Alphagov


Alphagov was the project name of the experimental prototype website built by the Government Digital Service and launched on 11 May 2011 by the UK Cabinet Office that was open for public comment for two months in order to judge the feasibility of a single domain for British Government web services.

Purpose

Launched in response to the report by Martha Lane Fox Directgov 2010 and Beyond: Revolution Not Evolution that was published in November 2010. Alphagov sought to act as a proof of concept for the way citizens could interact with Government through a series of useful online tools, where they were more useful than published content alone.
As well as improving the 'citizen experience' of using government web services online the project also identified the potential for £64 million in yearly savings on central government's annual £128 million current web publishing bill.

Future

This initial consultation period was completed in June 2011. A beta version was then created, which led to the launch of GOV.UK.