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**Contact:**

Kristin Cleveland

ACT/IAC

703-218-1955x221

<kcleveland@actgov.org>

**IAC ANNOUNCES "TOP 5" EXCELLENCE.GOV AWARD WINNERS FOR 2006**

**FAIRFAX, Va., February 15, 2006 --** The Industry Advisory Council's
(IAC) Collaboration and Transformation Shared Interest Group (SIG) today
announced the five federal agency program winners for the sixth annual
Excellence.Gov awards program who were selected for demonstrating best
practices in information sharing for federally-led IT program
implementations. The announcement was made at a luncheon held in
Washington, DC keynoted by Congressman Tom Davis, which honored the
twenty programs selected as finalists for the 2006 awards.

The "Top 5" winners were recognized for their achievements in
collaborative technology implementations based on the following
criteria: effectiveness of meeting the objective in terms of overall
mission, business process and service improvement; effectiveness of the
approach and degree of collaboration across organizations; and
incorporation of industry and government best practices and standards
related to information sharing. 

[**"Top 5" Excellence.Gov Award Winners for 2006** (alphabetically by
program name):]{.underline}

-   **Bidirectional Health Information Exchange, Departments of Defense
    and Veterans Affairs -** Bidirectional Health Information Exchange
    creates a secure, bidirectional, real time exchange of outpatient
    pharmacy, drug/food allergy, laboratory results, radiology text
    results and demographic data on shared patients from the Department
    of Veterans Affairs' Computerized Patient Record System and the
    Department of Defense's Composite Health Care System through reuse
    and enhancement of Federal Health Information Exchange assets.  

-   **Geospatial One Stop eGovernment Initiative, Department of the
    Interior -** Geospatial One Stop (GOS) is an intergovernmental
    partnership making it faster, easier, and less expensive for all
    governments to get the geospatial data they need for their missions.
    GOS includes a portal to provide access to geospatial datasets
    maintained by thousands of partners, cost-sharing partnering
    mechanisms on future data acquisitions, and standards to facilitate
    easy information sharing from multiple sources.  The availability of
    the reliable, federally maintained and interactive GOS portal holds
    the potential for avoided labor costs and website startup and
    maintenance costs. 

-   **Interagency Data Exchange Application, Department of State** **-**
    Interagency Data Exchange Application (IDEA) is an interagency
    application that facilitates both the issuance of visas and the
    protection of the United States by checking background information
    on immigrant and non-immigrant visa applicants. IDEA saves
    processing time and money through automation, so that agencies no
    longer have to re-enter data at every point along the traveler's way
    or have information bounce back and forth between agencies. Three
    domestic sites, together with the overseas posts, are responsible
    for processing visa petitions, and all processing occurs after they
    are approved by the Department of Homeland Security through IDEA.

-   **National Sex Offender Public Registry, Department of Justice -**
    The National Sex Offender Public Registry (NSOPR) is the only
    no-cost government-sponsored application for citizen users that
    links state and territory public sex offender registries throughout
    the country. The technology uses web services and the Department of
    Justice's Global Justice Data Model to establish a link between
    already built and maintained registries. The Department provides a
    web services template to states, which can be customized to work
    with existing registry systems. Citizens can identify sex offenders
    in their neighborhoods and beyond with a single Internet search.
    NSOPR delivers matched results from public registry information
    nationwide based on a name, state, county, city/town, or zip code.

-   **Radio Frequency In-Transit Visibility, Department of the Army -**
    The Radio Frequency In-Transit Visibility (RF-ITV) system uses Radio
    Frequency Identification (RFID) tags to provide the military
    services and Department of Defense organizations with worldwide
    visibility of military cargo. The RF-ITV architecture is a worldwide
    system of interrogators that read RFID tags that are attached to
    shipping containers, vehicles, equipment, and pallets as they pass
    interrogator locations.  The RF-ITV server network processes the
    location information with owner and commodity information about each
    shipment, and sends the latest updates to over 21 different
    automation systems and utilities that support all the US Armed
    services, USTRANSCOM, DLA, and several Coalition Partners (foreign
    military). 

This year's "Top 5" Excellence.Gov award winners were selected by a
panel of 23 judges, representing both government and industry after
reviewing more than 80 entries and evaluating each on the criteria
listed above. The mission of IAC is to foster improved communication and
understanding between government and industry.  In support of this
mission, the Collaboration and Transformation SIG, formerly the
eGovernment SIG, provides a forum for government and industry to
identify, explore and address issues that promote the implementation of
IT-enabled government change that will benefit society.

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**About the American Council for Technology and the Industry Advisory
Council**\
 \
The American Council for Technology (ACT) is a non-profit educational
organization established in 1979 to assist government in acquiring and
using information technology resources effectively and efficiently.
 Working with all levels of government, ACT provides education,
programming, and networking opportunities that enhance and advance the
government IT profession.  In 1989 ACT established the Industry Advisory
Council (IAC) to bring industry and government executives together to
exchange information, support professional development, improve
communications, and build partnership and trust, thereby enhancing
government's ability to serve the nation.  ACT and IAC work together to
provide an objective, professional and ethical forum where government
and industry leaders can collaborate on addressing common issues towards
a shared vision.  For more information, visit
[www.actgov.org](http://www.actgov.org/) or call (703) 218-1955.

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