PROJECT SUMMARY
The Commonwealth Competition Council entered into a public-private partnership agreement with Virginia Interactive, LLC in July 1998 under the umbrella of the Virginia Information Providers Network to bridge the gap in business and governments' ability to plan and implement timely and effective privatization programs using the internet as the communication vehicle. The Commonwealth Competition Council Web portal went live under VIPNet in October 1998 and has been in full operation since that time.

Privatization information is available in many forms but none cover the entire process with tools and techniques to answer the "How do I?" questions that abound in the privatization decision process. Hence, the Commonwealth Competition Council, in partnership with Virginia Interactive, developed an interactive web portal that helps business and government find answers to their most frequently asked questions about privatization and public-private partnerships, and exchange information 24x7 with the convenience of the Internet. The web portal recorded 18,420 hits during the month of July 2000 (now over 36,000 per month). These visitors included both business and governments contacts from not only Virginia and across the United States but globally from 15 different countries.

The eGov Toolkit provides the government entrepreneur with the tools he needs to achieve continuous improvement in productivity. This is a fact of life in government that is demanded by citizens today. A complete index of the available tools and information is at http://www.egovcompetition.com and must be viewed and used to understand the depth of information that is available. Additionally, the portal contains the commercial activities that Virginia government performs. The relational database format permits analysis by government and business to determine organizational structure.

Specific sites, such as the Best Practices of state government, incorporate Virginia state government best practices but has the capability to expand to local government as well as a single source for others states as well. It captures best practices which are accessible by several means. The innovative "dewey decimal" system by agency or free search are three examples. This feature is one that other best practice sites do not incorporate which can limit their usefulness. Searchable access enables government employees at all levels to seek tested solutions for their problems.

A second criteria was that the portal was to be a no cost to the Competition Council which was achieved using the structure of the Virginia Information Providers Network, a public-private partnership, and a prime example of how government and the private sector can work together in the development, financing, ownership and operation of a public service.

The Commonwealth Competition Council is one-stop shopping for privatization and public private partnership information for those interested in knowing how to successfully implement such projects. A prime example is Mayor George Ahmaogak, Sr., North Slope Borough, Alaska using the information in the web portal to develop a privatization program for his municipal government.