NIC Lands Sunshine State Contract

National Information Consortium Inc. has signed a five-year agreement valued at more than $5 million with the Florida Association of Court Clerks to build a portal that would support the clerks of the court in Florida counties, the company said May 16.

The portal would provide public access to court records and include a payment engine that would support document ordering and payment of traffic fines and child support handled by the clerks as part of their court-related duties.

NIC of Overland Park, Kan., will be assisted on the Florida project by its e-government alliance partner Deloitte Consulting of New York.

The portal, known as the Florida Integrated Public Access System, eventually may be expanded to include other county agencies and functions, such as statewide voter registration, said Beth Allman, a spokeswoman for the Florida Association of Court Clerks.

NIC will provide the infrastructure and staff expertise required to build, maintain and host the portal, while the clerks of the court for the various counties throughout the state will retain ownership of the content, data and statutory fees.

The electronic records system, an integral part of the portal, will allow businesses and citizens to conduct statewide searches of officials records dating back to 1990. Among the information that will be available to the public are marriage records, divorce decrees, death certificates, financing statements, deeds and deed restrictions, mortgages, liens and easements.

The portal will be under development for two years with the records index expected to launch by January 1, 2002, said NIC and the Florida Association of Court Clerks.