Contact: Donna Bigler, 240-777-6530
For Release: June 26, 2002

Montgomery County's Online Services Earn
Local Government Innovator Award at
National eGov Conference

County Executive Douglas M. Duncan received the prestigious Accenture/MIT Local Government Innovator Award at the fifth annual eGov Conference and Exposition, held in Washington, D.C. Montgomery County's Department of Technology Services was recognized at the conference for its proactive approach in developing online services to meet the needs of the County's citizens.

"Online services give those of us in government a way to be more accessible and responsive to our constituents," said Duncan. "For more than six years, we have been moving steadily towards our goal of bringing government directly to our citizens, rather than making them come to us to do business. It is extremely rewarding to be acknowledged for this effort, particularly by Accenture and the MIT School of Architecture and Planning."

The County currently offers on its eMontgomery.org website more than 180 online services for citizens, students, businesses, tourists and other government organizations. Through the site, residents can sign up and pay for recreation classes, purchase transit passes, pay for property taxes and parking tickets, renew library materials, and acquire various permits and licenses.

The annual Accenture and MIT Digital Government Awards recognize outstanding achievements in the development and delivery of web-enabled programs by federal, state and local governments, and by institutions of higher education. Montgomery County was selected for the Local Government Innovator award based on the County's use of technology to improve services, the level of transformation achieved in the delivery of services, and the increased effectiveness and tangible results achieved in the delivery of those services. The evaluation committee included leaders from government, academia and the private sector.

"As the only local government winner of the award, we are extremely honored to be recognized for our efforts, and we will continue to move forward with technology to make our government more accessible and convenient to the people we serve," said Alisoun Moore, director of the County's Department of Technology Services.