GSA Missing Child Notice Program

The General Services Administration is pleased to participate in the fulfillment of the Executive Memorandum to post notices of missing children in the nation's Federal buildings. With an inventory of over 330 million square feet of workspace for a million Federal employees in more than 8000 buildings the government owns and leases in 2000 U.S. communities, one can imagine the numerous locations which require monthly updates. Further, the hard copy notices would be costly to reproduce and mail. An alternative to fax the notices throughout the country would be both costly and time consuming while ultimately resulting in a low quality image at the receiving site. The program is an important one and if we are to help locate America's missing children a fast efficient system was needed for the dissemination procedure.

A team from GSA Central Office and Kansas City originally devised a plan to use the GSA's extensive national electronic mail network. The photos were embedded into word processing documents, transmitted electronically which could then be printed at the receiving Property Management Center for posting in the buildings. The Heartland Region Public Buildings Service's Customer Service Division in Kansas City, MO is the site which compiles the notices each month and electronically transmits the documents throughout the country.

Each month images of 10 missing child notices are downloaded from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children via the Internet. When necessary, the photos are digitally enhanced and placed in word processing documents. A challenge was issued to the team to take the notices one step further. It was believed that the notices could also be posted via automated computer displays in the lobbies of GSA's largest Federal buildings. The team again found success utilizing presentation and graphics software. Thus each month the word processing documents and the new computer display files are electronically updated and transmitted to sites throughout the nation. This will provide maximum exposure in the hopes that these children can be located. Nearly 60 locations utilize the lobby computer displays.

As part of the ever-evolving process to make use of improving technology, the GSA Missing Child Notice Program Webmaster recently made it possible for Federal employees to download the Word Posters and PowerPoint presentations for distribution throughout the nation's Federal buildings from the GSA Missing Child Notice Program website. As time goes on, GSA will continue to take advantage of leading-edge technology to improve its capability to increase the awareness of the plight of the nation's Missing Children.

The innovative dissemination method fulfills the goals of the Executive Memorandum, maintains unmatched technical quality and prevents costly expense for mailing or fax charges. This is one more example of GSA using state-of-the-art solutions to bring common sense and quality back to Government. If you have suggestions on how we can improve our system please contact us.