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OPA News Release: [11/04/2002]
Contact Name: Yvonne
Ralsky
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676
Department of Labor Recognized with Two Technology
Awards
GovBenefits.gov Recipient of Gracie Award
Labor
Department Receives Performance Institute’s Top e-Government Honor
WASHINGTON - GovBenefits.gov, a Web site designed to facilitate
interaction between individuals and government, has been honored with
Government Executive magazine’s 2002 Grace Hopper Government
Technology Leadership Award. Also recently, but in a separate competition, the
Department of Labor won the Performance Institute’s “Overall
Performance in e-Government” award.
“We are proud that GovBenefits.gov has been recognized for its
citizen-centric approach and for its advanced technology,” said Assistant
Secretary for Administration and Management Patrick Pizzella. “Mostly, we
are pleased that the Labor Department’s e-Government efforts in support of
the President’s Management Agenda are being recognized.”
The site, part of the Bush Administration’s e-Government
initiative, consolidates information formerly found on thousands of Web pages.
GovBenefits.gov is designed as a one-stop resource for citizens to learn if
they may be eligible to receive government benefits. The Web site allows users
to answer a short series of simple, yes-no questions, then returns a list of
federal benefit programs for which they may be eligible.
GovBenefits.gov is one of 24 key initiatives that comprise the
President’s e-Government Strategy, an integral part of the
President’s Management Agenda. The Department of Labor serves as the
managing partner of the project, which is the collaborative effort of 10
federal agencies.
A panel of government experts in federal technology advancement selected
GovBenefits.gov, with nine other projects in different categories, among 140
nominees for the 2002 Grace Hopper Award. GovBenefits.gov was honored for
providing individuals and enterprises with access to useful government
information. The site will be recognized at the 11th annual
presentation of these awards on Dec. 3, 2002.
On Oct. 30, the U.S. Department of Labor was presented with the
Performance Institute’s Overall Performance Award for its management of
Gov.Benefits.gov. The department’s approach to GovBenefits.gov and the
department’s Public Key Infrastructure project were highlighted as
e-Government best practices in the Performance Institute’s report,
“Creating a Performance-Based Electronic Government,” which was
released in unison with the awards ceremony at the National Press Club in
Washington, D.C. A panel of representatives from various “good
government” groups—led by the Performance Institute and including
Reason Public Policy Institute as well as Fujitsu Consulting and the Gartner
Group—compiled the report by reviewing e-Government approaches across the
federal government. In doing so, the representatives selected the Labor
Department as the federal agency with the best performance on e-Government
issues.
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