GovBenefits.gov gets customized

Visitors to the Web sites of state and federal governments can now seamlessly access the federal online clearinghouse for benefits information, the Labor Department announced last week.

The main federal benefits Web site, www.GovBenefits.gov, started a new program called Customized Connections. The program allows visitors to other sites to access the benefits site through portals that resemble the sites they are currently visiting, said Peggy Abrahamson, a Labor spokeswoman.

This capability will allow visitors to take advantage of the GovBenefits site from nearly 1,000 other Web sites, Labor officials said.

GovBenefits.gov handles 401 federal benefits programs and more than 610 state benefits programs, Abrahamson said. The site includes most of the major federal programs, she said, and Labor officials expect to add more state programs.

The Labor Department has also added a Spanish-language version of its main Web site for federal and state loans.

The Spanish edition of www.GovLoans.gov, GovLoans.gov en Español, debuted last week as the federal government celebrated the third anniversary of www.GovBenefits.gov. Both sites are fully translated into Spanish.

GovBenefits.gov is part of the E-Government initiatives to move federal IT onto the Federal Enterprise Architecture.