2013 Recognition Awards: NASCIO Honors Outstanding Information Technology Achievements
Successful information technology initiatives in state government deserve to be highlighted and shared in order to promote innovation, foster better government, and engage citizens.
Join NASCIO in celebrating 25 years of honoring outstanding information technology achievements in the public sector through its Recognition Awards for outstanding achievement in the field of information technology.
Emphasis is placed on recognizing those information technology initiatives which exemplify best practices, support the public policy goals of state leaders, assist government officials in innovatively executing their duties, and provide cost-effective service to citizens.
Recognition Award finalists will be notified in August, and the recipients will be formally announced at the Annual Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 14, 2013.
Award recipients are also publicized in press releases and letters to governors and other elected officials. To better share these state information technology best practices, all Recognition Award nominations are posted to the NASCIO website. To access the Best Practices Archive, visit http://www.nascio.org/awards/archive.cfm.
Award Categories (click category name for details)
OVERVIEW: This category addresses identifying, planning, coordinating, sharing, and/or integrating formerly non-integrated IT-related organizational goals and strategies. These could include: governance and management, policies, business processes, data and information, systems and applications, services, technologies and infrastructure.
Collaborations or partnerships nominated in this category:
Must involve at least one state government entity
Multi-state initiatives are encouraged, with the lead state submitting.
Should include significant collaboration with other public groups such as localities, special purpose districts, higher education institutions, tribal governments, or not-for-profit organizations
Can involve private partnerships as collaborators, but the state government must document a leadership role
OVERVIEW: This category includes strategies, processes, applications, solutions, initiatives and/or programs that create, use, process, and manage data, information, content, knowledge and intellectual value, property or capital. Outcomes and benefits may include the provision of information-related content and services, as well as support for development of policies, performance assessments, funding, decision-making and transparency.
OVERVIEW: This category addresses innovative applications that foster improved interaction between government and business, including better service at less cost to business for regulatory compliance, new business formation, and day-to-day government-to-business interactions. Projects that demonstrate integration or information sharing among state services are included in this category.
As applicable, include detailed information about:
Longevity of the service
Target audience and the current adoption rate
Outreach campaigns to encourage use
Steps taken to ensure data and transactional security
Performance measures and client satisfaction data
Include any development and/or training initiatives that ensure expanded access to, and independent use of these services by people with disabilities or others who would not normally have easy access to digital government initiatives.
OVERVIEW: This category covers governmental applications that provide innovative services or communication channels for citizens, provide for open government, and/or increase government's efficiency. Additionally mobile services and applications are included in this category.
Submissions can include any type of electronic interface and may demonstrate:
Two-way communication capabilities
Self-service applications
Personalization
Subscription and notification features
Provisions for government transparency and accountability
As applicable, include detailed information about:
Longevity of the service
Target audience and the current adoption rate
Outreach campaigns to encourage use
Steps taken to ensure data and transactional security
Performance measures and client satisfaction data
Include any development and/or training initiatives that ensure expanded access to, and independent use of these services by people with disabilities or others who would not normally have easy access to digital government initiatives.
The Awards Committee encourages submissions that address high-volume, mission-critical services such as unemployment services, veterans' services, comprehensive benefits availability and eligibility determination, justice programs, and revenue and tax collection.
Potential projects which fit under this category include but are not limited to:
Innovations in online transactions
Social networking
Citizen feedback and commenting
Personalized mapping and service location trackers
OVERVIEW: This category recognizes the need for government to sometimes implement business solutions in a rapid timeframe. These solutions must have been implemented since December 1, 2011 and with a total duration of the project not to exceed nine months. The solution may use a combination of technologies, new or emerging, within the state.
OVERVIEW: This category encompasses state efforts to plan, organize and execute enterprise-wide technology initiatives. The focus should be on solutions that employ policies, best practices and processes for enterprise change management, workforce development, governance, or transformation of service delivery.
OVERVIEW: This category covers technology initiatives and business process improvements implemented to make government operations more efficient and effective. Because States Run on IT, as described in NASCIO's document, nominations in this category should emphasize how IT has played a critical role in transforming government operations.
OVERVIEW:
This category covers initiatives or services that leverage communication technologies to transform government or promote economic development, interoperability and improved quality of life. This may be accomplished by increasing citizen access or enabling state government to operate more efficiently and effectively, or offer more innovative, responsive, and personalized services to citizens. Initiatives or services could be unique uses of current technology or the application of leading-edge technology. Submissions that include mobile solutions and servces are encouraged.
OVERVIEW: This category addresses efforts to make government more transparent and accountable and to stimulate civic engagement. Submissions can include any type of electronic interface and may demonstrate unilateral initiatives as well as two-way communication capabilities.
As applicable, include detailed information about:
Longevity of the service
Target audience and the current adoption rate
Outreach campaigns to encourage use
Steps taken to ensure data and transactional security
Performance measures and client satisfaction data
Include any development and/or training initiatives that ensure expanded access to, and independent use of these services by people with disabilities, or others who would not normally have easy access to digital government initiatives.
OVERVIEW: This category incorporates IT security and privacy in strategic state initiatives, as well as disaster recovery planning (DRP) and continuity of government (COG) operations. It encompasses initiatives that help states prepare for major incidents such as natural or man-made disasters, cyber-attacks, pandemics or major infrastructure failures.
Initiatives which fit under this category include, but are not limited to:
IT security and privacy challenges related to:
Internal and external threats
System and application vulnerabilities
Remote or mobile access
Incident management/incident response
Measurement of program effectiveness and compliance
Related IT security initiatives such as:
Enterprise strategic planning and governance frameworks
Enterprise security policy and program management
Critical infrastructure risk assessments
Identity and access management
Monitoring, auditing and compliance
Education and awareness programs
Initiatives to create a privacy culture
Efforts to organize for IT security
DRP and COG efforts to support on-going government operations through:
Planning methodologies
Infrastructure protection
Security systems or recovery mechanisms
Contingency planning, disaster recovery, and business resumption
Homeland security
All-hazards alerting
Activities that address the protection of sensitive and confidential citizen, business and other state customer information, and its availability in the event of disruption
OVERVIEW: This category emphasizes projects initiated and implemented by the state CIO's office only. The category is open to a variety of projects. Examples of possible project emphasis are procurement, workforce reform, innovation, internal collaboration, business process improvements, customer service, private-public partnerships, and transformation. Utilize this opportunity to showcase your office's innovations.
Nominations will be accepted from state and territory members in good standing. Corporate members must work with a state CIO office to coordinate nominations.
With the exception of Fast Track Solutions, all projects must be completed between December 1, 2010 and December 1,2012. Fast Track solution submissions are to be completed after December 1, 2012 and to have a duration of no longer than nine months.
The nominated project must be able to stand on its own. If the initiative is a phase of a larger project, only the benefits of the phase can be recognized.
Outsourced projects will be considered as long as they are managed and controlled by the state.
The project must be state focused (not regional, local or national). Multi-state projects are encouraged, and must be submitted by the lead state. If the project is a finalist, all states included will be recognized.
Only one nomination per category per state is permitted.
Each project must be submitted in only one award category.
A previous award recipient submission cannot be resubmitted. All other submissions (finalists and Non-finalists) can be resubmitted as long as they meet the guidelines.
Each state can win up to two recognition award recipient awards per year. If a state has recipient-level ratings in more than two categories, the two highest scored categories will be chosen. In the other categories, the second highest score will be elevated to recipient and the original recipient will remain a finalist. Multi-state initiatives are the exception to this rule. Additionally, the State CIO office Special Recognition recipient is an execption to this rule.
Submission Format and Guidelines
All nominations must follow the prescribed format outlined below. Nominations that do not meet the submission criteria or adhere to the required format will not be considered.
Significance to the improvements of the operation of government
Benefits of the project (financial and non-financial)
Evaluation and Scoring
Nominations will be evaluated on the clarity, quality and completeness of the information presented. Submissions which do not include all required elements or which are submitted after the deadline will not be considered.
Each of the following elements will make up a portion of the total score as indicated below.
20% of total score - Contextual Principles - How well the nomination exemplifies best practices, supports the public policy goals of state leaders, represents an innovative use of existing technology or a use of new technology, assists government officials to efficiently execute their duties, provides cost-effective service to citizens and transfers to other agencies or units of government
20% of total score - Section 3 - Description of the Business Problem & Solution
20% of total score - Section 4 - Significance of the Project
40% of total score - Section 5 - Benefit of the Project
