New federal Web portal met with praise, concern

FirstGov, a new federal Web portal, is a good first step to provide citizens easy access to government information, several members of Congress said Monday. Other experts, however, raised security and management concerns about the project.

"FirstGov is an important step in making government information and services available to the public seven days a week, 24 hours a day," said Rep. Stephen Horn, R-Calif., at a hearing of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology. Horn chairs the subcommittee.

Rep. Jim Turner, D-Texas, the ranking minority member of the subcommittee, was also positive about FirstGov's prospects. "I commend the administration for making this effort," Turner said. "Hopefully this is the first step in making dot.gov as common as dot.com."

Horn and Turner thanked Eric Brewer, the co-founder of Inktomi Corp., who donated the search technology that the FirstGov portal uses. Brewer created a foundation to finance the site at no cost to taxpayers.

Sally Katzen, deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, said that FirstGov scored 250,000 hits in its first four days in operation. She said that the site would improve over time, continually adapting to citizen usage.

David McClure, director for information technology management issues at the General Accounting Office, said he was concerned about the security of the FirstGov site. McClure sought clarification of the relationship between Brewer's Federal Search Foundation and the federal government. He also advocated creating a long-term management plan for FirstGov, something that has been absent until now as the project has raced along at Internet speed.

McClure's sentiment was echoed by Patrice McDermott, a policy analyst with government watchdog group OMB Watch. McDermott was also concerned that Brewer's foundation could possibly have a role in controlling what government information the public is allowed to access.