Vision

In 1997, the National Partnership for Reinventing Government (NPR) outlined a plan to provide Americans with better access to government services and benefits. The FirstGov plan calls for cross-agency participation to improve government services to citizens, business, and other federal and state government agencies by reengineering federal information systems and implementing electronic service delivery mechanisms—in particular, Internet-based electronic access and service delivery. While advances have been made, many government services are still paper-based and require that people apply in person as well as wait many days for the information or services they seek.

When all the proposed improvements are in place, the public will have access to government services and information 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. For example, instead of driving to the Post Office to complete a change of address form, people will be able to complete the form on-line and submit it electronically any time of the day or night from home computers, as well as those in schools, libraries and other public venues. This change of address data can then be propagated to every federal agency where the customer does business.  

Information that once took weeks to be received will be immediately available.  Rather than being required to file applications in person during working hours, people will be able to file them electronically 24 hours a day. The FirstGov concept is to focus on specific segments of the population, such as senior citizens or students, and direct resources and efforts toward improving service delivery to the targeted population.

Goals

Secure, Easy Access to Government Services and Benefits for Seniors

Initially the FirstGov for Seniors site will help users access all government sites that provide services for senior citizens, such as SSA, Health Care Financing Administration, the Administration on Aging, the Department of Veterans Affairs, etc.  There are also links to all federal agencies and all 50 States.  

The FirstGov for Seniors Internet services will give older Americans the option of conducting their government business electronically, along with  the ability to transact business with a wide range of government agencies and programs.  Using a one-stop shopping approach , seniors will have access to agencies at the Federal, State and local levels. They will also be able to search for programs that meet their needs, without having to know which agency, at which level, can deliver the services they seek.

Cross-Government Participation

Cross-agency participation and cooperation are key elements in making the Seniors site a success—since the primary goal is to create a virtual agency that can be used to locate services across a wide range of agencies within the federal bureaucracy.  Cross-agency partnerships are important for many reasons. They provide focus on topics (e.g., senior services, retirement planning, health services, travel, etc.) rather than program-specific services (e.g., a Social Security benefit). 

In addition, certain types of services can be offered that no one agency may have the resources to implement.  For example, the authentication infrastructure that we discuss below may be too expensive for any one agency to create.  However, this goal and others can be realized if all agencies work together.