The American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) today announced the five winners of the 2013 Excellence.gov Awards Program, celebrating their contributions to the public sector at an awards luncheon in Washington, D.C. The event honors exceptional government programs and projects that use information technology (IT) in an innovative way to enhance government operations, provide a more open and transparent government, and deliver impactful citizen services.

“Celebrating the success of government programs and the people who make them happen is more important than ever,” said ACT-IAC Executive Director Kenneth Allen. “ACT-IAC is proud to salute twenty-five programs that demonstrate what government can achieve. The individuals who planned, implemented and managed these programs are committed to efficiency, innovation and serving citizens. We are delighted to recognize their accomplishments through the 2013 Excellence.gov Awards.”

2013 Excellence.gov Industry Chair Liz Renniger of CACI International Inc. echoed Allen’s sentiment: “We looked at more than 100 programs, and of these, twenty-five finalists rose to the top, but all of them were worthy of a nomination. We are honored to celebrate these programs and the public servants who are working hard to achieve outstanding results in government.”

A panel of senior government and industry IT executives reviewed a record number of more than 130 nominations before narrowing the field down to the five winners recognized at this year’s awards ceremony:

Excellence in Innovation: Digital Government

• GSA’s Drive to the Cloud Phase 2: Implementing a Cloud-Based Social Collaboration and Business Application Platform – U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), Office of the Chief Innovation Officer
  The multi-year Drive-to-the-Cloud initiative aims to save taxpayer money and improving operational efficiencies and innovation through the deployment of mobile and social applications in the cloud. In Phase 1, GSA transitioned to a cloud-based email platform that resulted in cost savings of $4 million dollars to date. Under Phase 2, GSA is implementing a cloud-based collaboration/application platform for 17,000+ users including agency employees around the world as well as partners and customers. Through the program, GSA has addressed the challenge of its legacy application portfolio and has gained operational efficiencies and cost savings in the areas of enterprise collaboration, ideation and back-office modernization.

Excellence in Enhancing the Customer Experience

• SuperTracker – Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
  SuperTracker is a state-of-the-art, online diet and activity-tracking tool. Built and maintained by USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, this free application empowers Americans to build a healthier diet, manage weight, and reduce risk of chronic disease. Users can determine what and how much to eat; track foods, physical activities, and weight; and personalize with goal setting, virtual coaching, and journaling.

Excellence in Enterprise Efficiencies

• Customer Account Data Engine 2 (CADE 2) – Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
  The IRS’s Customer Account Data Engine 2 Program (CADE 2) was initiated in 2009 to take advantage of new technology and modernize the way the agency does business. In January 2012, a decades-long rhythm fundamentally shifted when CADE 2’s Transition State 1 began to deliver daily versus weekly tax return processing. The Service also began deployment of the CADE 2 database – a central source of trusted data – to improve service to taxpayers and enhance tax administration.

Excellence in Innovation: Pilots and Start-up Projects

• Building YOURcloud: The Federal Government’s First Secure Hybrid Community IaaS Cloud – National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
  YOURcloud is an innovative secure, multi-tenant hybrid community cloud powered by the award-winning Infrastructure on Demand (IoD) cloud service broker developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory. YOURcloud allows sites to retain their own autonomy while leveraging a common cloud computing platform to enable the Department of Energy and NNSA labs, plants and headquarters to deploy resources into individually managed, secure cloud enclaves resulting in the federal government's first department-wide secure hybrid community cloud.

Excellence in Intergovernmental Collaboration AND Overall Winner for 2013 Excellence.gov Awards

• Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) Website – Defense Manpower Data Center
  The SCRA website allows financial institutions, creditors, landlords, etc., to determine if their client is a Servicemember who is currently serving on Federal active duty service in one of the Uniformed Services. The SCRA protects Servicemembers serving on active duty from negative actions, such as foreclosures, excessive interest rates, and evictions. The website produces a certificate for the court stating the Federal active duty status of the individual.

Each of the five category winners will be invited to exhibit this programs at the 2013 Management of Change education and training event to be held in Cambridge, Maryland, May 19 -21, 2013, and receive one complimentary registration to the event.

The Excellence.gov Awards program has recognized more than 250 government programs since its inception in 2001. VMware, Inc., Unisys Corp., Deloitte, Oracle Corp., Raytheon Company, Bart & Associates, CACI International Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Eye Street Solutions, HP, and Lockheed Martin sponsored this year’s program.

About ACT-IAC – Advancing Government Through Education, Collaboration and Action

ACT-IAC has been recognized as the premier government IT community’s public-private partnership and is an example of how government and industry work together. We are a nonprofit educational organization created to advance government in serving the public through the effective application of IT resources. Our education, training, programming and collaboration opportunities enhance and advance the government IT profession. ACT-IAC’s objective, vendor- and technology-neutral, and ethical forum allow government and industry to collaborate and improve government through technology. Headquartered in the Greater Washington, D.C. area, ACT-IAC also has chapters in the Pacific region (based in San Diego) and the Rocky Mountain region (based in Denver).

Learn more about our organization and how to become a member at www.actgov.org or call 703-208-4800.