InformationWeek

E-business Goes After The Big Tuna

Fish will need to swim a little faster now that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is moving in Internet time. What's up at NOAA? The government agency has agreed to pay AppNet, Inc., an E-commerce services vendor, $3.2 million over the next five years to develop an "E-government" system to issue fishing permits and capture landings data. Using an integrated Internet and interactive voice response system, NOAA hopes to improve the accuracy and speed of permit renewals and registrations for Atlantic tunas and for reporting recreational fisheries landings.

The current system requires anglers to wait about 30 days for a permit. But with the AppNet system, the permit process should be reduced to one or two days, says Kermit Harvey, VP of E-commerce outsourcing for the vendor. "We want to make the experience quick and easy for the end user," Harvey says. AppNet will provide the payment processing software and will link permit information taken over the phone directly into the database from online sales.

--Ashlee Vance