State soliciting help with website transparency

The Department of Information Services (DIS) put out a Request For Proposal (RFP) on July 14 to provide the state with "a web search tool that assists with strengthening the relationship between lawmakers and their constituents by maximizing transparency of the work of government."

This positive development seeks to implement the recommendations we made to the Director of DIS and the Governor's Chief of Staff at an April 23 meeting this year. 

In a meeting with DIS last week to review the draft RFP, Director Gary Robinson indicated DIS hopes to re-design the state's web portal (Access Washington) and improve the search functions on state agency websites. The goal is to have this reform done by November.

According to the RFP:

"DIS is now soliciting Proposals from interested, best-in-class Search Tool vendors to update the tool which supports the Ask George search.  DIS is seeking an offering that can improve the success and effectiveness of the Ask George search both on Access Washington and in the individual agency specific tailored searches. DIS is committed to providing a web search tool that assists with strengthening the relationship between lawmakers and their constituents by maximizing transparency of the work of government. The ideal solution is one that enables citizens’ access to government data in a manner that is straightforward and easy to use.

DIS will continue offering Ask George as a service offering to Washington state agencies, boards and commissions, local governments, tribal organizations and qualifying non-profits.  Therefore, DIS intends to solicit qualified vendors to provide a licensed search application for a search tool that can quickly initially collect up to 3 million documents, and can easily be segmented into the agency specific tailored searches . . .

DIS is seeking an updated Search tool to provide a toolset to assist in the transparency of government.  Search tools can provide assistance to constituents to be able to 'search' government information on web sites. Transparency will improve citizen access to information in government.  The search tool function that DIS is seeking to acquire is a tool to assist in providing transparency."

This encouraging development builds on the successful adoption of WPC’s recommendation to create a searchable budget website earlier this year (SB 6818).

Kudos to DIS for moving forward with this effort to improve government transparency!