City to spend $3.8M on website overhaul

Indianapolis' website is getting a $3.8 million overhaul.

The city announced Tuesday it has started a two-year process to build a "modern, mobile-friendly" iteration of Indy.gov, which the city hopes will make government services more efficient and accessible for residents.

"We want to build a digital City Hall that improves how everyone, from our citizens to our local businesses, interacts with their government," said Ken L. Clark, the city's chief information officer, in a media release. "This initiative is about more than a website. It's transforming how local government serves its constituents."

The city is working with Indianapolis-based Daniels Associates Inc., which it already contracts with for web development purposes, to build the new site. The project is expected to cost $2.2 million in 2017 and $1.6 million in 2018, according to city spokeswoman Abbey Brands, and is being funded through the Indianapolis/Marion County Information Services Agency's planned budget.

The Information Services Agency is kicking off the effort, dubbed "Shift Indy," with neighborhood and public meetings to determine needs and priorities for the website. A pilot will launch within the next few months and will be continuously updated, with the final migration expected at the end of 2018.

The pilot is expected to feature an updated interface for bidding on city and county contract opportunities, a new public information request portal and a new process for filing a homestead tax credit.

"Residents shouldn't have to know the intricacies of municipal government in order to easily access the tools and services they need," said Mayor Joe Hogsett in a media release.

"As a progressive city invested in tech growth, it is important we are taking our own steps forward to make city government easy to navigate and reflective of modern technology," Hogsett said. "Today's announcement begins a process that will ultimately create a more convenient, transparent and user-friendly system—particularly for residents that need government services but can't always easily access the City-County Building."