Government Web search engine off to rocky start

The Commerce Department's National Technical Information Service Monday announced a new fee-based search engine designed to find federal government information on the Web. But later the same day, the department announced it would review whether the service violates Clinton administration policy that government information should be freely accessible.

The new service, called "gov.search," (www.usgovsearch.com), searches more than 20,000 government and military Web sites and 5,400 magazines (including Government Executive), news wires and other news sources to locate federal government-related information. NTIS and its partner in developing the service, Cambridge, Mass.-based search engine company Northern Light Technology LLC, said at a press conference Monday morning that gov.search is the best way to find government information on the Web. Thus, they argue, people should be willing to pay for it.

However, on Monday afternoon, Gary Bachula, acting undersecretary of Commerce for technology, told reporters that questions from the media about whether such a service should be fee-based prompted the department to put the gov.search site on hold.

But Susan Stearns, director of enterprise marketing for Northern Light, said Tuesday that gov.search was never shut down. Several visits to the gov.search site today confirmed it is still available. The only change is that the service is now free until June 1, Stearns said.

"The service is not on hold. It's up and running," Stearns said. "There's a two-week introductory period for people to try gov.search out and determine if they want to sign up for a subscription."

Gov.search will be available for free while the Commerce Department makes sure the service is in line with government Internet policy, an NTIS spokeswoman said Tuesday.

In announcing the site Monday, Bachula said gov.search would be the first one-stop portal for online government information.

"The Web has become the primary tool for government agencies to communicate with their constituents," Bachula said. "There are over 20,000 federal government home pages alone. Within the .gov domain, we know there are more than 3.8 million Web pages."

People who want to use gov.search will have to pay $15 for a one-day pass, $30 for monthly service, and $250 for a year's worth of access. Access to certain documents requires an additional charge.

The General Services Administration offers a similar service for free at www.info.gov.