Who's owner of FirstGov database? Not Uncle Sam
Ralph Winston
which recently added a search on the State governments
web pages.
The article below (excerpted) raises new questions
about just how wonderful the FirstGov deal was, since
it now turns out that the government doesn't even own
the database.
Most likely, the US Government (FirstGov) also doesn't
own the database it created to search all the States
web pages on FirstGov -- the Inktomi Corporation owns
it.
Excerpted article below was emailed on OMB Watch
listserv.
Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2001 11:11:33 -0400
From: "Patrice McDermott" <patr...@ombwatch.org>
Subject: Who's owner of FirstGov database? Not Uncle
Sam
From Government Computer News http://www.gcn.com
August 20, 2001; Vol. 20 No. 24
Who's owner of FirstGov database? Not Uncle Sam
By Dipka Bhambani
GCN Staff
Millionaire philanthropist Eric Brewer owns the
FirstGov database of federal Web sites - and in 2003,
he'll take it back.
[...]
FirstGov now operates under GSA's auspices, but
Brewer, founder of FedSearch and president of Inktomi
Corp. of San Francisco, will be first in line to run
FirstGov when his so-called gift reverts to his
company in two years' time.
At the time Brewer offered to build the search engine,
he promised to turn it over to the government in 2003.
The search technology, however, produces a database in
Inktomi's proprietary format.
[...]
Clinton's December 1999 directive on electronic
government challenged agencies to develop some sort of
Web portal for public information within 90 days.
Brewer said he could do the job fast and as a gift to
the nation.
"I was a bit of a nervous Nellie" about the offer,
said Sally Katzen, former deputy director of the
Office of Management and Budget. "We had the OMB
lawyers look at the agreement to make sure we were
retaining the rights that we should have. We were told
it was clean."
Agreement struck
Contractors estimated such a project would cost GSA
$7.5 million, which it didn't have. So the government
accepted Brewer's offer.
"Given our extremely accelerated launch schedule, I
knew that investigating the full extent of options
available to us would make it impossible to actually
meet the schedule," Brewer told the House
Government Reform Subcommittee on Government
Management, Information and Technology in October.
Behind closed doors, Katzen said, she expressed
concern to David J. Barram, then GSA administrator,
about the gift from Brewer's custom-created
foundation. "I was dubious bordering on skeptical.
What's in
it for them?" said Katzen.
[...]
After FedSearch shuts down, the database becomes
Inktomi's property. A new search engine vendor would
have to start from scratch.
"There wasn't supposed to be anything proprietary,"
Katzen said.
The Sept. 1, 2000, memorandum of understanding signed
by Brewer and Barram, however, specifically noted that
FedSearch intended to use proprietary Inktomi software
for the search engine.
It also stated that if a successor vendor chooses to
use a "different technology for the search engine, the
connections to Inktomi will be disconnected and the
[FirstGov] servers will be purged of software
and data prior to donation to GSA."
Inktomi is not FedSearch, Binetti said, but rather
"Inktomi works for FedSearch." When there is no more
FedSearch, Inktomi will have the database.
Binetti, however, said it doesn't matter who gets the
database in 2003 nor what format it is in, because the
information will be obsolete. He also disagreed that
the database is the most important component of
FirstGov.
Likening the use of the database to selling old
newspapers, he said any vendor could build a new
database and take over the show.
[...]
Despite the gift from Brewer and free servers from Sun
Microsystems Inc., Katzen said Deborah Diaz, GSA
deputy associate administrator for FirstGov, requested
and received $4.5 million to cover other costs.
"I said, 'I thought it was for free,'" Katzen said.
"We went round and round for that one, and they said
they still had some costs." The costs included Diaz's
staff, overhead, hosting and development expenses,
Katzen said.
Piatt said the $4.5 million from OMB went to GRC
International Inc., an AT&T Corp. unit that hosts
FirstGov and developed the front end.
"People had put a lot of things online in 1993, '94,
'95, " Katzen said. "I said, 'Your stuff is now going
to be seen by somebody. You better make sure it's
respectable.'" That cost the agencies
money, she said.
[...]
Piatt also said rebuilding the database isn't as
costly as "the hardware and software and the hosting."
Those components, he said, the government should get
back in 2003.
[...]
GSA spokeswoman Eleni Martin, speaking on behalf of
Diaz, said FedSearch, not Inktomi, owns the database
and that a distinction should be made between Brewer
the philanthropist and Brewer the millionaire
president of Inktomi.
FedSearch's Binetti acknowledged that making the gift
to the government left little room for competition in
building FirstGov.
"Things didn't go through a standard process," Binetti
said. "Requests for information, requests for
proposals, all of those things didn't happen the first
time."
[...]
According to Piatt, now that the FirstGov information
is on the Web, any search engine provider could become
a competitor. Whereas engines such as AltaVista or
Google had limited access to government information
before, any engine can now spider federal sites
collected in the FirstGov repository.
But, GSA's Martin said, "The 2002 funds do not include
a request for a new search engine. It's premature to
talk about the rest of the funding."
Congress has earmarked $3 million for FirstGov in
fiscal 2002. Piatt said some alternative means of
funding the portal must be found. "Whatever it's going
to cost, it's going to be more than $3 million,"
he said.
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