Online licensing makes gains in Montana and New Hampshire

State officials in Montana yesterday unveiled an online service at that lets users check the status of licensed professionals, including accountants, physicians and plumbers. The state contracted with Montana Interactive Inc., a subsidiary of National Information Consortium Inc. of Overland Park, Kan., to build the site, which is funded by user fees.“With 36 different boards, 70 state license types, and nearly 64,000 licensed professionals, this license inquiry service will dramatically increase the ability of citizens to verify that they are working with licensed professionals,” said Wendy Keating, the state’s commissioner of labor and industry. Montana already lets nurses and real estate agents renew their licenses online and plans to extend that feature to other professions in the future, the department said.Separately, New Hampshire chose NIC for an application service provider contract under which it will pay the company $425,000 over seven years to build and host online applications for fish and game permits, and architect and engineer licenses. The company also may provide 18 additional license renewal services on a fee-for-service basis.NIC said it would host the New Hampshire system through its operations for Maine’s eGovernment portal in Augusta.