New InforME Contract

By Paul Sandlin, eGov Services, OIT

It's true we have a new contract for InforME. For those of you that do not know what InforME is; InforME is the name of the State's web portal. Governed by a board, the portal is operated by a vendor in a public private partnership. This partnership allows Maine State government to take advantage of an entrepreneurial model that injects private industry innovation and efficiencies into what has become a primary means of delivering government services.

For the last few years the eGovernment Services unit in the Office of the CIO has been working with State Agencies and the InforME Board, collecting requirements, creating an RFP, reviewing the proposals, selecting a vendor and finally negotiating a contract. This contract is designed to both preserve the gains the State has made in its much lauded web presence while at the same time creating a new governmental service delivery venue that is truly worthy of the 21 st century.

Maine Information Network (MIN) is the winning vendor for the contract. Despite the name change this is the same outfit that previously held the contract for nearly ten years under name New England Interactive (NEI). The current contract is for four years with the option for three, two year renewals. MIN has proven extremely capable in the past and through its proposal and the new contract promises to give the State a portal that will offer so much more.

The highlights of the new contract include a web content management system, advanced web analytics, enhanced customer relations management, accessible streamed audio/video services, a development environment for webmasters, upgraded security for all logon events and many other things, all the while maintaining current tools like WhatsNew, Autoforms, etc One of the most exciting new features is a method for agencies to acquire development services directly from the vendor through an accelerated service acquisition process built into the contract itself.

In the coming months we will elaborate on each of these elements and many other aspects of the new contract. We will do this through the newsletter, one-on-one contacts and through the State web coordinators group. If you have any questions feel free to contact your web coordinator or eGovernment Services through Paul Sandlin (tele. 624-9427) or Lisa Leahy (tele. 624-9504).