Fairfax County was recognized as an international best practice example in the “Balanced e-Government” study conducted by the Bertelsmann Foundation of Germany. Federal, state and local governments were rated on the performance of their Web sites in five key categories which mark good e-Government programs: benefits, efficiency, transparency, participation and change management. Fairfax County scored exceptionally well in the areas of operational efficiencies and providing a smooth transformation to e-government services (change management).

Of the 60 Web sites measured worldwide, 12 exemplary case studies were chosen. The pacesetters were the British government’s UK-Online and the City of Seattle with a general high performance in all categories, closely followed by the Province of Ontario and Fairfax County.

Other governments rounding out the top 12 included the U.S., Canada, Sweden, Estonia, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the British cities of Tameside and Lewisham, and the city of Hamburg, Germany. The complete study is available online from the Bertelsmann Foundation's Web site at www.begix.de.

According to the Bertelsmann Foundation, North American and British Web sites are still ahead in implementing true online services for their citizens, but other European countries and some Asian countries are catching up. “Many decision-makers have made the digital modernization of government their number one priority,” said Dr. Ingrid Hamm, an e-government expert serving on the Bertelsmann Foundation's Board of Directors. after regular business hours and that number is expected to increase this year.

Fairfax County’s e-government program consists of a Web site, kiosks, interactive voice response and a county government cable channel. Following is a partial list of services provided on each platform:

Web site