USAGov's mission and history | USAGov (2024)

USA.gov is the official website of the U.S. government. The bilingual, interagency site is managed by USAGov, a program within the U.S. General Services Administration's Technology Transformation Services.

The USA.gov website is legislatively mandated through Section 204 of the E-Government Act of 2002 [PDF, 316KB].

USAGov's mission

The mission of the USAGov program is to make it easier for people to find and understand the government services and information they need—anytime, anywhere, any way they want.

In addition to USA.gov, the USAGov program serves people through:

• USAGov en Español, USA.gov's Spanish-language counterpart
• The USAGov Contact Center, answering questions in English and Spanish about government services by phone or web chat
• USAGov Outreach, connecting with people in English and Spanish through social media, feature stories, and a blog

USAGov history

The USAGov program has existed under various names for over 50 years, dating back to the Federal Information Center call centers in the 1960s and the Consumer Information Center, distributing government consumer booklets from Pueblo, Colorado beginning in the early 1970s. Read a blog post about how USAGov has been helping people through decades of cultural and technological change.

The history of the USA.gov website

Many people and organizations had a hand in creating this comprehensive portal to government.

USA.gov got its start when internet entrepreneur Eric Brewer offered to donate a powerful search engine to the U.S. government in 1999. That gift helped speed up the government's earlier work to create a government-wide portal. And in 2000, USA.gov went live under the name FirstGov.gov.

The General Services Administration and 22 federal agencies funded the initiative in 2001 and 2002. Since 2002, USA.gov has received an annual appropriation from the U.S. Congress.

USAGov en Español was launched in October 2003 as FirstGov.gov en Español in response to Executive Order 13166, “Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency.”

In January 2007, FirstGov.gov officially changed its name to USA.gov. FirstGov.gov en Español changed its name to GobiernoUSA.gov and then to USAGov en Español.

Have a question?

Ask a real person any government-related question for free. They will get you the answer or let you know where to find it.