InforME Releases Annual Report
By Dick Thompson, CIO, Chair InforME Board
InforME has consistently pursued an aggressive strategic plan with a focus on generating new efficiencies for the State of Maine , improving access for our constituents in Maine and around the world, and continued promotion of Maine as the way life should be.
Throughout 2007, InforME continued to pursue these goals. In the past year, InforME has added 21 new services to Maine.gov, expanding Maine 's eGovernment service offerings to just shy of 375.
in addition to the implementation of new services, it is of critical importance to State operations that our online services, both new and existing are adopted. This year a number of InforME partners achieved extraordinary adoption rates for their online services. For example, the Department of Professional and Financial Regulations online professional license renewal suite improved its adoption to average 80% in the third quarter, and online hunting and fishing license sales had an impressive 30% growth in 2007. This is a testament to the commitment of these agencies to see their online services flourish.
Beyond individual agency services, InforME develops and implements an annual enhancement plan for the Maine.gov website. This year, enhancements included an upgraded agency directory, which lists all State of Maine agencies along with their contact information and a brief description of their responsibilities. Also new in 2007 is the Maine.gov “MapIT” feature which utilizes GoogleMaps technology. “MapIT” provides interactive directions for frequently requested state offices.
These advances to Maine.gov have led to our state homepage being recognized, once again, as one of the nation's best. In the Fall of 2007, the Center for Digital Government ranked Maine.gov 2nd in the country. With this award, Maine.gov continues the legacy of winning more top-three awards than any other State Government website in the country. Additionally, Maine.gov was rated as the number 3 site by Brown University 's Taubman Center for Public Policy.
With the goal of continuing these achievements and to take the State's portal to new levels, last year the InforME Board engaged in a competitive procurement process to re-acquire the services of a private entity to develop and operate the portal as InforME Network Manager. The Request for Proposal was designed with the intent of updating the relationship between the Network Manager and the State so that it was reflective of new realities that have evolved over the nine years of the current contract. Through a highly-competitive procurement process, the incumbent provider, Maine Information Network, an NIC subsidiary, was selected. The winning proposal included a number of enterprise service and objectives that we anticipate will have signification value to the State of Maine , agencies and constituents. This partnership is sure to generate important gains for Maine 's eGovernment initiative in the years to come.
Each of InforME's achievements this year, and every year, is a result of a strategically minded Board Membership, committed agency and municipal government partners, and demanding and informed constituents. I would like to express my thanks to those entities and individuals that have worked to move Maine's eGovernment initiative forward and say that I look forward to our collective progress.
