King County wins four awards for excellence in information technology

September 3, 2009

Summary

King County residents who depend on the county’s Web site for updates are getting their information from one of the most innovative, user-friendly portals around, according to e.Republic.com’s Center for Digital Government. The organization has recognized King County with three awards for excellence in Information Technology in its 2009 Best of the Web and Digital Government Achievement Awards.

Story

King County residents who depend on the county's Web site for updates are getting their information from one of the most innovative, user-friendly portals around, according to e.Republic.com's Center for Digital Government. The organization has recognized King County with four awards for excellence in Information Technology in its 2009 Best of the Web and Digital Government Achievement Awards (external link).

The Best of Web recognizes the most innovative, user-friendly government portals in the nation. King County received third place in the County Portal Category. The county's Internet site has consistently scored among the top three or four government sites across the country.

The Digital Government Achievement Award recognizes outstanding agency applications, and honored King County in the Government-to-business category for the county's Contract and Apprenticeship Report Tracking System (CARTS), developed for the Office of Strategic Planning and Performance Management. CARTS is an automated compliance solution tool the increases efficiency and reduces turnaround time for King County employees and contractors performing work for the county.

The county also received an Achievement Award in the Government-to-Citizen Local government category for the Department of Natural Resources and Parks, Solid Waste Division, EcoCool Remodel Tool. This online application helps residents and contractors by creating a virtual house tour to generate ideas to increase environmental improvements on home remodeling projects. The tool helps users find tips and resources ranging from healthy paint products, to what they should consider when replacing a furnace, upgrading kitchens or landscaping the yard.

Earlier this summer, King County also won third place in the 2009 Digital Counties Survey (external link) for municipalities in the 500,000 or more population category. This survey, conducted in partnership with the National Association of Counties (NACo), is conducted annually and recognizes counties using information technology in increasingly innovative ways and improving service to their citizens.

Cathilea Robinett, executive director of the Center for Digital Government said, "We congratulate the winners of this year's awards. They are terrific examples of first-rate ideas and collaboration on digital solutions which ultimately benefit citizens."