Governor Lincoln Almond today announced an important step toward providing Rhode Islanders with access to an array of state services on-line. The state has contracted with New England Interactive. The portal is expected to be on line by early fall this year, offering an initial array of services to citizens, businesses and visitors.
"Today marks an important milestone in making state government more user friendly," said Almond. "My goal is to significantly expand the types of services that can be accessed on-line. This process not only means improved efficiency, but much greater convenience for all Rhode Islanders who can conduct an expanding variety of transactions with the state at home, at the office or at public access terminals." Dr. Robert Carl, Director of the Rhode Island Department of Administration, stated that "this agreement will bring Rhode Island a long way toward becoming a technology-savvy state government that gives its residents and businesses what they need on-line, not in line." From car registration to professional licensing to making a reservation at a state campground or searching for employment with state government, all will become easy on-line activities as the portal grows. Most services on the portal will be free, although fees will be attached to some transactions to support the portal and its development.
The portal will be of particular interest to Rhode Island businesses, centralizing the availability of economic data, state purchasing interactions, permits, registrations, licensing, and other essential business and government transactions. "Economic development is a top priority for Rhode Island", reported Barbara Weaver, the Chief Information Officer for the state. "For companies to come to Rhode Island, or to stay here, they need to have government information and services conveniently available to them and their employees when and how they want them."
The state currently publishes over 50 World Wide Web sites providing a wealth of information about the state and about state government that receive over two million visits each month. The State's Information Page (www.info.state.ri.us) helps users find their way through this thicket of information to find the information they need. Additional assistance is available at the States' Find-It! RI search engine (www.find-it.state.ri.us). The portal will bring all of these resources together and add the ability to perform transactions and purchase services, making it a simple matter to find, and interact with the right government bureau by visiting on line rather than by standing in line.