NASCIO Awards

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

2002 Awards: Digital Government: Government to Business (G to B)

WINNER:
District of Columbia
The District of Columbia Business Resource Center


1st Row, L to R: Margaret Dimond, Sergey Dementyev, Donna Barne, Cherisse Graves 2nd Row, L to R: Victor Grimes, Tim Yuckenberg, Stacey Hawkins, Deborah Cheney 3rd Row, L to R: Lars Aune, Mark Hill, Shaun Howard, Mitch Wander

1st Row, L to R: Margaret Dimond, Sergey Dementyev, Donna Barne, Cherisse Graves
2nd Row, L to R: Victor Grimes, Tim Yuckenberg, Stacey Hawkins, Deborah Cheney
3rd Row, L to R: Lars Aune, Mark Hill, Shaun Howard, Mitch Wander

The District of Columbia launched its on-line Business Resource Center (BRC), in August 2001 to provide the District's 90,000 businesses a one-stop-shop for business information, resources, and on-line transaction processing. The BRC offers over 3,000 pages of resources for firms of all sizes and types. It is located at http://www.brc.dc.gov.

The BRC offers business owners a wealth of information, resource guides and links, and on-line transaction processing covering all phases in the business lifecycle. The site's information resources include extensive tutorials that guide the visitor through every step in the business lifecycle: starting a business (specifically for for-profits and non-profits), financing a business, continuing a business, relocating a business to the District, and dissolving a business. The BRC also provides access to, and guidance through, nearly every business resource in the District, including: obtaining bank loans and small business loans, initiating a public stock offering, obtaining start-up capital, taking advantage of District and federal tax and development incentives, and doing business with the District government.

“The District of Columbia is a city filled with small businesses and big dreams. Our new Business Resource Center will help District business owners fulfill their dreams by providing essential tools, information and assistance. At the BRC, a business owner will find step-by-step guides, checklists, and tutorials covering every phase of operating a business in the District. They will learn how to create a business plan, obtain financing, file for licenses, compete for government contracts, and much, much more. Whether your dream is a multi-state corporation or a neighborhood restaurant, the information you need is now just a few mouse-clicks away." Mayor Anthony A. Williams, Washington, D.C.

“The District of Columbia is a city filled with small businesses and big dreams. Our new Business Resource Center will help District business owners fulfill their dreams by providing essential tools, information and assistance. At the BRC, a business owner will find step-by-step guides, checklists, and tutorials covering every phase of operating a business in the District. They will learn how to create a business plan, obtain financing, file for licenses, compete for government contracts, and much, much more. Whether your dream is a multi-state corporation or a neighborhood restaurant, the information you need is now just a few mouse-clicks away." Mayor Anthony A. Williams, Washington, D.C.

The BRC offers on-line transaction processing and payment for virtually all transactions a business needs to conduct with the District. Businesses can also pay license fees and business taxes on-line, using a secure payment engine. Management tools and online consulting are also available. These tools include: instructions for preparing an effective business loan presentation; numerous spreadsheets - complete with embedded calculation formulas - to help businesses identify and calculate financial resources; side-by-side comparisons to aid decision-making in a variety of areas (e.g., which business structure to choose, which form(s) of financing to choose); and step-by-step guides to the creation of a business plan and a marketing plan.

To ensure awareness, access, and assistance, the BRC project links the website itself to a comprehensive outreach and assistance program. Four agencies collaborate to conduct 16 outreach workshops per quarter. These workshops inform residents about the BRC, demonstrate how to use it, and to bridge the digital divide, identify the free Internet access sites in the city. In addition, the BRC offers a help line whose telephone number appears on all BRC pages. The site will soon offer help lines in Spanish and several Asian languages.

For several District agencies, the BRC dramatically reduces visits and calls to walk-in service centers and telephone help lines, and allows these agencies to cut customer service positions. The BRC also serves as an on-line training and reference manual for customer service employees, speeding and improving service and cutting training costs.

The District's total investment to design and build the BRC was appropriately $1 million, and the annual ongoing cost to support, maintain, and enhance the BRC is approximately $166,000. To date, estimated savings in reduced customer service positions, net of annual BRC costs, total $1.8 million.

Contact Information: Tim Yuckenberg, Deputy Chief Technology Officer, Office of the Chief Technology Officer, 441 4th St. NW, Suite 930, Washington, DC 20001, (202) 727-2277, Fax: (202) 727-6857, christina.fleps@dc.gov

SECOND PLACE:
Iowa
Iowa Single Contact Repository

THIRD PLACE:
Nebraska
Nebraska's UIConnect