Today, we are releasing a beta version of the new and improved website for the Federal CIO Council – CIO.gov. We have redesigned the site from top to bottom, improving its navigation and functionality and giving it a complete overhaul under the hood.

We have pulled the old “News” and “Blog” posting into a centralized location – CIOC Blog –  and we’ve standardized multiple document repositories, libraries, and databases from the old site into a central Document Library, where you can easily browse and sort through CIO Council reports, OMB guidance, and other relevant documents from the CIO Council. The site will still have the same great updates on Federal IT initiatives and news from CIOs across the Federal Government – just presented in a more concise, organized way.

The CIO Council also is doing its part to pull our weight with regard to some of the bigger picture IT reforms. As part of the .gov domain initiative, the Council is eliminating one of the registered domains associated with the site (www.cioc.gov) and by using a shared service for hosting, we are saving more than 50 percent on annual operations and maintenance costs for the site in FY 2013.

And we aren’t stopping here – this site is being launched in beta form and we want to know what you think. We’ll continue to add archived content and build in new features and tools. So send us ideas for site improvements, new features, and even any bugs you might come across. Just shoot us a note through the Feedback page or send to us on twitter (@ciodotgov). And thanks for checking out the new site.