The U.S. Treasury Department said this week it will introduce www.pay.gov, a service that will allow online payment of any transaction to the federal government.
The site is expected to launch in October. Development of the system began after dozens of federal agencies expressed the need for such a service, said Gary Grippo, director of e-commerce at the financial management service bureau of the Treasury Department.
The secure site will be able to handle any payment and collection transaction currently processed on paper. It will be promoted through federal, consumer bank, credit union and other financial Web sites.
“We don't have a full marketing plan right now,” Grippo said, and one won't be launched until Pay.gov is up and running.
Details about promotional efforts for Pay.gov were unavailable, but Grippo said Treasury Department officials will make campaign decisions based on Internet traffic surveys. Individual federal agencies will develop their own marketing campaigns, he said.
The Web site is being built to handle payments to any federal government agency and a few state and local government agencies. It will process everything from tax returns to a family's camping license payment for a national park.
“In terms of federal collections, we handle 1 million transactions per day,” Grippo said. Cost savings will vary depending on the size of the transaction and the amount of paperwork involved. The Treasury Department and hundreds of federal agencies it deals with will share these savings, Grippo said.
