 2003 as directed by President Clinton's Memorandum of December 17, 1999.

President Clinton's “e-gov” framework included three strategies for increasing access to government information:

1. Ensuring privacy and security
2. Increasing agency use of automation to transact services and
3. Adopting cross-cutting electronic government initiatives.

Results

NPR worked with agencies and the Council for Excellence in Government to implement the President's directive to give all Americans greater access to their government through e-gov. See Results.