Houston and Austin officials are considering taking advantage of an already-developed online water utility billing service, while several counties are poised to use an upcoming online court filing application, said Gary Miglicco, national e-government director for BearingPoint's state and local sector.
Greater demand and expanded offerings into other sectors, he said, signals e-government's evolution beyond the basic "low-hanging fruit" services, such as online tax filing, parking and traffic ticket payments and driver's license renewals. "This is the first time in the industry thatÖcitizens are demanding government to put services on the Internet," Miglicco said.
State agencies aren't required to participate in the portal, but many do, and the number of state agencies and local governments participating in the portal now totals more than 60, he said. The company continually receives citizen feedback, including performing about 5,000 online monthly surveys. It also carefully establishes benchmarks for online applications, documenting whether they reduce costs and improve efficiency.
Part of that is being accomplished through partnerships with other companies, such as edocs Inc., which develops self-service and e-billing applications. That company helped create the payment tool for online water bills being used in the cities of Dallas and Mesquite.
Dallas chief information officer Dan McFarland said officials there wanted to make it easier for citizens to pay their monthly water bills via the Internet. Dallas residents can enroll in the password-protected application, view their bills and pay via credit card or online check. E-mail messages are sent to residents notifying them of the bill's amount and due date.
Edocs automates the back-end process for Dallas, which pays a yearly flat fee to cover costs, said Jed Rice, managing director of the Natick, Mass.-based company's public-sector group. Benefits include the elimination of paper and postage costs and around-the-clock service, he said, adding that return on investment usually is seen in six to 18 months.
Although the application has been up for about a year now, only 2 percent to 3 percent of residents are using it, McFarland said, and that's because of lack of advertising. Once economic conditions improve, Dallas plans to step up its marketing campaign with a 20 percent adoption target, he said.
Rice said it's important to reach out to constituents to drive e-government adoption. If citizens get a utility bill or beneficiary statement every month, it's an easy pass for them to transition to the Web. "What we want to do is allow government to establish recurring interactive relationships online," he said.
McFarland believes legal restraints that don't allow municipalities to charge fees or pass costs onto citizens for some services are the real hurdles — not technology, which he said remains an "untapped resource" to increase efficiency and productivity.
The state legislature is discussing easing some of those laws in this current session, he added.
BearingPoint, formerly KPMG Consulting Inc., earns revenue by charging convenience fees for certain applications, subscription fees, fees for premium services, or cost-sharing with agencies. It shares about $20,000 a month in revenue, Miglicco said.
That's a strong case to replicate the platform in other jurisdictions, he said, adding that several other states and cities, as well as nearly two dozen international governments, have inquired about the model.
RELATED LINKS
- City of Dallas Web site
- State of Texas portal
- "Dot-com survivor reports a profit" [FCW.com, Jan.30, 2003]
- "County has new outsourcing source" [Government E-Business, Jan. 16, 2003]
- "Texas studies online legal filings" [Government E-Business, Sept. 17, 2002]
- "Lone e-gov portal serves state" [FCW.com, Oct. 4, 2001]
