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About Search.gov

Search.gov is a search engine built by the government, for the government. Available to federal agencies, we currently support over 300 million searches a year for about 2,200 websites, across one third of federal domains.

Our mission is to connect the public with the information they need from the government.

We work to provide a modern, high quality, government-wide, self-service search engine that allows agencies to customize search experiences for the public, regardless of website type or organization.

Search.gov is a product of the U.S. General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services, and there is no cost to federal agencies. Learn more about GSA.

Do you have any questions or need assistance? We’re here to help! Email us at search@gsa.gov. You can also give us a call at 202-969-7426, Monday through Friday 9am to 5pm ET, except for federal holidays.

History

Search.gov got its start when internet entrepreneur Eric Brewer, whose early research was funded by the Department of Defense, offered to donate a powerful search engine to the government. That gift helped accelerate the government’s earlier work to create a government-wide portal.

In June 2000, President Clinton announced the gift from the Federal Search Foundation, a nonprofit organization established by Brewer, and instructed that an official U.S. web portal be launched within 90 days. USA.gov went online on September 22, 2000 under the name FirstGov.gov with a prominent search box to allow the public to search across government websites. Visit USA.gov to learn more about its mission and history.

In 2010, Search.gov moved to open-source software and expanded its use to agencies across government in the United States.

Meet the Team

  • Dawn Pointer McCleskey — Program Manager
  • Jim Kreft — Search Experience Designer
  • Arantxa Piperova — Customer Success Manager
  • Search.gov is supported by a team of contractors, who provide product management, software development, devops, and system security services.