D.C. wins prize for business portal

The District of Columbia government today received an award for its online business resource center, presented at the National Association of Chief Information Officers’ meeting in St. Louis, Mo. The site, at , won in NASCIO’s digital government category for putting tax and fee transactions online for 90,000 Washington, D.C., businesses. The site also offers 3,000 pages of information, tutorials and business forms. The center is a joint effort by the Office of the Chief Technology Officer, the Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Department, the Office of Planning, and the Office of Tax and Revenue. The center cost about $1 million to design and build plus about $166,000 in yearly maintenance costs. Washington saved an estimated $1.8 million in personnel costs as a result of the portal, which was launched in August 2001.