IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Nevada County's eGovernment effort belies its small size and rural-to-frontier geography. The County continuously embraces advanced technologies, attracting high technology firms looking for a cleaner and more relaxed environment for some of their more specialized employees.

More than 60 percent of respondents said they either agreed or strongly agreed that architecture with open-source code is valuable and should be adopted.

Government websites have come a long way over the past 18 months, at least in terms of providing a better user experience, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement, according to a recent study on customer satisfaction.

User satisfaction with federal government Web sites is at its lowest point in three years, according to a report that measures the online performance of a variety of sites.

The score for e-government sites for the first quarter of 2008 fell to 72.4 out of 100 points, a full point lower than it was the same time last year, and 1.5 points lower than the 74 points it scored in the second quarter of 2006, according to the first-quarter report of the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Government Satisfaction Index.

A national survey of city websites has identified Washington, D.C., as the top-ranked city in the performance of municipal e-governance. The research study was conducted jointly by the E-Governance Institute, School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University, Newark, and the Department of Public Administration at San Francisco State University.

Between 2005 and 2008, e-government spending will more than double over 2004 spending levels, according to the report. The growth will be driven by spending on integration and consolidation of government back-end systems.

While the federal government encourages agencies to consider open source through software-procurement guidelines and such executive mandates as the eGovernment Act, local and state governments will more aggressively push adoption in the long run, turning to VARs to supply the skills needed to take full advantage.

The study, conducted for Office of Management and Budget and National Archives and Records Administration officials, suggests nearly a dozen ways that managers can judge the adequacy of agencies' electronic records systems.

“Our research indicates that citizens contact the government predominantly for personal rather than business reasons, seeking answers to specific questions, expressing opinions or completing transactions,” said Alan Webber, a consulting analyst.

ForeSee Results, a market research firm, conducted the study, which was slated to be released publicly on Tuesday. Nextgov was briefed on the results by ForeSee Results.

Over the past year, many organizations have tracked the amount of previously undisclosed information that agencies are posting online. Earlier this month, the White House began tracking compliance with the president's open government directive. But no one has measured the effects of Web-based disclosure on American public opinion.

The efforts of government agencies to make their services and information accessible on the Web have not always been a resounding success, but at least they're getting a little better, according to a survey research firm ForeSee Results plans to release today.

In its quarterly survey, the group found that federal government sites saw their scores improve on the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) for the first time in a year.

“During our test calls, customer service representatives typically provided incorrect and incomplete answers to the 300 policy-oriented questions we posed,” GAO reported. “Only 4 percent of their responses were correct and complete.”

How do citizens feel about federal government services? A study by the American Customer Satisfaction Index released today shows that overall satisfaction with government languishes well below most other sectors, but that trust in government is on the rise and e-Gov efforts are Uncle Sam's shining star.

In this latest ACSI report, satisfaction with e-government --- government websites, essentially --- holds steady at its all-time high of 75.2 on a 100-point scale for a second consecutive quarter. Meanwhile, traditional offline gov services bring down the overall score to 68.7, a failing grade, it must be noted. The government lags behind other industries including healthcare, insurance, retail, even utilities.

That's according to "America's Best Cities & States: The Annual Gold Guide to Leading Rankings" - a study published by the National Policy Research Council, a Washington D.C.-based think tank.

The Internet has made it easier for citizens to interact with government, but Internet users and nonusers alike value having more than one way to get in touch with government, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

But the Internet's popularity as a way for obtaining government information and services continues to grow -- percent of the Internet users who took part in the survey said they used the Internet either to obtain information from a government Web site or to obtain services from a government office or agency.