WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today NIC Technologies announces the launch of the Searchable Electronic Rulemaking System (SERS), developed for the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to add new transparency and convenience to searching testimony, documents, and rulings for all presidential and federal election regulations. In addition to the new search functionality, the public can now submit comments and documents related to the rulings, and the FEC can moderate online comments and include them in the rulemaking record. While much of the rulemaking data was currently stored online, it was difficult to search and required time-consuming sorting of documents.
“Rulemaking is central to the function of the Federal Election Commission – as well as nearly every federal agency. The SERS system is the latest in open access for the public, and provides ease of process for the FEC,” said Randall Bartlett, President of NIC Technologies.
Demand for the system exists beyond the FEC as all federal agencies conduct similar rulemaking. For example, a single law, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, mandates more than 240 new rulemakings across 10 federal agencies within a year of enactment. The new system makes the rulemaking process easier and more transparent. In addition, the system can be customized for state government to fulfill their specific rulemaking needs.
“Every word of every document and piece of testimony is now tagged so that it can be searched,” continued Bartlett. “This allows for quick bundling of topics and significantly reduces the time it takes to find information. It’s a solution that has applicability for rulemaking at all levels of government, whether federal or state.”
SERS was developed and managed in partnership with NIC Technologies, LLC, part of eGovernment firm NIC Inc.’s (NASDAQ: EGOV) family of companies. NIC Technologies also provides eGovernment services for other federal and state agencies. SERS is the latest in a series of systems that provide the public with searchable access to FEC documents and data for the FEC, including historic litigation matters (via the EQS system), and Advisory Opinion actions (via the SAOS system). NIC Technologies has also supported the FEC by receiving and processing all electronic filings for federal elections and helping the FEC electronically provide filing information to the public.
More information on the new system can be found at http://www.fec.gov.
About NIC
NIC Inc. is the nation’s leading provider of official government portals, online services, and secure payment processing solutions. The company’s innovative eGovernment services help reduce costs and increase efficiencies for government agencies, citizens, and businesses across the country. The NIC family of companies provides eGovernment solutions for more than 3,000 federal, state, and local agencies that serve 98 million people in the United States. Additional information is available at http://www.nicusa.com.