Feds' Web Sites Still Lag Private-Sector Sites

User satisfaction with government Web sites bumped up a notch, according to the second quarter report from the University of Michigan’s E-Government Satisfaction Index, which is modeled after the American Customer Satisfaction Index. But the government still trails the private sector in customer satisfaction, the survey showed.

The index moved up 0.4 points to 73.7 on a 100-point scale, mostly because of improved government e-commerce and transactions sites, according to the survey.

The three highest scoring government e-commerce and transactional sites were the sites run by the Social Security Administration, including the Internet Social Security Benefits Application site (which scored an 88), Help with Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Costs site (87) and Social Security Business Services Online (83).

Those sites scored well even when compared with private sector sites, with private-sector e-commerce sites scoring on average an 80 and e-business industries scoring a 76.5, according to the survey.