e-government

For more than 20 years we’ve had administrations keeping the pressure on moving government into the online age.

An analysis by Federal News Radio found only a handful of agencies are expected to receive funding to create digital services offices next year, but that may not be a sign of doom for this effort.

Rep. Derek Kilmer is set to introduce a new bill that would change all references to E-Government administrator to the Federal CIO.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald has pledged to put veterans first at the department. Maureen Ellenberger is one of his warriors in the battle. As director of veterans relationship management at the Veterans Benefits Administration, she is trying to standardize the customer service that veterans receive and make sure their experiences are positive.

The Partnership for Public Service and Accenture pinpoint why the federal government lags behind even airlines and cable TV providers when it comes to customer service. A lack of collaboration among agencies, security and privacy concerns, and the congressional appropriations process present big but surmountable challenges, the organizations say in a new report.

For the first time since 2010, citizen satisfaction with federal government services dropped last year, according to a new report from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The average overall citizen satisfaction with the government’s services fell 3.4 percent in 2013 to a score of 66.1 points (on a 100-point scale). Much of the decline is attributable to a “deterioration in satisfaction” with federal websites, which users found “more difficult to navigate, less reliable, and the information provided less useful” than in years past, according to the report.

The Justice Department’s EOIR recently launched its new eRegistry system for attorneys who do work before the immigration courts. The system is one step toward making the office’s business processes all electronic. It also will make it harder for notarios, or unqualified people who represent immigrants before the court system, to bilk unsuspecting immigrants.

News and buzz in the acquisition and IT communities that you may have missed this week.

For the second year in a row, the number of citizens who report being satisfied with government services rose, according to a new report from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The higher governmentwide score was driven in large part by the increasing satisfaction with government websites, which rounded out the year at near all-time highs.

Satisfaction with federal e-government sites remained high throughout most of 2012, according to a quarterly report from ForeSee and the American Customer Satisfaction Index. On a 100-point scale, customer satisfaction with federal websites now sits at 75.3. That’s actually down slightly from last quarter, which had set an all-time high, according to the latest report.