CALIFORNIA'S FIRST NEW CITY OF 2000 ALREADY OFFERING 2001-STYLE GOVERNMENT

SAN DIEGO, CA, Jan. 29, 2001 -- Berryman & Henigar/GovPartner's first e-Government client in 2000, the City of Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, begins 2001 with an impressive set of e-Government capabilities.

When the City selected GovPartner (http://www.govpartner.com), through its parent firm Berryman & Henigar, (http://www.bhiinc.com) to develop and implement its e-Government solutions last March, it was still celebrating its title as California's first new city of the new millennium - having been incorporated on New Year's Day 2000. Since that incorporation, Rancho Santa Margarita has come a long way as a new online city as well.

"Our goal is to make Rancho Santa Margarita one of Orange County's most user-friendly and technologically advanced municipalities," said City Manager Bill Talley. "These e-Government services will greatly facilitate interactive transactions between our city and the public via the Internet. We'll be able to deliver services more efficiently and residents can conduct transactions wherever they have Internet access."

The City's new Web site (http://www.cityofrsm.org) debuted in September 2000 with online service request features. GovPartner helped create the new Web site and back-end databases, and is currently implementing an online permitting module that offers the ability to apply, pay for and track simple building permits.

With an integrated connection to the City's backend legacy-ware systems, the interactive applications are provided through GovPartner's Application Service Provider (ASP) model. This has allowed City officials the ability to save time and money by not having to invest in up-front capital costs, or hire and train new employees to maintain and update the system. Officials were also drawn to the fact that unlike other e-Government providers, GovPartner does not charge users transaction fees, transfer citizens from their City Web site to any other site to conduct their transactions, post any form of advertisements, create or sell email lists of users or in any way associate or link a portal to the city's e-Government functions.

"We focus on allowing citizens to visit their city's Web site and conduct interactive government business at that website hassle-free and free of cost," says Jon Rodriguez, President of GovPartner. "Through our background with Berryman & Henigar, we understand the unique needs of government processes and are applying this insight to every e-Government solution that we design for our clients."

Since signing on with the City of Rancho Santa Margarita, GovPartner/Berryman & Henigar has also formed a public/private partnership with the City of Sunnyvale, CA, and serves this city as well as the City of Mountain View, CA, with e-Government solutions.

About GovPartner

As an affiliate company of Berryman & Henigar, Inc., GovPartner provides comprehensive and affordable e-Government solutions for cities, counties, and special district government agencies. In addition to developing effective, long-term e-Government plans, GovPartner also works with select IT partners to implement various web-enabled applications including online permitting, online bill payments, business license applications, workflow management and requests for city services. Please visit www.govpartner.com for more information, or call 888.256.5777.

About Berryman & Henigar

Berryman & Henigar, Inc. is a municipal professional services firm headquartered in San Diego, CA, with 14 offices nationwide. The firm provides municipal engineering, public finance, asset management, community development, construction management and e-Government services to public agencies nationwide. With a staff of over 300 professionals, Berryman & Henigar is ranked as one of the top 260 consulting engineering companies by Engineering News-Record. Further information is available on the Web at www.bhiinc.com or by calling 858.451.6100.

About the City of Rancho Santa Margarita

Officially incorporated on January 1, 2000, the City of Rancho Santa Margarita is California's first new city of the new millennium. Located in Orange County, Rancho Santa Margarita has a population of 42,296 and is the county's 33rd city.

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