Treasury announces new e-commerce Web sites

Deputy Treasury Secretary Stuart Eizenstat Tuesday announced two new electronic initiatives that will serve as government-wide payment and collection portals and will allow users to oversee securities and financial reports online.

"Government is often criticized, sometimes fairly, sometimes unfairly...but here we are literally on the cutting edge of change," Eizenstat said at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. "These are the jewels-they're creative, they're innovative and they're entrepreneurial-that's a term you don't hear used much about government."

Pay.gov, developed by Treasury's Financial Management Service's Electronic Money Program Office, will allow citizens, businesses and federal agencies to process transactions, such as government collection of fees, fines, sales, leases, loans and certain taxes, on the Web. FMS runs a more than $2 trillion annual payment collection system through more than 10,000 financial institutions.

"Electronic payments, to us, means changes to the U.S. payment system," said Gary Grippo, FMS E-Money program manager. "Our goal is to take a long-term approach in looking at this...we believe the payment system is not static, it is not frozen in time."

The initiative is part of Treasury's push to develop a stronger technology infrastructure and will go live in late October. Grippo said the agency expects to have a "queue of agencies" waiting to get online to pay.gov. He added that the site's security measures "exceed industry-best practices" and will employ the use of devices such as firewalls and digital signatures.

SLGSafe, developed by the Treasury's Bureau of Public Debt, serves 400 banks and state and local government customers who invest in State and Local Government Series Securities, or SLGS. Users can subscribe for securities, make changes to their portfolio, redeem securities and review financial reports. The site's pilot went live in December and will be rolled out over the next three years. About 10 banks are currently live on the site.

Eizenstat said Treasury's other online financial programs such as TreasuryDirect, Savings Bond Connection, U.S. Debit Card and Internet Credit Card Collections have been live anywhere from six months to two years and that the agency has "had no complaints or concern on the security side."

Eizenstat also announced a Sept. 22 Treasury conference that will focus on electronic financial transactions. Discussions at the conference will include online privacy and security issues.

These are "important steps forward in this administration's efforts to make e-government a reality for all people in America," Eizenstat said. "I am confident that we can continue to ensure that the government adapts successfully to the rapid changes in this Information Age."