Arkansas.gov Ranked 2nd Among the Nation's Top Official State Web Sites

The official Web site of the State of Arkansas (www.Arkansas.gov) has again been named one of the best state government sites in the nation. Arkansas.gov received the second-place ranking by the Center for Digital Government in its annual national competition, Best of the Web. Government Web sites are evaluated based on their innovation, Web-based delivery of public services, efficiency, economy and functionality. Arkansas.gov has ranked in the top 10 of state Web sites in each of the past five years, receiving third-place honors in 2009.

"We are grateful to receive this recognition again, and my administration will continue to make progress in our efforts to make state government accessible online to Arkansas citizens,” said Governor Mike Beebe.

Arkansas.gov is the portal to more than 1,100 online services and 240 web sites for state and local government agencies. In 2009, the portal served more than 42 million visitors and processed 3.9 million eGovernment transactions.

The Arkansas.gov portal is transforming the way users access and pay for government services. The latest portal update has been enhanced for mobile Smartphone users and now offers some of the most popular services, including payments, in a mobile optimized format.

"We are very proud of this recognition and our efforts to provide best-in-class access to information and services for Arkansans,” said Peggy Gram, Information Network of Arkansas board chair. "Our consistent performance in Best of the Web is a tribute to the hard work and innovative vision between our agencies and our INA portal operations.”

In addition to the Best of the Web award, the State of Arkansas also received recognition in the Digital Government Achievement Awards in the following categories from the Center for Digital Government:

Government-to-citizen: The www.Mobile.Arkansas.gov portal and services provide a convenient, simple, and secure option for users to access government services and is available on all Smartphone operating platforms, including iPhone, Blackberry, Google Android, Windows Mobile, and Palm. Arkansas.gov’s mobile applications will render on any Smartphone device, which makes government information and services even more convenient and accessible. All mobile credit card payments are processed through the Arkansas.gov secure payment engine.

"The mobile community of users to the Arkansas.gov portal is growing by an average of 27% each month,” said Claire Bailey, Arkansas Chief Technology Officer. "We are very pleased to be ahead of the demand for services via a mobile device and will continue to offer government access through all available channels.”

Government-to-government: The Office of State Procurement – Professional Consulting Services Contract System is an online process whereby state entities submit professional consulting services contracts and documentation to the Office of State Procurement and to the Arkansas Legislative Council for review and approval. The new automated service eliminates the paper process and expedites the entire review and approval process.

About Arkansas.gov

Arkansas.gov is the official Web site of the state of Arkansas (http://www.arkansas.gov) and a service of the Information Network of Arkansas offering more than 1,100 state and local online services. The Information Network of Arkansas is a public-private partnership between the state of Arkansas and the Arkansas Information Consortium that helps state government entities Web-enable their information services. Little Rock-based AIC is part of eGovernment firm NIC’s (NASDAQ: EGOV) family of companies.

About NIC

NIC is the nation’s leading provider of official government Web sites, online services, and secure payment processing solutions. The company’s innovative eGovernment services help reduce costs and increase efficiencies for government agencies, citizens, and businesses across the country. NIC provides eGovernment solutions for more than 3,000 federal, state, and local agencies that serve 98 million people in the United States. Additional information is available at http://www.nicusa.com.