(Washington, DC) Today, the District of Columbia will receive the Public Technology Institute’s (PTI) 2004 Solutions Award for both the Health Professional Licensing Administration and the Emergency Information Center.  The District earned these latest achievements as a “medium-sized” city (population of 100-699,000) in PTI’s annual evaluation of local government’s use of technology.

“The District is always looking for ways to leverage technology to improve services for our residents, increase government efficiency, and enhance public safety,” said Mayor Anthony A. Williams.  “These PTI awards recognize that commitment and are another example of why DC.Gov is an award-winning website that serves as a bellwether for successful e-government.”

The Department of Health’s Health Professional Licensing Administration (HPLA) won in the “Information Technology and Telecommunications” category by working with the Office of the Chief Technology Officer to identify alternatives to dramatically improve medical license processes.  The District uses the License 2000 system to integrate online application processing, licensee administration, enforcement management, examination tracking and scheduling, reporting, and automated renewal processing.  HPLA’s implementation of internal online applications decreased the processing cycle from 212 days to just 36 for new license applications and from three months to five to seven days for renewal license applications (www.dchealth.dc.gov/prof_license).

The Emergency Information Center won in the “Public Safety” category.  Emergency instructions, closures, maps, emergency routes and additional resources are available at http://www.emergencycenter.dc.gov/.  In addition to District-wide information, users can enter an address or neighborhood to learn how an emergency is affecting them or their loved ones; find out if they are assigned to a specific shelter or traffic pattern; and—for persons with disabilities—receive information on the specific actions they need to take.
 
“These websites were designed with District residents’ needs in mind and they’re particularly effective because they work in concert with established agency business and communications processes,” said Suzanne J. Peck, Chief Technology Officer for the District of Columbia.
“We’re proud that HPLA has improved the efficiency of its licensing process so significantly and that the EIC was in place to help District residents affected by Hurricane Isabel.” 

PTI is a national non-profit technology research and development organization charged with bringing the benefits of technology to local governments.  The PTI Solutions Award is an annual, national competition that recognizes city and county governments that have demonstrated how—through the use of technology—they have improved the delivery of services to constituents, reduced costs, or generated new revenues.