Self Funded Model
eHawaii.gov is funded under a self-funded model. In most cases, there is no upfront cost for development of a new online service or application to the State or local government agency we are working with. Development for these applications also does not require any General Fund expenditures from the State.
We generate revenue through transaction fees for the online services we build. These fees can either be passed on to the fee payer as a portal administration fee or absorbed by the agency, essentially funding the service with the avoided costs associated with electronic entry and automation.
This revenue allows HIC to re-invest a large portion back in to the infrastructure and staff required to build, manage, and enhance the state’s eGovernment initiatives. It also allows us to develop no-cost applications where appropriate. These types of applications generally have a high public value or dramatically enhance public safety. Some examples include: Hawaii sex offender search, Electronic Bench Warrants (eBW), unclaimed property search, and the Hawaii State calendar for meeting and events.
Under the self funded model, it's in both our partner agencies and HIC's best interest to encourage high adoption. We employ various marketing techniques to encourage people and businesses to use our online services. HIC absorbs the risk in developing an application because if a service is under-utilized or not used at all, HIC does not generate any revenue. This provides a natural incentive to market our services on the agencies' behalf, develop them rapidly, and improve them often. Our success is tied to our partners' success...and HIC will do everything it takes to make sure we are the best partner they have ever had.
If our partners had to pay for the time that HIC has worked on self-funded projects, not including the infrastructure and common tools, it would have cost more than $2 million. The three agencies leveraging the portal for self-funded applications are:
- Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
- Department of Land and Natural Resources
- Department of the Attorney General
Time and Materials
When transaction fees are not feasible we can still offer services with our contract hourly development rates. In most cases, this funding model is used when an agency wants to develop an online service that has an existing funding model (i.e. Federal Grants) or the service doesn’t generate any revenue but requires significant development and maintenance. The Office of Information Management and Technology was the department that leveraged the portal's T&M services the most followed by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism and Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Hosting
Some partners leverage our hosting services for web site hosting or HIC developed services that have no revenue base. In certain scenarios, a partner may already have a service developed that only needs a server to be hosted on to continue providing service to the public. Please contact us for more information and pricing on how we can host your existing application.
No Cost Projects
Most portal projects have no development cost associated with them. HIC recovers its costs for development, deployment, hosting and maintenance by portal administration fees for Self-Funded applications. There are many applications which the portal supports at no cost to the state and which have no way to generate revenue. In select cases, selected by the Access Hawaii Committee and HIC, the portal will support these applications at no cost.
In addition to the maintenance of our existing applications, the portal does work on a limited number of high-value applications at no cost. Examples include:
Judiciary - Electronic Bench Warrants: judiciary.ehawaii.gov/warrants
Hawaii.gov: hawaii.gov
Covered Offenders Database: sexoffenders.ehawaii.gov
Budget and Finance - Unclaimed Property Search: ehawaii.gov/lilo/app
Judiciary - Volunteers in Public Service: vips.ehawaii.gov
DLIR - Quarterly Wage Reporting: hui.ehawaii.gov
Statewide Calendar: calendar.ehawaii.gov
Boards & Commissions Online Application: boards.hawaii.gov/apply/apply-for-a-board
eDeposits: An electronic replacement for the Treasury Deposit Reports.
