FirstGov Announces New Hosting Capabilities for Citizen-Facing E-Gov Initiatives

WASHINGTON, D.C. – New hosting and professional services solutions will be available government-wide for Presidential and other citizen-facing e-gov initiatives through a Task Order awarded to Raytheon Information Solutions by the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) Office of Citizen Services and Communications (OCSC).  Initially, the FirstGov Web Solutions Task Order issued under the Millennia GWAC will provide Web solutions for
FirstGov.gov, along with Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) Forms.gov and Business.gov.  Other agencies may use it during the five-year life of the Task Order.

This marks another significant step forward by GSA/OCSC to create a citizen-centric government as mandated by President Bush’s Management Agenda. Similar to the FirstContact contracting vehicle created by OCSC’s USA Services initiative, this Task Order will also be available government-wide for other federal citizen-facing initiatives, including the Presidential initiatives and other initiatives that serve citizens. 

The contract award was made to Raytheon Information Solutions for a one-year term, with four renewal years – which limits spending to $71 million.  This will
accommodate up to 25 citizen-facing e-gov initiatives.  

“FirstGov Web Solutions will allow other agencies to have quick access to a wide range of web services supporting the delivery of information and services to citizens via this Task Order,” said M.J. Pizzella, Associate Administrator for OCSC, which administers FirstGov.gov.  “This new award creates a partnership with a team that will improve an already successful set of services for the citizen by providing integrated, state-of-the-art solutions for the delivery of government information
and services.”

The hosting announcement is the latest in a series of recent advances for OCSC.  In 2005, OCSC created the FirstContact contact center contract that was a significant contributor to many domestic and international emergencies.  FirstContact is an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract for contact center solutions that is comprised of five pre-qualified industry contact center partners.  In January, OCSC launched new search capabilities for the website that significantly increased citizens’ ability to search authoritative government information from federal, state, local, tribal and territorial sites. 

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 governmentwide 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.