Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - May 16, 2000
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136

State's new digital government plan takes citizens from 'in line' to online for one-stop services

OLYMPIA - From online banking to book shopping, consumers have come to expect -even demand - one-stop Internet services. Gov. Gary Locke believes state government must meet the same expectations with the people of Washington, and said a plan just released outlines the state's approach for supplying new web-based services that promise to benefit citizens directly.

The Washington State Digital Government Plan targets three new Internet services to be ready within the year: electronic procurement, joint tax filing for businesses and obtaining a master business license. The entry point for these transactions will be the state's award-winning web portal, Access Washington, which the governor launched in November 1998.

"Life is changing dramatically, and technology tools that once were the stuff of science fiction are now at our fingertips," Locke said. "What the digital government plan provides is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for us to say 'yes, we can do it' to millions of citizens who want to get out of lines at offices and use the Internet for more one-stop services from state government," Locke said.

Making Access Washington the citizens' starting point for transactions with government means Washington can offer government services online with the type of easy-to-navigate, secure systems that people have come to expect from private-sector websites.

"The reality we must face is that many people in Washington do not know which agency delivers a given service. To most citizens, we are perceived simply as 'the government,'" Locke said. "If the state's Internet services are available through a single easy-to-use entry, we will realize the promise of digital government, which is service delivery that makes better sense to citizens."

Work began on the Digital Government Plan prior to Locke's November 1999 directive to streamline agencies' internal business processes and expand online government services to provide easier access for the public. It aggressively melds the pioneering technology groundwork Washington has laid in the last five years - work that has made Washington the two-time "Digital State" titleholder - with new Internet services being developed at several state agencies.

State government already has met one of the plan's key infrastructure goals by selecting a Salt Lake City firm, Digital Signature Trust, to provide all public entities in the state with digital certificates to use when doing online business with government.

Much like a driver's license, a digital certificate is a unique piece of identification with state registration numbers. It certifies the identity of the person who creates and sends an electronic document, payment or other data.

By attaching a digital certificate, people can use e-mail or the Internet to send legally binding documents, such as contracts or purchase orders, without having to follow up with a hand-signed paper copy. Digital certificates save time, instantly assure security, and have the potential to drastically reduce paperwork in government-to-government and government-to-citizen transactions.

The Legislature put Washington on an early path to using digital certificates and signatures when it passed the state's digital signature law in 1996. The law lets the state license private third party businesses as "certification authorities," or CAs, to provide the technology needed to create and verify digital certificates. As the successful vendor, Digital Signature Trust will act as the licensed CA for Washington's government organizations.

"We are proud of our role in providing digital certificate technology solutions to save taxpayers money and improve government services," said Steve Kolodney, director of the state Department of Information Services. "Governor Locke, the Legislature, the Secretary of State, the State Treasurer and the State Auditor and many others worked hard to make government-licensed digital certificates a reality, and in turn put Washington among the first states to provide digital certificates for online transactions."

A cornerstone of the plan is agency collaboration in three key areas: Internet applications, infrastructure, and policy. According to Kolodney, reaching the plan's goal of a "one-face" online government will depend on tightly coordinated cross-agency work.

"We are stressing a 'build it once' approach to project managers across the state, asking them to work together to apply existing architecture, security components and common elements to new projects," Kolodney said.

The plan was developed under the guidance of the Information Services Board (ISB), a policy and planning body that has been given legislative mandate for the stewardship and management of the state's information technology resources. The plan synthesizes the work of the ISB, the Electronic Commerce Executive Steering Committee, the Technology Architecture Advisory Group and the DIS Customer Advisory Board.

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