IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Becoming a certified small, woman- or minority-owned business in Virginia just got easier, thanks to a new online service now available through the Commonwealth's official Web site at www.Virginia.gov. The automated system is designed to make certification and recertification more accessible and more convenient for these businesses to compete for the $5 billion the Commonwealth spends each year on goods and services.

"Since the beginning of our administration, we have worked to identify and involve more small, woman- and minority-owned businesses in our competitive bidding process," said Governor Mark R. Warner. "This new online application can help us more quickly reach more businesses, diversify our vendor pool, and strengthen our local economies." The online certification service handles initial certifications and allows businesses to view and edit previously submitted information as part of the recertification process. Applicants may be required to provide appropriate supporting documentation before the Virginia Department of Minority Business Enterprise completes the certification process.

"This online service supports Governor Warner's goal to make the application process as user-friendly and timely as possible," said Edward L. Hamm Jr., Director of the Virginia Department of Minority Business Enterprise. "We have worked hard to clean up the inaccurate list of small, woman- and minority-owned vendors this administration inherited. We look forward to further reducing the current 30-day completed certification processing goal."

"In addition to facilitating the process for businesses to apply for these certifications, this service creates efficiencies for the Department of Minority Business Enterprise staff by eliminating the need to manually re-key certification information into a separate back-end system," said Scott Somerhalder, general manager of Virginia.gov. The Virginia Department of Minority Business Affairs partnered with Virginia.gov to develop the Web-based certification service.

About Virginia.gov

Virginia.gov is the Commonwealth of Virginia's official homepage (www.Virginia.gov) and a collaborative effort between the Commonwealth of Virginia and Virginia Interactive, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of eGovernment firm NIC (Nasdaq: EGOV) that helps Virginia government entities Web-enable their information services. Virginia.gov was built and is marketed, operated and maintained by Virginia Interactive.

Quelle: Business Wire, 13.06.2005