In 2011, Mississippi awarded a contract for self-funded online government to NIC, in order to improve services and a website that had been upgraded only once since 2001. Mississippi Interactive, an NIC subsidiary, rolled out electronic payment processing, redesigned the MS.gov portal and beefed up online services.
Like this story? If so, subscribe to Government Technology's daily newsletter.
In 2012, the state won a Best of the Web award from the Center for Digital Government (owned by e.Republic, Inc., also the parent company of Government Technology) and according to state CIO Craig Orgeron, MS.gov has so far garnered 16 awards.
This week, state officials announced that in addition to the awards, the e-government improvements have delivered a tangible return on investment. According to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, the state has saved about $1 million per year in infrastructure, payment processing and website maintenance costs since the upgrade. In addition, citizens are increasingly accessing the site from mobile devices, and in 2013, the state launched six mobile apps to take advantage of that.