Rating e-Gov Web Sites.

• Author: MARCINIAK, TODD M.
• Position: E-government - Industry Overview

Planning the path to digital government is the single most important issue facing most governments today. The Economist's recent "Survey of Government and the Internet" (June 24, 2000) contained an article which stated that while "e-government is not driven by the same fear and greed as e-business, the rewards for success and the penalties of failure are nevertheless real." It concludes that if governments are not already well on the road to e-government, they should start at once, "or other countries and regions will make them look like laggards."

The U.S. government sector is not the clear leader in the early stages of e-government. The government of Singapore is well on its way, with most aspects of its 1T2 000 Masterplan (which provides a blueprint for the use of IT in nearly every government department) already implemented. Similarly, the British government is attempting to have 100 percent of its services available on-line by 2005. Admittedly, such feats may seem easier to accomplish for smaller nations like Singapore, or highly centralized governments like Great Britain. However, the same factors which hinder American governments from rapid progress (namely those of decentralized and varied operational practices) can motivate more dedicated and active efforts on the part of federal, local, and state government.

One major problem in implementing egovernment is the lack of knowledge governments and public leaders have about e-government planning. A common answer to any question these days is, "you could probably find it on the Internet," and the Internet is actually a very good source of information about itself. The GFOA Research Center has compiled and rated a selection of Web sites concerned with e-government and the sites selected focus special attention on governments just taking the plunge into electronic government. We hope these Web sites will help our members to improve the effectiveness of their planning and strategy for moving toward digital government.

Rating System

There are several features to keep in mind when evaluating any Web site, particularly the site's comprehensiveness and ease of maneuverability. While these factors were used in critiquing the following e-government "help" sites, the most important focus is the core value to an inquiring government. In other words, how much useful information can a government truly get out of the site? The 20 Web sites chosen include public and private sources. The following scale was used in their evaluation:

*** = Superior (a primary source of e-government information)

** = Exceptional (would be very...