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Overview
FDsys is an open access repository of U.S. federal government agency and legislative branch publications. According to a 2006 GPO presentation, FDsys "will be a world class system for managing official Government content. The system will verify and track versions, assure authenticity, preserve content, and provide permanent public access." The system was largely developed by Harris Corporation under a contract let by the GPO in 2006. In 2016 the GPO announced that "govinfo", a new system in beta, will eventually replace the FDsys website.
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Collection Content
FDsys, or the Federal Digital System, was created to be a comprehensive repository of "digitally signed" official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government. The system replaced the GPO Access interface, which was originally developed during the 1990s and was decommissioned in 2012. In 2016 GPO launched a beta website called govinfothat "will eventually replace the Federal Digital System (FDsys) public website." GPO reported that "both will remain available throughout the time govinfo is in the beta phase and provide access to the same official, preserved content."
Much of the content of FDsys consists of digitized historical documents from U.S. government agencies such as Treasury, Commerce, Education, Interior, and Justice; as well as more recent publications of the Central intelligence Agency, and the final versions of bills and resolutions of the House and Senate of the U.S. Congress from 1993 to the present.
One important feature of FDsys is to ensure the authenticity of electronic government publications by embedding in FDsys copies digital signatures guaranteeing that they are authentic and have not been altered since they were disseminated by GPO.
FDsys searches from December 2014 and March 2017 showed FDsys still held no publications or documents, aside from notices in the Federal Register, issued by the following federal agencies: Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, or Department of Defense. The most recent Treasury Department documents included as of that date were issued in 1985. A CRL search govinfo in beta showed the same results.
Delivery
From a 2006 GPO presentation:
- FDsys will automate the collection and dissemination of electronic information from all three branches of government
- Electronic markings will indicate that the information is authentic and will identify versions of documents that have been revised
- Information will be permanently available in electronic format
- Information will be accessible for Web searching, viewing, download, and printing
- Document masters will also be available for conventional and on-demand printing.
In August 2006 GPO awarded Harris Corporation, based in Melbourne, Florida, a four-year, $29 million contract to build at least the first two phases and run FDSys. Harris' partner on the project was Progressive Technologies Federal Systems Inc. of Bethesda, Md., which provided development services on GPO's Integrated Library System.
In 2008 the Office of the Inspector General of GPO reported, based on an independent analysis conducted by American Systems Inc., certain flaws in GPO's management of the system's development, including "lack of system capabilities documentation" and an "insufficient Configuration Management Plan."
The search and access elements of the system went live in January 2009.
In January 2016 the GPO announced that a new website "govinfo", then in beta version, would eventually replace FDsys. At that time GPO reported that:
The availability of govinfo has no impact on the content, metadata, preservation repository, application of digital signatures, or any other back end processing of the content. This means all content available through this site is the same content you would get through the FDsys website. Simply put, govinfo is the new front door to accessing the same content and it is available at www.govinfo.gov.
Terms
FDsys content is openly available, without restriction, on the Web, at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/home.action.
Strengths and Weaknesses
For a catalog of the limitations of FDsys as of April 2016, see James A. Jacobs blog post, "The State of FDsys and the Future of the FDLP".
See also Emily Lawson, "FDsys: GPO's Federal Digital System" in The Charleston Advisor, July 2012.
"While every effort has been made to ensure that the U.S. Code on FDsys is accurate, those using it for legal research should verify their results against the printed version of the U.S. Code available through the Government Printing Office." http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collectionUScode.action?collectionCode=… (February 2015).
As of February 2015 FDsys was still well short of its goal of being a comprehensive repository of U.S federal government publications. At that time the database was populated by documents from a relatively small number of federal agencies. In 2016 GPO launched a new, beta website that "will eventually replace the Federal Digital System (FDsys) public website."
In 2014 and in 2015 GPO declined to submit to an audit by CRL based on TRAC criteria. In 2015 GPO announced that it would conduct a "self-audit" of FDsys, and in 2016 reported that it "is seeking to become the first Federal agency to be named as a Trustworthy Digital Repository for Government information through certification under ISO 16363." (At that time there existed no mechanism or process for accrediting organizations to audit against ISO 16363.)
Appendix
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Platform and user interface