FirstGov’s new search engine is ready to go

The General Services Administration will launch the FirstGov portal’s new search engine on time, according to a GSA source.Administrator Stephen Perry is prepared to announce the switchover Monday at the Federation of Government Information Processing Councils meeting in New Orleans. The new search engine, from Fast Search & Transfer of Oslo, Norway, could be online as early as today, the source said, but the official announcement will be Monday night.GSA had planned on switching to the enhanced technology March 31, but procurement delays hampered the testing. The agency said at the time the swap to the Federal Search Foundation’s search engine from Inktomi Corp. of Foster City, Calif., would happen no later than June 1.The new search engine will increase the capabilities of the site to search Portable Document Format or Microsoft Word Web pages, index agency databases and ensure the links are updated weekly.