The State and Local 50: A Call for Nominations

People know failure when they see it in the information technology field:

IT projects frequently come in over budget, off schedule or not at all.

Recognizing success is trickier. As with electricity or water, people often

think about a successful information system only when, for some reason,

it is not available.

That is why civic.com is pleased to announce the State and Local 50,

an award program to recognize IT projects that have hit high marks in the

past year. This program will focus less on cost and schedule — which are

better indicators of failure than success. Instead, it will focus primarily

on the impact the project has on agency users or the citizens an agency

serves.

This is more than kudos for a job well done. In highlighting successful

projects, the State and Local 50 can provide agencies at all levels of government

with valuable lessons in defining and achieving success.

To produce the awards, civic.com is assembling a panel of distinguished

judges from government, industry and academia to recognize those projects

that delivered the greatest benefits in 1999. The judges will be looking

for:

* An innovative state or local IT system that made a significant impact

on a state, county or local community.

* An IT project that saved an agency money or improved its day-to-day

operations.

* An IT-related policy that paved the way for social and economic improvements

in a state or local community.

* A project or policy that has set a standard or model for government

agencies across the country.

Now more than ever, as technology shows the potential to improve nearly

every aspect of government operations, agencies have more opportunities

and more need to learn from one anothers' successes. The State and Local

50 provides a way to make that happen.

The difficult part is identifying successes from the thousands of projects

under way at state, city and county governments. That is where civic.com

readers come in.

If you have a successful program, or know of another agency that has

one, please let us know. The deadline

is March 31. Please take the time now to share your success story so that

others can benefit.

The awards will be announced in July. Look for more information in future

issues of civic.com or visit our World Wide Web site and look for the State

and Local 50 logo.

John Stein Monroe

Editor

civic.com