Competitions
MIT
e-Citizen Services Award Announcement
Civic.com
article on the Award winners
Award Honorees
Pioneer Awards
Press
Release
MASSACHUSETTS
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND ANDERSEN CONSULTING ANNOUNCE eCITIZEN SERVICES
AWARD HONOREES
Pioneer Awards Sponsored by Andersen Consulting also Presented at EGov
Conference, Washington, D.C., July 13, 2000
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) School of Architecture
and Planning and Andersen Consulting are pleased to announce the honorees
of the MIT eCitizen Services Awards for the inaugural year of the award
program. Daniel Greenwood, representing the MIT School of Architecture
and Planning, and Stanley J. Gutkowski, Andersen Consulting managing
partner for the USA Federal Government practice, presented the awards
to this year's honorees at this year's eGov Conference attended by more
than 500 government executives from across the country. The award program
was designed to identify and encourage best practices in emerging eCitizen
Services.
The honorees include the: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Homes and Communities Web site in the National/Federal government category, Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Web site in the Provincial/State category, City of Boston MIS Department Web site, and the District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue's Electronic Taxpayer Service Center in the Government Prototype category.
"For government, the electronic economy can dramatically changing the landscape of citizen services, and government's relationships with business, citizens and other governments. We are pleased and proud to team with the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, to recognize, reward and exhort those IT professionals who are on the leading edge of making eCitizen service a reality," said Gutkowski as he presented the awards.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development's Homes and Communities WebSite, managed by Candi Harrison, received high marks in the competition for its intentions-based approach, empowering citizens and business partners with interactive on-line services and information related to housing and communities. The site's format simplifies interaction with the Department, allowing individuals and business to access the information they want, when they need it, in ways that make sense to them, so they can solve their own problems and meet their own objectives.
The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and DMV Commissioner Richard Holcomb were recognized for leveraging the Internet to Transform citizen service delivery by providing virtual services that are available all day, every day. Citizens can now interact and transact business with the Department via the Internet, receiving the same services that are provided at bricks-and-mortar customer service centers. Having first "thought big" and created a vision for creating eDepartment of Motor Vehicle Agency services, the Virginia DMV Web site content and architecture establish a model for other Virginia agencies. The City of Boston MIS Department brings City Hall to its constituents' homes and businesses through a Web site that is easy to navigate, rapid and reliable. With this site, Boston has created a model of local government that is accessible, responsive, and efficient for both its constituents and the government itself.
With creation of eGovernment in its infancy, Andersen Consulting and MIT also offered a government prototype category to showcase emerging Thinking in the area of eCitizen Services. The District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue's Electronic Taxpayer Service Center prototype received the distinction for holding the promise of enabling trust-worthy self-governance to facilitate citizen and business interaction with the Office of Tax and Revenue via the Internet. The Center also will incorporate a 24 x 7 self-service portal, empowering taxpayers to meet their tax obligations on a single secure site, customized for the user. The Web Site is expected to go live this fall.
"By recognizing these government organizations for their achievements in eCitizen Service delivery, based on a specific set of benchmarking metrics, the Andersen Consulting? MIT eCitizen Service Awards set the bar for governments' future development of eCitizen service," said Greenwood, who also served as an awards judge. "As a result, this award program offers a fruitful way for academia and industry to join forces, bringing together the best thinking of both worlds by peeling back the deepest layers of a problem and providing insight to its solution."
For the MIT-Andersen Consulting award competition, governments and public corporations were encouraged to submit their best existing, web-enabled, eCitizen service programs that transform government services. Awards for each category were evaluated by a panel of eGovernment thought leaders from academia, government and the private sector based on the level of innovation, thought leadership and transformational results represented by the entry. The program sponsors expect to expand the award competition globally in 2001.
"MIT and Andersen Consulting jointly developed the specific criteria used to evaluate the entries," remarked Greenwood. "For instance, the judges considered whether the sites were designed with the anticipated citizens' needs in mind, usability and whether the sites foster the new economy with government to citizen, government to business and/or government to government models."
Other
judges on the panel included: Izzy Feldman, Founder, E-Gov Conference;
Steve Kelman, Harvard University, John F Kennedy School of Government;
and Richard Wheeler, Partner, eGovernment, Andersen Consulting.
Pioneer
awards
The Andersen Consulting Government Practice works with the world's leading government organizations, helping them to transform themselves in an e-Economy and develop citizen-centered services that make a difference in their communities. Approximately 5,000 Andersen Consulting experts work with national, state and local agencies advising, implementing and even operating government services. Andersen Consulting is a $9 billion global management and technology consulting organization whose mission is to help clients create their future.
Andersen Consulting works with clients from a wide range of industries to link their people, processes and technologies to their strategies. Andersen Consulting has approximately 65,700 people in 48 countries. Its home page address is at http://www.ac.com.