Aquilent Team Works to Improve Citizen Access.

Aquilent Supports GSA Introduction of USA.gov and GobiernoUSA.gov

LAUREL, Md. -- Aquilent, Inc. today announced support of the U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA) launch of www.USA.gov and www.GobiernoUSA.gov. As part of GSA's effort to improve citizen access to government and in response to American citizens' desire for a more memorable web address, FirstGov.gov has been renamed USA.gov.

The new name reflects a common expectation - last year alone, more than 600,000 people typed in "usa.gov" into their browser when searching for government information. In addition, the Spanish-language equivalent, Espanol.gov, becomes GobiernoUSA.gov. This aligns with the Spanish-language audience expectations for an easy to remember name that also indicates the official nature of the site as the official portal to the U.S. government in Spanish.

Under the GSA FirstGov Refresh contract awarded to Aquilent in October 2005, Aquilent provides User Experience, Information Architecture and Branding support to GSA's Office of Citizen Services and Communications (OCSC). For the launch of the new names, Aquilent worked with OCSC to design the new logos, update the banners, and add new features to the sites. Aquilent is supporting GSA in its efforts to provide a heightened user experience for its constituents, recognizing the importance of this site as the U.S. government's electronic gateway and centralized government dissemination location that provides access to volumes of information about U.S. federal, state, and local agency websites. For the Refresh, Aquilent serves as the prime contractor and has two subcontractors, Captura Group and Shugoll Research.

"The launch of USA.gov is an exciting first step in GSA's major effort to refresh the look and feel, branding, design, and navigation of both sites. This is a big improvement to help citizens find and use the official U.S. web portal," said Desiree Campbell, Aquilent Vice President.

Aquilent continues to work with GSA through OCSC to research public expectations, implement industry best practices, and conduct usability testing for the site redesign to improve the appearance, citizen satisfaction, and appropriate cultural elements. As one of the President's E-Gov initiatives, USA.gov helps citizens to get the information they want and need quickly and efficiently. Aquilent is proud to be an integral part of such an important federal initiative that has positively affected so many citizens.

"This is another example of GSA's innovation and citizen-centric approach. They continue to listen to their customers and look for dramatic ways to improve their service. We congratulate GSA on a successful launch of USA.gov," said David Fout, Aquilent's President and CEO.

About Aquilent

Aquilent is an award-winning company with a history of more than 25 years providing innovative information technology and web-based services to federal agencies. Aquilent improves the quality and efficiency of service to citizens, employees, and businesses through a suite of solutions and services, including agency web presence, compliance management, enterprise acquisition and finance solutions, and enterprise content management. Additional information about Aquilent is available at www.aquilent.com.