GPO requests enhanced technology information for FDsys project

The Government Printing Office is asking for industry input on the current availability of enhanced content technology for its Future Digital System (FDsys) project, the first beta version of which is expected to roll out in April.Depending on the replies it receives to its request for information (RFI), GPO said the plans and documentation for the project could change.The $29-million system was first outlined in 2004 as a way for GPO to transform itself from what it described as a 19th-century printing press operation to a 21st-century electronic information agency.The primary intent of the GPO program is to create a system that will allow government content to be created and managed, along with all of the relevant authentication and version data, in perpetuity, through using technologies that are independent of specific hardware and software platforms.The program is expected to eventually provide services for more than 5,000 content creation users in all branches of government, more than 500 government service specialists, more than 25,000 private-sector service providers, 1,300 depository libraries and about 50 end-user information providers. The ultimate end-users, GPO said, are “the citizenry of the United States and the world.”Harris was awarded a contract in August 2006 to serve as master integrator for the program.Depending on the result of the most recent RFI, the system is expected to open to the public by the end of this year, and will support Web browsing, search, document downloads and printing.Current plans call for GPO to add enhanced content creation capabilities in the second release of FDsys, due about six months after the first version’s public release.