DisabilityInfo.gov

The White House-initiated Federal portal, DisabilityInfo.gov is designed, developed, and maintained by Devis as a comprehensive online resource designed to provide people with disabilities with quick and easy access to the information they need. With just a few clicks, the site provides access to disability-related information and programs available across the government on numerous subjects, including benefits, civil rights, community life, education, employment, housing, health, technology and transportation.

DisabilityInfo.gov is managed by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), and is a knowledge-sharing, collaborative effort among 22 government agencies that has reached more than 7 million visitors from 180 countries. Notable agencies include Department of commerce, Defense, Education, and Heath and Human Services. The system allows more than 50 editors in those agencies to manage and publish content to the Web site through a secure browser interface. By ensuring that the most up-to-date information about their disability-related programs and services is included on the Web site, these agencies have partnered to make DisabilityInfo.gov the leading federal resource for disability-related information.

DisabilityInfo.gov was originally developed on Sun servers in J2EE, and ran on BEA WebLogic 8.11 with an Oracle 9i database. The technical environment was designed to match GSA's FirstGov.gov architecture – where it was hosted for a time. Since switching from GSA to Devis, the environment was changed to provide increase performance as well as to provide cost-savings. DisabilityInfo.gov now runs on Linux 2.6. using JBoss 4.0 and Oracle 10g. These servers are fully virtualized using VmWare 3.5 with multiple JBoss server instances running behind a load balancer. System downtime has decreased by over 95% since the Web site was moved to Devis' hosting facilities. In addition to providing the technology behind DisabilityInfo.Gov, Devis has, in collaboration with contractors and sub-contractors, provided technical and helpdesk support, analytical research, training, outreach, and promotion services.

Through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with DOL, the US Department of the Navy and the US Department of Veterans Affairs worked with Devis to replicate this knowledge management system to develop the National Resource Directory prototype, one of the many tools that are part of the Federal Recovery Coordinator Program. Federal recovery coordinators (FRCs), wounded service members, veterans and families will use the National Resource Directory, to find health services offered by federal, state and local agencies and veterans services organizations. Health care providers and the general public will be able to use the directory as well.

With more than six million visitors to date and now averaging more than 5,000 each day, the website has committed over $50 million to inclusion of people with disabilities over the last 10 years, and supported more than 144 national and local organizations since 2001. Through the National Service Inclusion Project, it has provided training and technical assistance to over 11,000 participants at 300 regional and state events and developed over 88 training tools. This system and Devis' cost-effective solution is estimated to have saved the Federal Government over $20 million in licensing and operational costs. DisabilityInfo.gov has also continually scored "green" on all E-Government Scorecard criteria. Over the six year engagement Devis has fielded between six and twelve FTEs to support the development and maintenance of the portal, help desk services, and outreach activities.

Awards DisabilityInfo.Gov received the American Association of Webmasters (AAWM) 2006 Gold Award for outstanding design and quality of content. "DisabilityInfo.gov is an excellent resource for individuals, families, employers and caseworkers, offering them easy access to disability-related information," -Assistant Secretary of Labor Roy Grizzard (2006).