Iowa re-ups NIC for portal management and services

NIC Inc. has won a three-year contract renewal from Iowa to continue operating the state's e-government portal, the company announced this week.

Under the agreement, NIC of Overland Park, Kan., will provide new, additional transaction based e-government services for businesses and citizens through the state portal.

These new services include the provision of batch and interactive driver records and the development of Internet-based hunting and fishing licensing services. Some key services, such as property tax payment, are already being provided to state residents through the portal.

The new contract changes the nature of the deal from a time-and-materials project to a self-funded arrangement where the company receives a percentage of the transaction fees as payment for services, said Chris Neff, a company spokesman.

Although the company declined to provide an exact estimate of the dollar value, Neff said it is expected to be a multi-million dollar deal.

The Iowa state portal is managed and operated by Iowa Interactive Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of NIC. The company has 288 employees and annual revenue of $47.5 million in 2002.