The E-Government Act of 2002 set a deadline of two years to develop a "public domain directory of public Federal Government websites" (Section 207(f)(3)). But this directory still does not exist 5 years later.

The closest thing we have to such a directory is USA.gov, the portal of Government information and services. USA.gov is a good portal, but it is not a comprehensive directory of all government websites. Just a few examples of sites that are not linked on USA.gov include:

• MyPyramid.gov
  
• The Overseas Security Advisory Council - OSAC.gov
  
• Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid – caBig
  
• MedicalReserveCorps.gov
  
• DisabilityPreparedness.gov
  
• BoosterSeat.gov
  

Although the Act is written obtusely, it is obvious that a "public domain directory of public Federal Government websites" includes all such websites. Otherwise, it would not serve as a directory. However, comprehensiveness was not a factor for the group assigned to develop the directory.

The working group decided shortly after the E-Gov Act was passed that, "It is clear that directories currently exist that [we] can recommend be endorsed as the 'official' public domain directory." Unfortunately, endorsing an incomplete list as "official" does not meet the goal of establishing a directory of all public Federal Government websites.

But who cares anyway? Is a directory of public domain Federal websites important?

Congress thought it was important enough to pass the E-Gov Act by the unanimous consent of both houses. Federal websites cost taxpayers millions and contain noteworthy and important information. All Americans have the right to a complete directory of these websites.

Congress should retask OMB with meeting this section of the E-Gov Act rather than allowing OMB to ignore it.