More than 100 applicants from over 30 nations vied for the Innovations in Transforming Government Award presented by the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Miami-Dade County is one of only a handful of local governments that appear in the top 20 alongside nations such as Canada, India, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa and Singapore.

“It’s an honor for Harvard’s Ash Institute to put us in the same league as other countries that are transforming government in such innovative ways,” said Judi Zito, director of GIC the department that operates the County’s 311 Answer Center and web portal, miamidade.gov.

What makes the achievement even more remarkable is that GIC was only recently established in March 2006. Although 311 and miamidade.gov have both been around since 2005 and 2001, respectively, GIC’s origins marked the beginning of the County’s efforts to integrate these information and service delivery channels into a single unit focused on the systematic, continuous improvement of customer service.

That focus on service excellence is part of what makes the answer center and web portal so popular. Over the last 12 months, there were nearly eight million visitors to miamidade.gov and about 2.5 million calls to 311.

“We hope that our recognition of these superb best practices will encourage other government programs around the world to reach for the same level of creativity and impact," said Stephen Goldsmith, director of Innovations in American Government Program at the Ash Institute.

“If other governments can learn from us and come to share our vision of borderless government where residents can interact with all levels of government, this award will have more than served its purpose,” said County Manager George Burgess.

For more on this award, read the Ash Institute’s press release online.