Governments may be the least innovative institutions in our society. But they are slowly moving toward allowing citizens to do business with them by utilizing the Internet.

• Rather than having to visit or send letters to city hall or the state capitol, people will be able to log on-line to pay their taxes, renew their driver's licenses, pay traffic and parking citations and obtain copies of deeds and other public records -- while builders and architects will be able to secure such things as land-fill and building permits.

• Forrester Research estimates that local governments collect $450 billion annually in fines alone -- usually paid by mail or in person.

• Two start-up companies -- govWorks.com and ezgov.com -- are competing with traditional public contractors such as Lockheed Martin Corp. for the attention of bureaucrats who are in positions to grant contracts for e-government services.

• Insiders report that bureaucrats are often jealous of their turf and are not disposed to make binding commitments with people they don't know well.

So the start-up companies have stocked their boards with well-known government officials, hoping to gain access to government decision-makers and build up their trust.

Observers of the fledgling e-government service industry fear that state and local officials may wind up designing and operating their own in-house sites -- such as, for example, Stamford, Conn., has done.

Source: Glenn R. Simpson, "Putting Government on the Web," Wall Street Journal, May 17, 2000.