Best Feds on the Web

See the 1998 Best Feds on the Web winners here.

We think the following are the best federal sites on the Internet, for one or more of the following reasons:

• They provide excellent customer service to the public by having a well-designed site and a large amount of useful information for the public, or by performing part of their duties online.
  
• They provide information important to federal employees.
  
• They offer an especially friendly user interface or make use of new technologies that other federal sites should consider emulating.

The White House offers a guide to commonly requested federal services that are available online. Press releases, speeches, and major documents are posted daily to the site and archived in the Virtual Library. The White House has done an excellent job of "humanizing" government, even offering a White House for Kids section. The site is well-designed and sections are cross-linked for easy navigation.

HUD's Web site is divided into two sections. The first, for citizens, describes HUD programs and how to qualify for them. It also has an online calculator for people to figure out if they qualify for a loan from the Federal Housing Administration. The second section, for community and business partners, lists funding and contracting opportunities, a HUD Forms Warehouse, and a regularly updated news area. Both sections link up to the Townhall, an online, wide-open discussion forum.

The Internal Revenue Service offers most of their tax forms and publications online, along with a free viewer program (Adobe Acrobat) that can be downloaded to view and print the forms. The IRS site has a sharp, fresh look. People can register for email updates of important tax information via the home page.

Social Security Online offers a number of services to its customers that significantly speed up the process of exchanging information with the agency. People can request a Personal Earnings and Benefits Statement online. They can even compute their own benefits statement by downloading a special program. An application for a social security card can also be downloaded. Information is easy to find because the site is so simply designed.

The Federal Supply Service designed GSA Advantage to make it easy for federal purchasers to buy goods from GSA schedules. The 1-year-old site is an on-line shopping mall offering 4 million products from 7,000 vendors on 130 government schedules. Buyers can use the point-and-click ordering system to purchase everything from copiers to cars.
Customers can pay for purchases with GSA Activity Address Codes, IMPAC credit cards or EDI purchase orders.

This service, run by Library of Congress, supplies all sorts of information on the legislative process. Its primary strength is the ability to search recent bills, laws, and the Congressional Record. THOMAS also has useful links to other related information services.

Visitors to Washington will want to consult this site for a cornucopia of Smithsonian facts. New and temporary exhibits, changes to schedules and events, and descriptions of the various museums are all featured. The "Encyclopedia Smithsonian" project takes answers to questions commonly asked Smithsonian staff and puts them on the Web. The Smithsonian is not afraid of newer Internet technologies. It is using "server push" technology to create an online tour of the various museums online that automatically moves to the next slide every few seconds without the user having to touch a key or click a mouse.

This service directs small businesses to the federal Web sites with the information they need. Topics covered include "doing business with the government", "finance", "international trade", "general business", "labor and employment", and "laws and regulations".

FinanceNet is one of the most successful examples of employees from all agencies cooperating to resolve government-wide issues. FinanceNet is supported through several sources, most notably the National Science Foundation and the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program. FinanceNet sponsors dozens of mailing lists and Usenet discussions on financial topics, including government asset sales, performance measures and payroll issues.
Its Web site supports several efforts such as sales of government surplus equipment, links to electronic commerce information, and Treasury Department resources. Other resources include extensive library documents, state and local links, and a calendars of events.

The WINGS project is a Postal Service effort to help local, state, and federal governments provide the public with easy-to-use, integrated customer services. Under the Moving section of the site, people can change their mailing address, read up on the population demographics and government services of their new state, and (in the future) take care of voter registration and even view IRS regulations on deductions for moving expenses.
WINGS has started several online working groups to address issues such as legal and regulatory hurdles, pilot tests, appearance standards, and security concerns.