NASIRE Announces Outstanding Achievement Award Winners

By William Welsh, Staff Writer


AUG. 23 ? Kansas and Texas each snared two awards recognizing outstanding the states' achievements in information technology by the National Association of State Information Resource Executives.


NASIRE, an organization representing state chief information officers, announced Aug. 23 the state IT programs in nine categories that won the association's prestigious 2000 Recognition Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Information Technology.


Kansas won in the categories of state management and planning and service applications. Texas won in the categories of accessibility and public/private partnerships.


The winning projects were selected from a field of 87 submissions from 23 states. The categories, winners and a brief description of the program are:



Accessibility: Making Texas Accessible for Everyone (Texas). Legislative and agency initiatives ensure that IT systems are accessible to all employees and that the public can access government information and services on the Web.



Communications Infrastructure: Developing Advanced Network Infrastructure in the Commonwealth of Virginia (Virginia). A model that creates significant improvement in the implementation and deployment of advanced networks to all corners of the state.


Digital Government: Travel Expense Reimbursement Application (Idaho). An automated, Web-based travel expenditure accounting and reimbursement system that provides an efficient, cost-cutting and time-saving alternative to the standard expense reimbursement process.


Information Architecture: Case Organization, Utilization, Reporting & Tracking System for Courts (New Jersey). The full implementation of this project will result in the nation's first fully automated litigation system. It will afford an unparalleled level of access to case information critical to key people.



Innovative Use of Technology: NCSITESEARCH.com (North Carolina). A statewide database that serves as a systematized repository of information about sites and buildings available for economic development within North Carolina.


IT Personnel Recruitment and Retention: Homegrowing an IT Workforce (Missouri). A unique and effective partnership between government, private industry and higher education that works together to cultivate potential IT employees in the local area.



Public/Private Partnerships: Electronic Compliance and Approval Process (Texas). An implementation of a strategy for improved efficiency in industry regulation. Uses a totally paperless work flow between industry and government that proposes a solution to streamline regulatory demands.


Service Applications: Kansas Department of Revenue-Project 2000-Putting the Customer First (Kansas). Provides a time-saving and efficient system for taxpayers. An award-winning Web site that indexes government information on the Internet and adds a new level of transaction-based services for citizens and government agencies alike.


State Planning and Management: Kansas IT Project Standards and Method (Kansas). A text and certification system for IT project standards. The state has trained and certified 89 project managers who have saved millions of dollars through their instruction from this program.